CounterCheck Podcast

“We’ll defend ourselves. If you defend and help us, good. If you don’t, well, too bad. We wanted to show everybody that we are capable and we are willing to stand up for ourselves.” “The Philippines did it by the book. Like, we don’t have a robust military. We don’t have fancy jets. We didn’t have a very shiny, big, hulking Navy. We used to joke that our air force was more air than force.” “So the...

Political volatility is deepening in the United States, domestic extremism is on the rise, and global terrorism threats are surging in regions like the African Sahel. After months of delays, the White House released the 2026 US Counterterrorism Strategy , championed by counterterrorism czar Sebastian Gorka. We spoke to Dr. Colin Clarke, one of the world’s leading terrorism experts, about what the...

In May 2017, armed factions fighting under the Islamic State banner – or Dawlah Islamiyah - laid siege to Marawi City in Mindanao, southern Philippines. Hundreds were killed and over a million civilians displaced before the city was liberated 5 months later. We spoke to Professor Yasmira Moner of the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology about the legacy of the Marawi Siege nine...

The Sahel region in Africa is now the world’s epicenter of global jihadist activity. According to the Global Terrorism Index, four of the top ten countries most impacted by terrorism are from the Sahel which now accounts for over half of all global terrorism deaths. Within that mix, Mali has emerged as the most concerning. In recent weeks, a coalition of jihadist groups made sweeping military gain...

The cybersecurity landscape is evolving fast. What once required highly skilled human operators can now be accelerated (or even automated) by increasingly sophisticated AI systems. It seems like we are at another critical inflection point. The barriers to engage in cyberattacks are falling. The attacker pool is expanding. The result isn’t just more threats, but faster, more adaptive, and more scal...

China’s extraordinary economic transformation and rise to global economic superpower has too often obscured a troubling human rights record. We spoke to Yaqiu Wang , a Chinese human rights and democracy researcher and advocate. Yaqiu has worked for Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and held academic positions at the University of Chicago and, most recently, t...

Stay tuned for our forthcoming episode with human rights advocate and world-renowned scholar, Yaqiu Wang . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit countercheckpod.substack.com

On this episode of Behind the Decisions, Gordon Peake lends us more insights into his time in the Solomon Islands and the legacy of Australian-led interventions. Gordon’s many years as a researcher, writer, public servant, and expert offer rich details for anyone interested in Australian statecraft in the Pacific. His candid reflections unpack the maze of Australian bureaucracy as well as the peop...

The Solomon Islands may not be the first location that you think of as a “theatre of strategic competition.” The tiny archipelagic nation, consisting of almost a thousand islands with a population of around 800,000 people, sits in the Pacific Ocean off the east coast of Papua New Guinea and about 2000km northeast of Australia. Yet the Solomon Islands has been a focal point of strategic competition...

Watch our extended conversation with Dr. Levi West, a leading counterterrorism expert and the foremost scholar on the evolution of terrorist threats in Australia. We spoke with Levi about the nature of the attack, what level of responsibility the Australian government bears, and broader failures that contributed to the attack. We also covered the nature of terrorist threats in Australia today, and...

As the war in Iran has escalated over the last few weeks, a spate of attacks has targeted both American government buildings and Jewish communities across Europe. On March 8th, an explosion struck the U.S. embassy in Oslo, leaving no casualties. Norwegian police later said they were investigating whether the attack was carried out on behalf of a foreign government. The next day, on March 9th, an e...

On 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel launched coordinated military strikes on the Islamic Republic of Iran. In Operation Epic Fury’s first 72hours, United States Central Command reported that over 1,700 targets had been struck in the most significant US military operation in the Middle East since the Iraq war. As the war enters its fourth week, it is clear that Iran’s military capabil...

America’s top national security officials just testified about the state of global threats to the United States. We spoke with Mike Jacobson, who spent over two decades working across the U.S. government in various counterterrorism (CT) roles, on his experiences and the latest insights into American counterterrorism. Mike warned us about the potential impacts of Trump administration decisions to w...

For much of the quarter century since al-Qaida’s attacks on New York and Washington DC on September 11, 2001, counterterrorism has been the top national security and foreign policy priority for the United States. US leadership has been central to global efforts to confront terrorist threats, but, like so many aspects of US domestic and foreign policy, that has changed under the second Trump admini...

This episode covers our extended conversation with Dr. Devorah Margolin, senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. You’ll hear about her on-the-ground experiences in the region and insights from her many years working on the ISIS detention facilities crisis. Just before the US and Israel launched initial strikes against Iran, developments in northern Syria concerning the ISIS...

We sat down in early February with Dr. Devorah Margolin, senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, to discuss the latest developments in northern Syria as the situation in ISIS detention facilities has gone from bad to worse. Thousands are now missing following the emptying of Al-Hol camp, and core questions about the international community’s response and willingness to repa...

Stay tuned for our full episode with Dr. Margolin and be sure to read her latest analysis: From SNAFU to FUBAR in Northeast Syria Caught in the Crossfire: Islamic State Detention Sites at Risk This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit countercheckpod.substack.com

Leaders and experts on the frontlines of conflict and fragility. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit countercheckpod.substack.com