In the Room with Peter Bergen

When he first ran for president, Donald Trump didn’t have any record on foreign policy. Now he does, and that offers more than a hint of how he might lead if he were to win the White House again in 2024. Peter dissects the Trump record with one of the ex-president’s best-known former foreign policy advisors - and critics - John Bolton, who doesn’t mince words in assessing Trump’s handling of Russi...

Double agents, dead drops, and deadly missions enliven some of the most popular and well-known spy novels. But do you need to have been an ACTUAL spy in an intelligence agency like the CIA to write like one? And how do real spies rate the fictional ones? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

In the past five years, overdose death rates have skyrocketed in the United States, with fentanyl - a synthetic, cheaply produced opioid - now a leading cause of death for 18-45 year-olds. How do the chemicals used to make fentanyl get from China to Mexico to the United States? Why would drug dealers sell a substance that’s killing off so many of their customers? What is the Biden administration d...

How “America’s General” joined a movement that’s fired up about COVID, conspiracies, and Christ - and just might be headed to a town near you. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

A storied Army general, a key intelligence figure in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a registered Democrat—and now, a full-blown right-wing conspiracy theorist. How did this all-American war hero disappear down the Q-Anon rabbit hole? We’ll retrace the unraveling of Michael Flynn’s legendary career and explain how a once-trusted general ended up lying to the FBI, denying the 2020 election result...

CNN ’s chief international correspondent has seen the worst of humanity. But she’s also experienced amazing acts of kindness under some of the most difficult circumstances. And she’s learned a lot about what drives countries into war in the first place. Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism, and nonfiction listening. See Privacy Policy a...

Why is it so important to keep the country’s secrets secret? And what does the alphabet soup of national security-related acronyms in the indictment against the former president actually mean? Three intelligence professionals with more than 80 years of combined experience explain what’s involved in collecting and protecting the people, methods and information in classified documents—and the potent...

Known as MBS, the 37-year-old de facto Saudi ruler has ambitious plans to modernize society. But he has also been accused of brutal human rights violations, including ordering the operation that led to the medieval-style death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Should America still be his friend? And with the US now much less dependent on Saudi oil, does it really need to? Go to audible.com/news...

Cyber criminals and states like China and Russia are targeting the computer networks of everything from America’s hospitals to the water coming out of the kitchen tap. Jen Easterly, the director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), breaks down the biggest cyber threats and what the government, companies, and the rest of us need to do about them. Go to audible.com/news...

It started in 2016 when a small group of American diplomats and spies in Havana, Cuba said they heard a piercing sound and became debilitatingly ill. Seven years later, more than a thousand Americans all over the globe now say they’ve also gotten sick. Despite several scientific studies and numerous government investigations, the debate around what’s making people sick still hasn’t been fully reso...

Tucked away deep inside the intelligence agency’s headquarters in Langley, VA is a museum most of us will never see. It chronicles the organization’s history—including some of its most important missions and greatest failures. The public isn’t allowed in, but in this episode you get a peek inside. Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism, a...

A media frenzy erupted after US war planes shot down UFOs in American airspace and the government reported hundreds more mysterious sightings it can’t explain. Pilots and former Pentagon officials say it’s time the US government study the issue seriously and tell the public what it knows. But the Pentagon’s bizarre history of stifling—and stoking—UFO panic makes it hard to know how out-there the t...

The celebrated general takes you on a world tour of hotspots, sizes up the threats posed by China and Russia, assesses the risk of a military coup in the US, discusses a future where AI-powered machines are doing most of the war-fighting, and explains why he thinks the most apt metaphor for the challenges facing America in the current global landscape is…a very tricky circus act. Go to audible.com...

When a newly-hired intern at the International Criminal Court was arrested and revealed to be a Russian spy, it begged the question: what was he up to? Now that Vladimir Putin has a warrant from this court for his arrest, it’s not hard to imagine that the spy was planning to tell Moscow about the evidence that is accumulating in the case against Russia for its atrocities in Ukraine. Turns out the...

Overwhelmed by conflicting narratives and sensationalism in the news? Wondering where you can get an objective analysis and direct-from-the-source reporting? Look no further than In the Room with Peter Bergen . In a weekly nonpartisan news podcast, longtime national security journalist and bestselling author Peter Bergen goes beyond the headlines, to explore the world’s most important and captivat...