Target USA Podcast by WTOP

The U.S. and North Korea, according to some observers, were on the brink of war on the weekend of April 15. Was it posturing? What's at stake? What does this situation mean for those innocent people struggling to survive in North Korea? We'll hear a gut-wrenching story from a young North Korean woman who knows what it's like to suffer inside of North Korea. Also in this episode, two experts -- Amb...

Not only are terrorists trying to attack passenger planes, they're targeting cargo planes and airports, too. On this program, we continue our discussion with former Transportation Security Administration administrator Peter Neffenger, who candidly talks about screening problems in airports. We also hear from Brandon Fried, executive director of the Air Forwarders Association. He said the printer c...

After liquid and laptop bans were put in place on planes in 2017, a new twist on a very dangerous threat has emerged. Terrorists are competing for supremacy in aviation terror attacks. Whether it's ISIS, AQAP or other up-and-coming terror groups, they all have master bomb makers and access to extensive knowledge bases that make the terrorist threat to airplanes -- specifically those flying to the...

There are no real boundaries in cyberspace. But the laws that govern it are limited. Joining Target USA to talk about the maddening difficulty of chasing criminals in cyberspace is Alexander Seger, who is the executive secretary of the Committee of the Parties to the Budapest and is the head of the Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe in Bucharest, Romania. Seger also explains why...

In this episode, David Levinson -- the second son of Robert Levinson and Christine Levinson -- says his family is turning to President Donald Trump in what they believe is their best hope yet to bring Robert Levinson home. And they've also filed a lawsuit against Iran. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

In this episode, Robert Berls, senior adviser at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, says the U.S. and Russia have not sat down and engaged comprehensively on nuclear weapons since the signing of a Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty in 2011. Berls said he is worried that the lack of dialogue could lead to a devastating mistake in this breathless age of terrorism and elevated threats from rogue government...

In this week's episode of Target USA, WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green looks at the impact of terrorist training camps. With three experts, we examine how the camps are set up, how spy agencies track their activities and the impact of terrorist training camps on broader populations in Europe. U.S. Air Force Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, Iraq; Pascal Le...

Annoyed by a Russian scholar's derogatory comments during a security conference, David Pollock, a Kaufman Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, took the podium to set the record straight about the U.S. role in the war against terrorism. The stinging exchanges appeared to end with the conference, but when Pollock he returned home he realized he'd been targeted for what he called...

In February, at a security conference in Morocco dealing with terrorism, a Russian scholar took to the podium and launched into a blistering critique of the U.S. war on terror, calling it a fiasco and blaming the U.S. for an increase in terrorism. The tirade upset some Americans in the audience, one of whom stood up and struck back. The episode was an unmistakable snapshot of the deteriorating nat...

Terror groups are utilizing gang tactics as they try to extend their influence, and prisons are a "hotbed" for recruiting. Kristian Bartholin, Deputy Head of Counter Terrorism at the Council of Europe, explains how ISIS is recruiting and surviving, and what must be done to stop them. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-s...

In this week's Target USA, J.J. Green talks to Martha Crenshaw, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University and co-author of the new book "Countering Terrorism." Crenshaw says part of the country's messaging problem is cumbersome U.S. bureaucracy, which is not agile enough to keep up with rapidly changing terrorist activity. She also says many Amer...

The U.S. government is considering a return to torturing terrorists and using black sites abroad to house those operations. U.S. law says it is illegal, but some argue that terrorists do much worse. Former CIA analyst Philip Mudd explains why it's not a good idea. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

There are 200,000 buildings in Mosul. ISIL fighters are using rooftops, internal spaces and subterranean elements of those buildings to launch attacks against Iraqi forces. U.S. Air Force Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, says the effort is designed to put off its inevitable defeat. But that's only a part of the diabolical activity they are engaged in -- they're using ch...

The Inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States may be a significant security challenge for the Secret Service and its partners. Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy sits down with Target USA to talk about the threats and what is being done to shut them down. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-n...

The reclusive regime of Kim Jong Un is close to test-launching an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. Multiple sources tell Target USA the KNO8, as it is known, can reach the whole of the United States. Our sources and many other credible international observers say North Korea already has nuclear weapons. So, the question is: how long before they are able to mate a missile with a miniaturized nuc...

The Berlin Christmas market attack and the Istanbul nightclub attack on New Year's Eve have established that 2017 will be no less dangerous than the previous year. Dr. Tricia Bacon, a counterterrorism expert with American University in D.C., tells Target USA what we might expect in the year ahead. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/pr...

Whether it was ISIL, Russia or North Korea, Target USA interviewed some of the most influential national security and international affairs figures from around the world about key issues in 2016. This week's episode is a round-up of those conversations and more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

On Dec. 19, a large truck plowed into a Christmas market in Berlin. At the time, German journalist Marc Etzold was at the movies with his mobile phone offline. When he emerged from the cinema, he - like many in Germany and around the world - was stunned by the attack. Twelve people were killed and 48 wounded, 30 of them seriously. ISIL claimed responsibility. Etzold shares his story with Target US...

ISIL is under pressure all around the world, but former CIA counterterrorism executive Phil Mudd says the group is re-inventing itself and the threat of attack could be greater than ever before. He warns that the group is headed to ungoverned or weakly-governed spaces in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Mudd says one of the biggest enablers of the threat is irresponsible, western media activity....

Russia has made it very clear since the fall of the USSR that it would get revenge against the West and the U.S. for what happened. For years, many U.S. officials have said the Cold War is over. However, in Sofia, Bulgaria, in mid-November 2016, during a NATO conference, David Kilcullen, Lt. Col. in the Australian military (RES), former chief strategist in the Office of the Coordinator for Counter...

Since its inception in 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has helped member countries rest easy in the face of threats. But with the resurgence of Russian aggression, hybrid warfare, cyber warfare and many other global threats, NATO's leaders are doubling down on their mission. Admiral Manfred Nielson, NATO's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, joins Target USA to talk...

We often hear about the harsh life North Koreans live under the Kim regime, from Kim Il Sung, to Kim Jong Il and now Kim Jong Un. It's the most reclusive and closed off country on the planet. Close to 25 million people live there; many have little or no food, no money, no water, no firewood to keep warm in winter and no way to get any of it. On this episode of Target USA, you'll hear the raw story...

During a raucous presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nevada in October, then-candidate Donald Trump indicated he had doubts about the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Russia was behind many of the cyberattacks that they believed were launched to interfere with the election. Many in the intelligence community were upset about that, but now, former CIA Director Michael Hayden says the tim...

Two years after ISIL - or D'aesh, as Iraqis call it - blasted into power, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars, taking over the country's second largest city, killing tens of thousands of people and injecting fear into the fabric of a country still traumatized after al-Qaida's reign in the 2000s - the U.S. is leading an effort to end the nightmare. But while this is going on, there is no Iraqi...

Female terrorists are not a new idea, but the Islamic State terror group has initiated a dramatic increase in their numbers. Irfan Saeed, Director of the State Department's Countering Violent Extremism Office, Tara Maller, Spokesperson & Senior Policy Adviser at the Counter Extremism Project, and Ed Gabriel, Chairman of the Moroccan American Center, explain what's driving recruitment of female...