Target USA Podcast by WTOP

Faycal Gouia, Tunisia's Ambassador to the US, tells Target USA that Tunisia has built a 100-mile wall along its border with Libya. It's also installing a sophisticated, partially U.S.-funded surveillance system to keep terrorists out. Robert Baer, a former CIA covert operative, who is very familiar with those borders, tells Target USA he's not sure that's enough. See Privacy Policy at https://art1...

David Cohen, the deputy director of the CIA, says his agency "is working day and night to understand how ISIL's external operations network operates: who's involved, where they are, how they operate and how we can disrupt their operations." At the same time, the agency, which calls itself the "nation's first line of defense," is being stretched by other threats that are bigger, stronger, faster an...

The information that former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and others leaked has created what a top U.S. intelligence official calls a "virtual university" for terrorists, spies, hackers, smugglers and many others seeking to attack or exploit the U.S. Rick Ledgett, deputy director of the NSA, says those nefarious people and the organizations they represent have made adjustments "in order to avoid b...

32 people were killed in Brussels on March 22, 2016. Four Americans were among the dead. Belgian officials say they knew something was coming, but couldn't pinpoint when. For that and other shortcomings, they've been heavily criticized in the press and by intelligence experts. But, on this program, Belgium's Ambassador to the U.S. Johan Verbeke gives Target USA a detailed explanation for how the a...

Europe has been in the eye of a terrorism storm that many say is just beginning. The Islamic State group has launched sophisticated attacks in Paris and Belgium already and is threatening more. Trying to figure out what's next has pushed Europe's intelligence services to extremes they've not been faced with in more than a decade. The man leading the charge for the European Union, Rob Wainwright, b...

The world has been preoccupied with the size of the so-called Islamic State terror organization since it sprang up in 2014. But, for all of that preoccupation, there has been precious little certainty about just how big ISIL is, who's actually on the ground fighting and how it all impacts U.S. national security. In part two of our exclusive interview, National Counterterrorism Director Nicholas Ra...

The growing number of stealthy terrorists roaming the planet are keeping Nicholas Rasmussen, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, up at night. In part one of an exclusive interview, he says the agency is stretched more "thinly now than they were five or six years ago." He says it's impossible to keep up with every terrorist and outlines the main challenge that ISIL poses in the afterm...

The surprise attack by ISIS in Brussels, again stunned the world and demonstrated how hard it is to stop them. As a result, the FBI and other U.S. intelligence officials are redoubling efforts to make sure security is air tight - especially in Washington. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

A chilling examination of the North Korean regime and what's at stake for the U.S. Former Ambassador Joseph Detrani sat across the table from North Korea trying to talk the country down from its nuclear program. He tells host J.J. Green why North Korea is such a big threat to the region and the U.S. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/...

Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper says in an exclusive interview that he is concerned with Russia's renewed aggressiveness toward the U.S. And, he says, the situation is getting more alarming. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper opens up in an exclusive interview about the dark threats and dangerous enemies the U.S. faces. Clapper breaks down in vivid detail the sophisticated nature of the groups and nation-states that want to attack. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .