The DSR Network

On this special super-sized (hour-long) edition of Deep State Radio we review the auspicious launch of the January 6th Commission with former US Attorney Barb McQuade and NYU Law School's Ryan Goodman and then we have a discussion of what can be done about the stunning and disturbing resurgence of COVID across the US with Dr. Kavita Patel. What do the insurrection, the defense of domestic terroris...

The FBI is still coming up short on dealing with white violent extremists, former undercover special agent Mike German tells Jeff Stein. And Jeanne Meserve delves into a little known DIA medical intelligence unit. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the decision by the Biden Administration to pull the last troops out of Afghanistan and the last combat troops out of Iraq, it marks the end to two decades of U.S. foreign policy in which the War on Terrorism and instability in the Middle East dominated policymakers attentions. Biden seeks to turn the page to 21st Century priorities like China, competitiveness, fixing what is broken at home a...

The science shows that GOP-led resistance to the vaccine is fueling a resurgence of COVID in the US. Anger against the unvaccinated is understandably growing as their ignorance and politics are putting the country at risk again. Where will this lead? What will this new wave of COVID look and feel like? What should we do about it? How does our international response figure in? We discuss these esse...

A father & daughter have a monster TikTok hit talkIng about his intelligence career. Former CIA analyst Frank Snepp describes the heartbreak of Saigon and the agony of Kabul. And “Spooked” author Barry Meier addresses the NSO-Pegasus surveillance scandal. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad...

It is a paradox of international relations that U.S. neighbors in the Western Hemisphere have two primary complaints about U.S. relations with the region. The first is that the U.S. does not pay enough attention to our neighbors. The second, which is often the first, is that the U.S. pays too much attention to our neighbors. Once again, Latin America is reeling from a crisis, this one fueled by th...

Former CIA counterintelligence chief James Olson tells Jeff Stein the CIA and FBI need to “resuscitate” double agent ops to penetrate enemy spy services, and Jeanne Meserve talks with former senior U.S. cybercrime official Chris Painter about the rash of ransomware attacks by REvil and other Russia-based malefactors. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privac...

It is said that an old actor on his deathbed once said, "Dying is easy. Comedy is hard." Whether that actually happened or not, the foreign policy equivalent may be "Invading a country is easy. Turning it into a democracy is hard." The US discovers this on the regular...and each time it is as though it had never happened before. We discuss with regard to Afghanistan...and many other instances. And...

Congressman Eric Swalwell has been one of the leading voices in the US Congress demanding that the former president and those around him be held accountable for their violations of the Constitution and their oaths of office. Swalwell's book "Endgame: Inside the Impeachments of Donald J. Trump" was among the first insider looks at the impeachment process and the paperback edition, out now, has an e...

Estimates now say 900,000 Americans died as a consequence of the COVID pandemic. But estimates suggest 40-90 percent of those deaths could have been avoided if the Trump Administration acted more swiftly, more effectively or more in concert with the advice of scientists. A new book dives deep into what happened behind the scenes in the administration and on this episode, we talk with one of the au...

Former senior CIA officer Doug London talks with Jeff Stein about the present and future intelligence picture in chaotic Afghanistan. And Jeanne Meserve has a fascinating talk with former top DHS intel official and retired Brigadier General Francis X. Taylor about dealing with violent extremists in the military ranks.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/priv...

The most recent Supreme Court decisions remind us that on our current path voter suppression and more power be given to the richest members of our society are only going to get worse. The current majority on the court exists because presidents elected by a minority of voters nominated candidates who won election thanks to Senators representing a minority of Americans. We discuss where we are heade...

Nicholas Eftimiades, a top expert on Chinese espionage, tells Jeff Stein he doubts reports that Beijing’s top counterspy defected to the US—but that Beijing has “many” moles in U.S/ intelligence. And Jeanne Meserve talks with top former FBI national security official Jay Tabb about the challenges of dealing with home-grown American terrorists. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstate...

The U.S. was questioning its ability to lead the world. The structures of the global economy seemed outdated. There were deep tensions between those who sought to put America first and those who recognized the future of US growth lay in the global economy. It sounds a lot like today. But it was 1971. In a brilliant new book, former Yale School of Management Dean and top U.S. government official Je...

There are many rumblings of a new Cold War brewing between the US and China. But the governments in Washington and Beijing both seem to be most focused on domestic political issues and maintaining power. Which might suggest that much of the ratcheting up of toughness between them is performative. Especially as a large global coalition is emerging that holds common views toward how China must behav...

The threats to democracy in the US are building. The response is to call for new laws that first will require changes in the rules of the Senate. If we can get those changes, we should. But what if we can't? What is plan B? How do we avoid locking in changes to our system from which there is no recovery? Will holding Trump and Trumpists accountable for their abuses be any part of that. We discuss...

Yes, there’s a real James Bond, and Jeanne Meserve chatted him up on the curses and blessings of having such a legendary moniker. And historian Audra Wolfe talks with Jeff Stein about the role of American scientists in the Cold War and beyond. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

To celebrate the fourth anniversary of Deep State Radio (which is to say something like 750 podcasts and a growing audience throughout), we have convened our inner circle of experts, our regular Deep State family, for a look four years from now. As you might expect, we have optimism, pessimism, realism, idealism, and a host of other flavors of outlook from which you can choose. It is the right way...

Listening to FBI Director Christopher Wray before the Congress this week and last, his answers were long and yet achieved a kind of studied vacuousness. There was no there there. No substantive. No sense of responsibility for clear intelligence failures. No sense that we were getting to the root causes of the event. No sense that those really responsible for it will be brought to justice. And for...

The lack of accountability for Donald Trump and his cronies for the January 6th insurrection, for the serial obstruction of justice identified by the Mueller investigation, for his alleged fraud at the helm of the Trump Organization, for his efforts to intimidate state election officials in the wake of the 2020 election, for his serial sexual abuse cases...and for so much more...is deeply frustrat...

Terrorism expert Gina Ligon tells Jeanne Meserve that the Biden administration’s initiative on domestic extremism represents a ‘sea change’ in policy but doesn’t address the root causes of populist violence. Israeli counterterrorism dramas do, an American ex-pat writer in Jerusalem tells Jeff Stein, because so many involved have served in spy units. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dee...

When Vladimir Putin sits down with Joe Biden, both men will be well familiar with each other and Putin will have no illusions that he can toy with the new American president like he could with the last one. Joe Biden has been working at a high level in US foreign policy since 1973 (when Leonid Brezhnev was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.) As Biden's Europe trip has de...

Financial Times Editor-at-Large Gillian Tett has distinguished herself as a brilliant observer of markets and politics. That is in part due to the training she got while earning her PhD in anthropology. It is that experience and method that she brings to her latest book, the lucid, eye-opening and compelling "Anthro Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life." It's insights and lessons are exce...

Ahead of presidents Putin and Biden meeting in Geneva, a psychiatrist puts the leader of Russia on the couch. Dr. Kenneth Dekleva, who served in the US embassy in Moscow, joins co-host Jeanne Meserve for a special edition of SpyTalk. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...

With Republicans variously arguing that vaccines make people magnetic and that the Forest Service should be able to reroute the Moon's orbit, you'd think the party would be headed for a bad end. Add in the corruption and the traitors and the insurrections and it is baffling there still is a GOP. Yet, that said, many observers are predicting the GOP will win the House and Senate in next year's midt...