Podcasts about Peter Bergen

Project 2025 began with a clandestine meeting of political strategists and conservative activists in the spring of 2022, their goal clear and unsettling: to engineer a dramatic transformation of American governance. By April 2023, this ambition took written form—a sprawling, 900-page policy blueprint released by the Heritage Foundation and dubbed Mandate for Leadership. Its stated purpose was simple: destroy the so-called “Administrative State” and concentrate presidential power like never before.Supporters of Project 2025 call it a necessary overhaul, arguing that “an unaccountable and biased bureaucracy” has long obstructed the will of the people. The plan's central premise is to place the entire federal executive branch, including agencies like the Department of Justice and the FBI, under direct White House control. As Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation president, declared, “All federal employees should answer to the president.” The project's architects are explicit—they want to rid agencies of perceived ideological opponents, filling key roles with loyalists on “Day One.” They envision the president hiring scores of political appointees with no expiration date, using what's known as Schedule F. Under this system, career civil servants could be transferred into politically appointed positions, stripping away their traditional legal protections against arbitrary removal or political interference.Kiron Skinner, who authored the State Department section of Project 2025, was blunt about her intentions: remove all senior staff and bring in conservatives ready to serve the administration's agenda. When interviewer Peter Bergen pressed her in June 2024 to provide examples of bureaucratic resistance, she came up empty handed. Despite this, the plan moves forward.Concrete proposals are sweeping. Project 2025 prescribes eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the United States Agency for International Development outright. The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, wasted no time, dissolving entire agencies, laying off tens of thousands, and initiating a government-wide return-to-office mandate. These personnel moves layered chaos atop the rollback of existing policy, leaving many agency missions in limbo.In criminal justice, Project 2025's recommendations are transformative and controversial. The agenda calls for the Department of Justice to charge or remove local prosecutors who, in their view, fail to sufficiently prosecute crimes like low-level marijuana possession or shoplifting. This would dismantle the tradition of local prosecutorial discretion, potentially pressuring DAs elected on reform platforms to abandon their priorities for fear of federal retribution. The plan also aims to expand federal law enforcement into local jurisdictions deemed “soft” on crime. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, these changes would shift the balance of power away from local communities and toward a politically driven federal apparatus.Project 2025 extends well beyond law enforcement. Its architects target environmental regulations, labor rights, health policies, and civil liberties. Detractors such as the ACLU warn that this initiative represents “a dystopian view of America,” threatening civil rights, reproductive freedoms, and hard-won democratic norms. The Center for Progressive Reform describes the project as “an authoritarian blueprint” likely to weaken the very institutions meant to protect public health, the environment, and equitable governance.Yet, proponents remain undeterred. They envision a streamlined government, claiming it will be more effective and responsive, a nod to longstanding conservative desires to reduce bureaucracy and entrench executive authority. Critics, however, see dangers in the centralization of power, the erosion of checks and balances, and the removal of expert administrators in favor of partisan loyalists.As the next presidential transition approaches, all eyes turn to the practical impact of Project 2025's prescriptions. Lawsuits and public pushback are already in motion, with labor unions and advocacy groups scrambling to block or mitigate the plan's most far-reaching aspects. Whether this ambitious blueprint will upend American governance or falter in the face of legal and institutional resistance remains uncertain.Thank you for tuning in. Come back next week for more in-depth reporting on the forces shaping the nation's future.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.ai

Project 2025 is not just a policy blueprint—it's a movement aiming to remake American governance from the ground up. Growing out of the Heritage Foundation's nearly 1,000-page Mandate for Leadership, Project 2025 lays out detailed steps to reshape the federal government in ways that, in its authors' words, will “destroy the Administrative State.” Supporters see it as a plan to bring an unaccountable bureaucracy under control, while critics warn it risks undermining the checks and balances at the heart of American democracy.At the heart of Project 2025 is an ambitious assertion of presidential control over the federal government. The proposal rests on the controversial unitary executive theory—a vision that would give the president direct authority over agencies traditionally considered independent. According to Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts, “All federal employees should answer to the president.” That's not an abstract idea; the plan explicitly calls for replacing civil service protections with the so-called Schedule F scheme, permitting mass firings and replacing thousands of current staffers with political loyalists who can be hired—and fired—at will. The stated aim is to ensure government personnel are “aligned with the president's vision,” a move that legal experts like those at the ACLU say could erode the rule of law and the traditional separation of church and state.One of the most consequential aspects of Project 2025 is its Day One playbook—hundreds of executive orders prepared for immediate signature by a new Republican president. These directives aren't vague. The plan recommends, for example, eliminating entire agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It also outlines how to dismiss all Department of State leadership before the next inauguration, replacing them with interim officials who are “ideologically vetted,” bypassing Senate confirmation. Kiron Skinner, who contributed to the State Department chapter, told journalist Peter Bergen this summer, “Most State Department employees are too left-wing and must be replaced by those loyal to the president,” though she could not name concrete examples of alleged obstruction.The intended changes go far beyond personnel shuffles. Project 2025 includes proposals for increasing executive control over policy on education, health, and the environment—often with the goal of terminating or rolling back regulations deemed “woke” or outside a conservative agenda. For example, its environmental proposals would gut major climate initiatives and environmental protections, while social policy sections support rolling back abortion rights and LGBTQ protections. Heritage Foundation materials state that these moves are needed to “put the people back in charge,” but organizations like the Center for Progressive Reform warn that such changes could devastate protections for workers, the public's health, and marginalized communities.Concrete steps are already underway. Since January, under the new Department of Government Efficiency, agencies have announced mass layoffs and office closures, with an eye toward shrinking government to its “essential functions.” According to data cited by Government Executive, more than 280,000 federal workers and contractors are facing layoffs or job uncertainty across 27 federal agencies. Office buildings are being consolidated, and a strict return-to-office mandate is being enforced to reduce federal infrastructure, often in a haphazard fashion.Project 2025's vision is not universally accepted even within conservative circles, but its scale and urgency have jolted both supporters and opponents. Critics, from policy experts to civil liberties advocates, argue that replacing career professionals with political operatives risks turning agencies into arms of the executive, threatening not just efficiency but the stability of American institutions. Yet, for its authors, this is precisely the point—a bold, sweeping course correction.Looking forward, the coming months will see critical decision points as Congress, the courts, and public opinion respond to the push to enact Project 2025. Both sides are mobilizing, as legal battles and heated public debates loom. As American governance stands on the cusp of profound change, Project 2025 offers both a rallying cry and a warning—one that demands attention from every corner of the nation.Thank you for tuning in, and be sure to come back next week for more.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.ai

Project 2025 is reshaping the conversation about the role and reach of the federal government in ways that feel both sweeping and personal. Born from the Heritage Foundation's “Mandate for Leadership,” this 900-plus-page policy blueprint divides nearly every federal agency and department into zones of targeted reform, all aimed at what its architects call “destroying the administrative state.” Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts summed up the mood behind it simply, declaring that “every federal employee should answer to the president.” That principle, experts say, guides the project's plans to consolidate power at the top and move swiftly on a series of executive moves from day one.The scale of intended change is hard to overstate. Project 2025 outlines an operational playbook for the first 180 days of a new Republican administration. Its centerpiece is Schedule F—a government job classification that would allow the new president to reclassify tens of thousands of career civil servants as at-will political appointees. That means federal workers, who traditionally hold their positions regardless of party, could be replaced without cause by loyalists. Kiron Skinner, who authored the State Department chapter, suggested clearing out senior career officials before January 20 and quickly installing appointees who share the president's views, bypassing regular Senate confirmation requirements. Skinner argues such moves are necessary to ensure ideological alignment, though when pressed by CNN's Peter Bergen, she couldn't cite a specific past obstruction by career diplomats.Concrete actions have followed rhetoric. When President Trump took office on January 20, he and Elon Musk's newly minted Department of Government Efficiency hit the ground running. According to Government Executive and other outlets, entire agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and USAID were targeted for elimination through “legally questionable means,” with the stated goal of cutting $1 trillion in spending. Executive orders soon followed, including one mandating that federal agencies may only hire one worker for every four who leave, and requiring return-to-office mandates for a federal workforce that had grown accustomed to remote work during the pandemic.Faced with the threat of losing job protections, over a quarter-million federal workers and contractors were facing layoffs by spring 2025, with forty-seven years of collective bargaining law challenged as unions raced to court. NTEU President Doreen Greenwald put it bluntly, calling it “an attack on the law, and on public service.” Opposition isn't limited to labor groups. The ACLU has charged that Project 2025 is a “roadmap to replace the rule of law with right-wing ideals,” warning that the proposals could undermine legal norms, civil rights, and protections for marginalized groups. Legal scholars from both political parties have raised flags about weakening the separation of powers, endangering environmental and public health safeguards, and risking consolidated, unchecked executive authority.Proponents are equally resolute. They argue that Project 2025 is a necessary corrective to what they view as a bloated, left-leaning bureaucracy unaccountable to the people. Heritage Foundation materials frame the federal government as too large, too costly, and resistant to the priorities of conservative Americans. They cite the sheer scale—over 2.4 million civilian federal employees—and the proliferation of agencies as drivers for dramatic consolidation and workforce reductions.Specific policy proposals go beyond personnel. The project seeks to reset environmental rules, roll back climate policies, and overhaul protections related to health, education, and civil rights. Critics, including groups like the Center for Progressive Reform, warn that these policies will lead to significant negative effects for ordinary Americans—from loss of workplace and environmental protections to sharp changes in immigration enforcement and reproductive rights.As the summer of 2025 progresses, listeners should watch several key milestones. Court cases brought by federal employee unions and advocacy groups could set vital precedents for the separation of powers. Agency heads are evaluating which departments could be merged or eliminated entirely in accordance with new directives. Congress, too, will play an uncertain but pivotal role as many Project 2025 reforms require new legislation or appropriations. Meanwhile, a country already polarized by election-year tensions is bracing for the long-term consequences of this radical experiment in federal power.Thank you for tuning in to this week's deep dive into Project 2025's ambitions and realities. Be sure to come back next week for more crucial stories shaping the nation.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.ai

Peter Bergen is an Emmy award winning TV Journalist and NY Times best selling author of 10 books focusing on national security issues from the Middle East. He was one of the few journalists to interview in person Osama Bin Laden. With the recent ban of women working in medicine by the Taliban, we delve into what it's like to be a woman in Afghanistan.

Very quietly, and with little public discussion, the U.S. military has undertaken a $1.5 trillion project to modernize America's nuclear triad – the planes, submarines and missiles that deliver nuclear weapons. It's one of the biggest and most expensive projects in American military history – more costly, even, than the Manhattan Project. But how necessary is this modernization effort? And what message does it send to our nuclear adversaries?Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jason Marczak, vice president and senior director of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council, and Peter Bergen, CNN's national security analyst, vice president for Global Studies and Fellows at New America and host of the Audible/Fresh Produce Media podcast "In the Room with Peter Bergen," offer analysis of President Trump's statements in his inaugural address about taking back the Panama Canal.

On today's show: Jason Marczak, vice president and senior director of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council, and Peter Bergen, CNN's national security analyst, vice president for Global Studies and Fellows at New America and host of the Audible/Fresh Produce Media podcast "In the Room with Peter Bergen," offer analysis of President Trump's statements in his inaugural address about taking back the Panama Canal.

With the rise of technology in the late 1990s, a new national security threat quickly emerged. And the U.S. government had to find a way to protect itself — and its secrets — from foreign adversaries and cybercriminals. It needed the cutting-edge technologies coming out of Silicon Valley, from startups that had never done business with the government — and probably didn't see much reason to. Enter In-Q-Tel, a non-profit venture capital firm designed to fund innovations that would meet U.S. intelligence needs. Twenty-five years later, the firm now sits on approximately $1 billion in assets. What is this strange, secretive VC firm? How does it work? And what value does it deliver to ordinary Americans? Sue Gordon, a career intelligence official and one of its founders, tells us all about it.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Financial Times columnist Ed Luce says President Donald Trump might love trade wars, but he'd rather not engage in military ones. While he acknowledges there's a lot that's unpredictable, Luce is cautiously optimistic that with unpredictability there can also be opportunity, including for peace deals. So, what might U.S. foreign policy look like over the next four years?Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In his first term, Donald Trump did more to politicize top U.S. law enforcement institutions than any U.S. President, according to journalist David Rohde. Through interviews with numerous people inside Trump's term-one FBI and Justice Department, Rohde carefully documented the impact on the FBI and DOJ during Trump round one. Join us for a conversation about what he thinks is coming in round two.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The 39th president is remembered today with great affection. That hasn't changed the popular perception of him as a failure while in office, weak and overwhelmed by events, and forever defined by the 444-day long debacle of the Iran hostage crisis. But is it time for another look—especially when it comes to the late president's foreign policy record? Because with the passage of time, Jimmy Carter's key initiatives abroad—from Central America to the Middle East, and with human rights at the center — are now looking more visionary by the day.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The job comes with all sorts of risks and responsibilities plus exposure to a lot of violence and trauma — whether that's out in a war zone or in the office, where analysts may work on cases involving horrific human rights abuses. All of that can take its toll. CIA Director William Burns has acknowledged the agency needs to do more to “take care” of its officers. You'll hear how stressful and crushing intelligence can be from former intelligence officers who did it and from the CIA's top psychologist and the CIA's new wellbeing chief, about what can be done about it. (Originally published 1/20/2024.)Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the annals of violent conflict, the decades of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland seemed especially intractable. As the long-running strife flares violently again between Israelis and Palestinians, two negotiators of the astonishing and lasting peace agreement in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s, Monica McWilliams and John Alderdice, explain what it takes to get people to sit down with their enemies and whether the path to peace in Northern Ireland offers a way forward for the Middle East.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

American Presidents have been addicted to international sanctions for much of the modern era, as a way to influence the behavior of other countries. Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Syria – all have been subject to U.S. sanctions over the past four decades. But these regimes remain as defiant of U.S. geostrategic goals as ever. This week we explore Russian yacht snatching, the impact of sanctions on the Iranian people, and how a once-obscure office inside the Treasury Department ended up putting a chokehold on national economies all over the world.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

An episode from In the Room with Peter Bergen. Longtime national security analyst Peter Bergen looks at what President-elect Trump's return to the White House will likely mean for intelligence gathering as we know it – and whether the conservative Project 2025 will turn out to be the new intelligence gathering playbook. This story was originally released before the November election.

In recent years, several high-profile abuses of power have fractured public trust in police and created a false tension between police accountability and public safety. But somewhere between a blanket defense of the police and “defund the police” lie effective solutions. Peter talks with three thoughtful, accomplished people who have worn the badge to find out what they've learned about what is broken in American policing, how to fix it, and whether some types of police work might be better left to someone else. (This episode contains strong language.)Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The FBI has had a cozy relationship with Hollywood since the days of the Bureau's first director, J. Edgar Hoover, working behind the scenes with filmmakers to burnish its image. We explore how the collaboration actually works, how extensive it is, and whether moviegoers are getting spoon-fed a sugar-coated version of the truth.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Declaring something a matter of “national security” is a great way to get people to take it seriously — and Congress to fund it. After all, what matters more than keeping the United States and its citizens safe from foreign attack? But what about the economic security of the citizenry? Or their health? President Franklin Delano Roosevelt thought those should be included too — and that if the government didn't prioritize them as national security issues, Americans might begin to look to autocrats to provide for their well-being. Was FDR right?Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After instigating violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, the alt-right movement seemed to crumble — but journalist Elle Reeve, who's been talking with them for years, says that doesn't mean their ideas have gone away. She says that their extremist ideology is actually on the rise — and has spread from the darkest corners of the internet to the heart of American politics.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When the CIA got started in 1947 it recruited women for one type of job: typing and filing. Very few women were out in the field gathering intelligence and recruiting foreign agents. But once they finally got the chance, they proved instrumental to obtaining secret codes and tracking down terrorists — despite sometimes facing discrimination and harassment. Women also found ways to use gender stereotypes to their advantage in their spycraft. Peter speaks with a former agent who entered the CIA in 1968, another who got her start just before 9/11, and the author of The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA. (Originally published 6/4/2024.)Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Från 2021. Berättelsen om hur världens mäktigaste land letade över hela jorden för att hitta världens mest eftersökte terroristledare. Nya avsnitt från P3 Dokumentär hittar du först i Sveriges Radio Play. Sent en natt lyfter två militärhelikoptrar från den amerikanska basen i Afghanistan. De åker mot staden Abbottabad, där Usama Bin Ladin ska finnas. Det har tagit USA tio år att hitta dit.Sökandet efter terroristenElitsoldaterna är väl förberedda, ändå kraschar en av helikoptrarna vid landningen. Hemma i USA har jurister förberett flera sätt att rättfärdiga operationen – som i själva verket är minst sagt tveksam när det gäller internationell lag.Medverkande: Cindy Storer, fd analytiker på amerikanska underrättelsetjänsten, CIA. Will Chesney, fd elitsoldat som medverkade under räden i Abbottabad. Peter Bergen, journalist som intervjuade Usama Bin Laden 1997. Andreas Utterström, USA-expert. Saeed Shah, journalist baserad i Pakistan. Joby Warrick, författare.En dokumentär av: Love Lyssarides. Producent: Lars Truedson/ Tredje Statsmakten. Exekutiv producent: Jon Jordås. Dokumentären är producerad 2021.

Justin Roebuck, a county clerk in the swing state of Michigan, has a license plate that says ‘'I voted.” Roebuck first began volunteering as an election worker at age 16. Now, he oversees the election process in Ottawa County. But not everyone in his county shares his faith in the voting system. Like election officials all around the United States, he's gotten accustomed to a high degree of skepticism about his integrity — and the elections he oversees. And he's on a mission to restore the trust that's been lost. So how did trust break down? And what's at stake if it can't be restored in a place like Ottawa County?Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One year ago, Maine experienced the worst mass shooting in its history. It turned out many people and institutions had known for months before that the shooter, Robert Card, was in a mental health crisis and heavily armed. One friend even alerted authorities that Card might “snap and commit a mass shooting.” Despite that knowledge — and the state's “yellow flag” gun law — 18 people were killed. Emotional testimony from an official investigation reveals the failures in a system designed to prevent this kind of violence — and how they might be avoided in the future.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For almost 40 years, Tom Blanton and the National Security Archive have used the Freedom of Information Act to dislodge and declassify U.S. government secrets, from Cold War backchannels to intelligence failures in the Middle East. Blanton's “archival activism” is about seeing the full picture, in hopes that policy makers — and the American public — can learn from past blunders. Oh, and they unearthed the backstory behind that famous picture of President Nixon and Elvis Presley in the Oval Office.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The moon landing was faked; 9/11 was an inside job — conspiracy theories like these seem to surround most major events now, even when the facts have been well established for years. These beliefs make plenty of headlines. There have also been some high profile cases of violence being committed by people espousing conspiracy theories. So why do people believe in conspiracy theories and when do they actually pose a threat?Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ronald Reagan campaigned on a slogan to “Make America Great Again” and ushered in a new era of conservatism in America. That was more than forty years ago, and his Republican Party today looks very different with Donald Trump at its helm. Does the Reagan legend — a tax cutting, government shrinking, Cold War winning optimist — stand up to close scrutiny? And how did Reaganism pave the way for Trumpism? This week's guest is Max Boot, who's just written an authoritative, wide-ranging biography of the 40th President of the United States.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Journalist and historian Anne Applebaum has been observing and writing about the rise of authoritarianism for years. And she's sounding the alarm about a growing trend: how strongmen from Russia to Venezuela are collaborating with one another in an effort to maintain their power and undermine the influence of democratic countries like the United States. So, is there anything democratic nations can do about it?Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

H.R. McMaster, a decorated lieutenant general in the U.S. Army and an historian, served as the second national security advisor to President Donald Trump. He recently published a non-partisan yet blistering account of his time in the White House. Hear what McMaster says Trump got right on foreign policy, where things went wrong, and what he thinks Trump's character would mean for a second term.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's impossible to understand the events of 9/11 without understanding Osama bin Laden. Who was he? What was he hoping to achieve with the attack? How did the U.S. track him down? And what can we learn from that story now? Three women—a CIA analyst, an FBI investigator, and a scholar who read 6,000 pages of documents recovered from bin Laden's compound after he was killed—recount how they came to know and understand Osama bin Laden. (Originally published 9/5/2023.)Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 700 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous souls Watch Kait Wyatt on MSNBC with Ali Velshi In the Room with Peter Bergen Each week, listeners are invited to join Peter as he covers topics like the Ukraine War, the Pentagon's long and schizophrenic relationship with UFOs, a rare peek inside the FBI's unit that is trying to prevent mass shootings, and a tour of the CIA's secret museum. He interviews top experts and leaders like U.S. Army General David Petraeus, Jen Easterly, who leads U.S. efforts to prevent cyberattacks, former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, the first-ever woman Afghan ambassador to the U.S. Roya Rahmani, U.S. Deputy Homeland Security Advisor Josh Geltzer, and CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward. An Audible Original. Listen on Audible, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever podcasts are found.

Peter Bergen, Vice President at the New America Foundation, CNN national security analyst, and host of In the Room with Peter Bergen, joins the podcast to discuss the foreign policy of each presidential candidate ahead of the 2024 election.

Donald Trump's relationship with the U.S. intelligence community during his time in office was often tumultuous. Now, former top Trump administration officials have put together a plan to reshape intelligence gathering should Trump return to the White House, taking aim at what they see as social engineering and a lack of loyalty to a conservative president's agenda. Several long-time intelligence officials, including the first Director of National Intelligence, weigh the pros and cons of the right-wing plan to overhaul the intelligence apparatus.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Andrew Walworth, Tom Bevan, and Carl Cannon discuss last night's television CNN interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz conducted by Dana Bash, and J.D. Vance's response to Harris' comments. They then discuss why IVF has emerged as an issue in this year's presidential contest, and Donald Trump's statement yesterday that he did not support a six-week abortion ban in Florida. Also, a look at whether the presidential debate could be derailed by disagreement over whether or not to mute the on-stage mics. Andrew Walworth and RCP White House correspondent Phil Wegmann discuss Kamala Harris' response to questions about identity politics during last night's CNN interview, and talk about President Biden's plans to return to the campaign trail next week. And then Carl Cannon talks to CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen about foreign policy challenges facing the next president.

When Ukrainian soldiers liberated the town of Bucha, Ukraine in March, 2022, news reports showed scenes of bodies lying in the streets. Human Rights Watch documented cases of summary executions. But on Russian state television, the news was presented as “fake,” a staged event. Objective reporting about the war in Ukraine is now against the law in Russia and journalists can't even use the word “war” in their stories. But it wasn't always like this. Two veteran Russian journalists, who've experienced the changes firsthand, explain what's happened and how “fake news” has helped solidify authoritarian rule in Russia. (Originally published 9/8/2023.)Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ben Rhodes, a former national security advisor to Barack Obama, has a theory. Based on interviews he did with journalists, activists, and dissidents facing anti-democratic movements around the world, he explains how right wing leaders with an authoritarian bent have exploited the downsides of globalization to seize power – and he says it's due in no small part to major blunders made by the United States.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The parallels between the 1968 Democratic National Convention and this year's are undeniable: An incumbent president dropping out of the race. A party deeply divided over a brutal war. A nation arguing over the right to free expression vs. law and order. And it's all happening again in Chicago, where in 1968 the streets around the Convention became a bloody battle between protesters and police. Is it going to be possible for the city this time around to accommodate peaceful protesters peacefully protesting? A protest organizer, an eyewitness to the violence of ‘68, and an expert on law enforcement weigh in on preparations for the convention and the lessons to be learned from that violent week in 1968. Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the wake of 9/11, a massive surveillance system quietly made its way onto our smartphones. The data of millions of Americans is for sale to the highest bidder — and it's not always clear who's buying. Here's how information about everything, from where you got a drink last night (and maybe even with whom) to where you sleep, might be available for purchase by the national security apparatus — or even your own local police department. And they don't need a warrant.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

These days when a thorny international conflict is resolved, more and more often a major player in the negotiation has been the small Persian Gulf state of Qatar. The country has made itself uniquely indispensable on the global stage by trying to play nice with pretty much everyone, including Hamas and Iran. And also by keeping on very good terms with the United States. Peter visits Qatar to see this high-wire act of diplomacy up close.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman has been thinking about the Middle East since he was 15 years old and he's been covering the region for 45 years. He remains adamant that the only way forward for Israelis and Palestinians is through a two-state solution. He tells Peter what it will take to get there.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Veteran journalist and CNN host Fareed Zakaria has made a career of putting hard questions to many of the world's most powerful people. Taking the temperature of global politics these days, he's worried democracy is on a dangerous downward slide. He explains why — and where — leaders are taking their countries down dark paths, and what can be done to rescue democracy as we know it.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You may have heard some ruckus about Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's 887-page plan to overhaul the federal government, fire thousands of career bureaucrats and bring in loyalists if Trump wins a second term. But what would this look like in practice? You'll hear from the author of one chapter of the plan who says curing what ails the US State Department should start with replacing many of its diplomats. And you'll hear why a couple of veteran US diplomats believe doing so will threaten national security.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When the CIA got started in 1947 it recruited women for one type of job: typing and filing. Very few women were out in the field gathering intelligence and recruiting foreign agents. But once they finally got the chance, they proved instrumental to obtaining secret codes and tracking down terrorists - despite sometimes facing discrimination and harassment. Women also found ways to use gender stereotypes to their advantage in their spycraft. Peter speaks with a former agent who entered the CIA in 1968, another who got her start just before 9/11, and the author of The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is the most popular leader in the world — and he's poised to win reelection to a third term. With his embrace of religious nationalism, is India's secular democracy in peril? Or is Modi just giving the country's 1.1 billion Hindus what they want?Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How could the US lose a war with China? What happens if American political divisions keep getting more extreme? And what in the world will A.I, mean for national security? These are the questions that keep the former commander of NATO, retired Admiral James Stavridis and retired Marine Captain Elliot Ackerman up at night. But unlike a lot of people in their shoes, they haven't been harrying policymakers with op-eds or whitepapers. Instead they teamed up to write a set of novels showing how badly things could go—and what the US can do to avoid a nightmarish future.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mina Al-Oraibi is the editor of The National, an English-language newspaper headquartered in Abu Dhabi. She shares how the post-October 7th news landscape looks inside the Middle East: how Hamas is viewed in the region, how much of a threat Iran poses, and why she calls the conflict in Gaza “Joe Biden's war.”Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

RFK, Jr.'s views on vaccines and his penchant for questioning official narratives have kept him on the fringes of American politics for years. But now, as a third-party presidential candidate he is polling around 10% — enough to affect the outcome of an election that is expected to be decided on a razor-thin margin. In this lengthy sit-down, first published in September, 2023, Peter probes Kennedy's unrelenting skepticism about a wide range of issues, from the war in Ukraine to the fentanyl epidemic — and whether he buys the official narratives about 9/11 and the moon landing.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Sanger thinks so. After four decades at The New York Times, he may be America's most experienced national security reporter, and he thinks superpower conflict is back. He describes how the U.S. overestimated the democratizing power of globalization, underestimated the ambitions of Russia and China, and what, if anything, can be done to counter the “grand delusion” that kept so many smart observers from seeing this new era coming.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Busloads of migrants have been arriving in northern cities for the past two years, testing the patience of some residents and bringing out empathy in others. We go to Chicago to find out what the real, local effects of this surge are — not just what the politicians with their megaphones say they are. And we explore some solutions to a problem that has become the number one issue on voters' minds in this crucial election year.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

American voters say immigration is the number one issue on their minds in this crucial presidential election year. How did we get here? In part one of this series we look at Venezuela, a country that has seen a massive exodus of its population over the past decade, many of whom end up in cities and states across the U.S.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Pentagon UFO office just released its investigation of UFO sightings going back to the 1940s. We talk with maybe the most serious historian to study UFOs, Garrett Graff, to learn what UFO questions the Pentagon investigation has laid to rest, what new questions have been raised, why it's sometimes in the interest of national security to keep information secret, and the connection Graff sees between UFO conspiracy theories and the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.