Overheard is the Foreign Policy Research Institute's new podcast series exploring the national security implications of intelligence activities, irregular warfare, and political warfare.
Join Philip Wasielewski, director of FPRI’s Center for the Study of Intelligence and Nontraditional Warfare, as he discusses the past, present, and future of these activities with intelligence, military, and political practitioners to discover what is new at the intersection between the craft of intelligence and the military and political arts.
New episodes are available each month on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. To be the first to know about new episodes, please subscribe to our mailing list (https://fpri.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=939db365f03b923a073fac2c3&id=e8d0f13be2) and follow us on Twitter @F (https://twitter.com/FPRI)PRI. (https://twitter.com/FPRI)
What is Irregular Warfare and why in the Pentagon is it traditionally a subject of cyclical phases of either great enthusiasm or inattention over the decades? Phil Wasielewski talks with retired Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel Mark Grdovic, author of the recent book Those Who Face Death: The Untold Story of Special Forces and the Iraqi Kurdish Resistance, as well as a just released FPRI article, Breaking the Glass Ceiling of Irregular Warfare. They will discuss the different definitions for Irregular Warfare that exist even within the Pentagon, the consequences of getting definitions wrong, and recommendations for a better understanding of what Irregular Warfare is, and possibly, what it is not.
14 Oct 2025
Al Qaeda and the Islamic State: Still Alive and Fighting in the Sahel
Listen in to Overheard as Mike DeAngelo discusses with Phil Wasielewski how militant Islamic terrorist groups are waging parallel insurgencies across western Africa, the motivations fueling these conflicts, how local African government responses sometimes just add more fuel to the fire, and why Americans should care about this little known but deadly irregular war.
15 Aug 2025
Hybrid Warfare: A Conversation with Dr. Frank Hoffman
Almost two decades ago, Frank Hoffman's writings and scholarship were instrumental in popularizing the term Hybrid Warfare. Join him in a conversation with Phil Wasielewski as the two discuss the origins of this term and concept and debate how valid both are today.
24 Jun 2025
Russian Political Warfare Operations in the Balkans
Balkan scholar Ivana Stradner analyzes Russia's political warfare operations in the Balkans with host Phil Wasielewski, exploring the potential impact of disinformation and covert actions on regional peace and stability in this interview.
3 Apr 2025
Where and Why to Spy?
How does the Intelligence Community focus its collection and analysis? Retired CIA officers Norman Roule and Yong Suk Lee discuss how intelligence collection among America's 18 separate intelligence agencies is planned and coordinated and how that collection is analyzed and presented to policymakers. Join in to learn how the intelligence collection process works and the role of policymakers from two former senior CIA officials with a combined half-century of experience in the intelligence field.
21 Feb 2025
Local Forces and Counterinsurgency Campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq
In this edition of Overheard, Phil Wasielewski talks to Dr. Arturo Munoz and Dr. Diane Zorri about the academic papers they presented at last year's FPRI-sponsored conference on Lessons Learned from post-9/11 Irregular Wars. The three will discuss how America used or improperly used local police and militia forces in counterinsurgency campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq and now to do better in the future.
Related reading:
Iraq’s Unfinished War: Security in the Post-Saddam Era by Diane Zorri (https://www.fpri.org/article/2025/02/iraqs-unfinished-war-security-in-the-post-saddam-era/)
The Rise and Fall of Afghanistan’s Local Defense Forces by Arturo Munoz (https://www.fpri.org/article/2025/01/the-rise-and-fall-of-afghanistans-local-defense-forces/)
5 Dec 2024
Russian Political Warfare and the Georgian and Moldovan Elections
Phil Wasielewski explores Russia's manipulation of voting and voter sentiments in Georgia and Moldova with FPRI Senior Fellow Batu Kutelia and Moldova expert William Hill, revealing Moscow's tactics of voter intimidation and vote buying.
14 Oct 2024
The Espionage Act versus the First Amendment
Was the June 2024 conviction of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for violating the Espionage Act a victory for national security or a defeat for freedom of the press? What are the rights but also the responsibilities that journalists and media organizations have with regards to publishing classified information? CNN journalist Jill Dougherty, FPRI Senior Fellow George Croner, and national security legal expert Jim Petrila join Overheard to discuss this issue and the implications for national security and the First Amendment.
19 Aug 2024
Russia's Other War in Europe
The Overheard podcast discusses Russian political warfare operations and objectives in Georgia and Moldova with the people who are fighting back against Moscow's efforts. Join Philip Wasielewski as he discusses Russia's covert war in its former Soviet space with Batu Kutelia, David Sikharulidze, Valeriu Pasa, and Sergehi Ostaf as they tell in their own words what Russian political warfare is doing to their countries' sovereignty and independence.
16 Jul 2024
Lessons Learned from the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004
On the 20th anniversary year of the legislation creating the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Phil Wasielewski discusses with former acting Director of Central Intelligence John McLaughlin and former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon the effects of this law and what impact it has had on the Intelligence Community.
14 Jun 2024
An American Irregular Warfare Success Story: OSS Detachment 101 in Burma During WWII
Phil Wasielewski and US Army Special Operations Command historian Troy Sacquety explore how the Office of Strategic Services waged a little known but strategically impactful irregular war against the Japanese army in Burma with the help of local guerrilla fighters and how lessons learned from this campaign can be applied today.
1 May 2024
Irregular Warfare in Afghanistan
This week Phil Wasielewski is joined by retired Special Forces colonel Hy Rothstein to discuss irregular warfare in Afghanistan, lessons learned, and lessons that still need to be learned.
3 Apr 2024
The American Way of Irregular Warfare: An Interview with LTG (Ret) Charles T. Cleveland
Join host Philip Wasielewski for a discussion with General Cleveland on lessons learned in irregular warfare operations during his career in Special Forces.
21 Mar 2024
Political Warfare Toolbox: Russia
Thomas Kent, former president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, joins host Philip Wasielewski to discuss Russian nontraditional warfare operations against the West.
2 Feb 2024
Political Warfare Toolbox: Iran
FPRI Senior Fellow Chris Bolan joins host Philip Wasielewski to discuss Iranian nontraditional warfare operations against the US interests in the Middle East.
18 Dec 2023
Political Warfare Toolbox: China
Political warfare, which FPRI defines as the overt or covert employment of elements of national power including cyber, economic, financial, informational, paramilitary, and political statecraft tools, short of declared war, against a hostile state or non-state actor to achieve political goals, was the essence of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States from 1947-1991. Today, some say another Cold War using political warfare tools is underway between Communist China and the United States but that only China is fighting it. This episode discusses Chinese political warfare operations against the United States with Dr. Seth Jones, Vice President of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who has just completed a major study on this topic.
30 Oct 2023
Surprise Attack: Understanding the Challenges of Intelligence Analysis
The horrors of Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023 are compounded by the shock that Israel’s vaunted intelligence services were seemingly caught unawares after decades of exceptional performance. In this two-part series, the Overheard podcast addresses the challenges of predicting and preventing surprise attacks from the perspectives of intelligence collection, analysis, and interaction with policy makers.
In part two, Phil Wasielewski speaks with Bruce Riedel and Nathan Dietrich, both former CIA analysts, about the challenges related to analyzing all-source information to prevent surprise attacks and issues of communicating warnings between an intelligence community and its policy makers.
Listen to part one here. (https://www.fpri.org/multimedia/2023/10/surprise-attack-understanding-the-challenges-of-intelligence-collection/)
Upcoming Event
Join us for the 17th Annual Benjamin Franklin Award Celebration on December 13th, featuring a discussion with Phebe Novakovic and H.R. McMaster on the future of technology and national security. Click here for more information. (https://www.fpri.org/event/2023/the-future-of-technology-and-national-security-the-17th-benjamin-franklin-award-celebration/)
23 Oct 2023
Surprise Attack: Understanding the Challenges of Intelligence Collection
The horrors of Hamas' terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023 are compounded by the shock that Israel's vaunted intelligence services were seemingly caught unawares after decades of exceptional performance. In this two-part series, the Overheard podcast addresses the challenges of predicting and preventing surprise attacks from the perspectives of intelligence collection, analysis, and interaction with policy makers.
In part one, Carol Rollie Flynn, FPRI President and 30 year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), joins Phil Wasielewski to discuss the challenges of intelligence collection to prevent surprise attacks.
Join us for the 17th Annual Benjamin Franklin Award Celebration on December 13th, featuring a discussion with Phebe Novakovic and H.R. McMaster on the future of technology and national security. Click here for more information. (https://www.fpri.org/event/2023/the-future-of-technology-and-national-security-the-17th-benjamin-franklin-award-celebration/)
16 Oct 2023
What Is FISA Section 702? Understanding a Critical National Security Tool
On the inaugural episode of the Overheard podcast, Philip Wasielewski is joined by George Croner and Kristi Scott to discuss the history, implementation and strategic importance of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702. Their conversation also touches on controversies surrounding the act, and implications for national security if Congress fails to renew it at the end of this year.
Related Reading: Key US Intelligence Tool Set to Expire (https://www.fpri.org/article/2023/09/the-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-courts-last-word-before-section-702-expires/)
Join us for the 17th Annual Benjamin Franklin Award Celebration on December 13th, featuring a discussion with Phebe Novakovic and H.R. McMaster on the future of technology and national security. Click here for more information. (https://www.fpri.org/event/2023/the-future-of-technology-and-national-security-the-17th-benjamin-franklin-award-celebration/)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 19 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
26
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
30
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