Intelligence Matters

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with the country's first National Cyber Director, Chris Inglis, about his office's mandate, its mission, and the top cyber threats facing the U.S. today. Inglis and Morell discuss the prevalence of ransomware and why countries like Russia and China might tolerate the presence of criminal hackers on their soil. Inglis also details why deterrence in cyberspace is difficult, and how the U.S. government is engaging the private sector to bolster cyber defenses. This episode was produced in partnership with the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security at George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government.

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), about the agency's mission, its workforce, and about the top strategic threats its analysts are tracking today. Morell and Berrier discuss evolving and intensifying threats from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Berrier also describes his own professional trajectory and how applicants to DIA can pursue opportunities to work in posts around the world.

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Leon Panetta and his former Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash about a range of national security threats facing the United States. The three reenact a "PDB briefing" of the sort that took place at Langley in then-Director Panetta's office. Morell, Panetta and Bash discuss the way forward in Afghanistan, the type and variety of threats posed by Vladimir Putin's Russia, the prospect of a nuclear Iran, and the long-term challenge posed by China. They also discuss domestic political divisions that could imperil U.S. stability and security. 

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Norman Roule, former senior CIA operations officer and the intelligence community's former senior officer responsible for Iran, about the state of nuclear talks with Tehran and the likely trajectory of continued international diplomatic efforts. Roule explains the recent nuclear advances Iran has made in apparent defiance of global restrictions and discusses its continued funding of proxy militias and aggression toward Israel. Morell and Roule discuss a variety of hypothetical scenarios involving military, covert and cyber actions taken against Tehran. 

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and current director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. Morell and McFaul discuss Russian President Vladimir Putin's main geopolitical objectives and personal anxieties about the West. McFaul shares behind-the-scenes details of meeting and negotiating with Putin, as well as thoughts on how the Biden administration should approach its relationship with the Kremlin.

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with David McCloskey, a former CIA analyst and author of "Damascus Station," a fictional spy novel centered on the civil war in Syria. Morell and McCloskey discuss the history of the Syrian conflict and the United States' engagement there, including key inflection points and how policy decisions made during the Obama administration paved the way for realities on the ground today. McCloskey details his time as an analyst at the agency and decision to become an author. 

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with David Robarge, Chief Historian at the CIA, about the agency’s performance during some of the most important global issues of the last 50 years. Morell and Robarge discuss the insight and warnings CIA provided at pivotal moments during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the first Gulf War, and the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Robarge explains why the CIA has at times struggled to provide adequate tactical warnings of significant developments.  

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, CBS News Intelligence and National Security Reporter Olivia Gazis interviews three top former intelligence officials about the past, present and future of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan. Panelists Michael Morell, former CIA deputy director and Intelligence Matters host, Michael Vickers, former Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and CIA operations officer, and Philip Reilly, former Chief of Operations at CIA’s Counterterrorism Center and Kabul station chief, each weigh in on the implications of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the future of the counterterrorism mission in the region. This episode was produced in partnership with the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security at George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Robert Pape, professor of political science at the University of Chicago and Director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, about the insurrectionist movement in the United States. Pape reviews the results of recent studies and polls carried out in the aftermath of the January 6 attack on the Capitol and reveals troubling findings about the breadth and depth of anti-government sentiment in the United States. He also describes why more studies are needed to prevent additional violence from targeting the 2022 midterm elections.

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell offers personal reflections in Part Two of a two-part essay on the CIA's strategic warnings before 9/11, the terror plots it helped foil in its aftermath, and its efforts on the ground in Afghanistan post-9/11. Morell offers new details about the CIA's race to gather intelligence on secondary al Qaeda plots targeting the U.S. - including the agency's behind-the-scenes engagements with leaders in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia - and explains why he believes thousands of lives were saved in the immediate post-9/11 period. He also shares his perspective on the agency's Detention and Interrogation program and how it affected CIA's public standing.