On 3 January 2020, the United States killed Iran’s top spy master, Major General Qasem Soleimani, in a drone strike in Iraq.

There was nothing grey or ambiguous about the assassination, but this episode explores the escalating grey zone hostilities between Iran and the United States in the preceding years and how they almost ignited a real war.

Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes explores in particular how Iran allegedly uses proxy forces in the grey zone, under the threshold of war, to try to level the playing field when competing with a super power.

Interviews:
General David Petraeus, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency
John Raine, Senior Adviser for Geopolitical Due Diligence, International Institute for Strategic Studies
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Conservative MP and former UK defence minister. She now serves as energy minister
Fabian Picardo, Chief Minister of Gibraltar
Anonymous Iraqi MP
Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English Literature and Orientalism, University of Tehran
Major General Amos Yadlin, a former chief of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate

Credits:
Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
Edited and produced by Chris Scott
Production support from Michael Greenfield
The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

In their first joint interview, the director of the UK spy agency GCHQ and the top general in charge of cyber operations for the military talk about how the UK is using the power of cyber to push back against adversaries with the creation of a whole new National Cyber Force.

Jeremy Fleming and General Sir Patrick Sanders also reveal new details about how the UK used offensive cyber in the fight against Islamic State, attacking the terrorist group’s ability to fly drones, use their mobile phones and spread online propaganda.

We also hear from a woman who was once described as the UK’s best offensive cyber spy.

Sally Walker has since left GCHQ and says she is choosing to speak out – now she’s once again a member of the public – to help generate a wider debate about the cyber grey zone.

Interviews:
Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ
General Sir Patrick Sanders, commander of Strategic Command
Sally Walker, cyber expert
Tobias Elwood, Conservative MP, chair of the defence select committee and former foreign officer and defence minister

Credits:
Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
Edited and produced by Chris Scott
Production support from Michael Greenfield
The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

States, criminals and terrorists all use cyber to attack each other in the grey zone. It puts anyone with a computer in the firing line, but also means that anyone who understands computers has the ability to fight back.

This episode explores a range of cyber threats from espionage up to attacks that cause physical harm, such as by targeting hospitals or electricity supplies.

Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes also speaks to a young computer expert called Marcus Hutchins who helped to stop one of the worst known cyber attacks to hit the UK.

The National Health Service was one of the main victims of the May 2017 WannaCry attack, blamed on North Korea. Pyongyang has denied involvement.

Interviews:
Ciaran Martin, former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre
Paul Chichester, director of operations at the National Cyber Security Centre
Marietje Schaake, international director of policy at Stanford’s Cyber Policy Centre
Harold Thimbleby, professor of computer science at Swansea University
Marcus Hutchins, computer security expert

Credits:
Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
Edited and produced by Chris Scott
Production support from Sophia McBride and Michael Greenfield
The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

This episode looks at the grey zone weapon of hacking information – like private emails or documents – and then leaking it online to try to influence people or damage reputations.

It is a tactic Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, is accused of using to target the US presidential election in 2016 and the French election in 2017.

Moscow has denied involvement.

Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes also talks about how she was impacted in a suspected hack and leak against a British organisation that ran a programme, called the Integrity Initiative, aimed at countering suspected Russian disinformation.

Interviews:
Paul Chichester, director of operations at the National Cyber Security Centre
Chris Donnelly, founder of the Institute for Statecraft
“Hawk”, a Lithuanian man, who volunteers as an “elf” to fight the online “trolls”
Keir Giles, author of a handbook on Russian information warfare for NATO, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House
Thomas Rid, professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University, author of Active Measures – the secret history of disinformation and political warfare
Ben Nimmo, head of investigations at Graphika

Credits:
Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
Edited and produced by Chris Scott
Additional voice provided by Matt Steele
The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

This episode explores a battle between truth and lies that’s threatening democracies around the world. It looks at how information is used as a weapon, not just by hostile foreign states, seeking to divide and weaken rival nations, but also by domestic politicians and other actors.

Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes speaks to the author of a book on the history of disinformation, Professor Thomas Rid , who talks about fake news during the Cold War and warns about the risk of political violence today when people can no longer agree on facts.

It’s a warning that played out on the streets of Washington DC in January when supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol building, spurred on by a false belief that Joe Biden had stolen his way to victory in the 2020 presidential election.

Deborah also visits one of the UK’s best-known fighters of suspected Russian and Chinese fake news, who battles online trolls from his remote cottage in Scotland. And if you think that sounds strange, remember, in the grey zone, the frontline is everywhere!

Interviews:
Thomas Rid, professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University, author of Active Measures – the secret history of disinformation and political warfare
Linas Linkevicius, foreign minister of Lithuania until December 2020
Keir Giles, author of a handbook on Russian information warfare for NATO, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House
Daniel Jones, founder and president of Advance Democracy
Ben Nimmo, head of investigations at Graphika
Ben Wallace, United Kingdom’s defence secretary
Kate Jones, director of Oxford University’s diplomatic studies programme.

Credits:
Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
Edited and produced by Chris Scott
Production support from Sophia McBride and Victoria Seabrook
Additional voices provided by Cayetano Delgado
The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

This episode seeks to explain what the grey zone is. It includes a warning from General Sir Nick Carter, the head of the UK’s armed forces, and Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, about the danger of ignoring attacks in this murky space, while Lieutenant General Graeme Lamb, a former director of UK special forces, warns: “We’re being boiled like a frog!”

Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes then travels to Salisbury with the widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko to visit the site of one of the most high profile grey zone attacks – the poisoning of another ex-Russian agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia.

Lord Mark Sedwill, a former national security adviser, talks about how he led the UK’s response to nerve agent poisoning and the fake news that followed.

Finally, Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative website Bellingcat, describes how he and his team revealed the true identities of the Russian military intelligence officers named by the UK as prime suspects in the attempted assassination. Russia denies involvement.

Interviews:

General Sir Nick Carter, chief of the defence staff

Ben Wallace, defence secretary

Lord Mark Sedwill, former UK national security adviser, former cabinet secretary

Lieutenant General (retired) Graeme Lamb, former director of UK special forces

Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko

Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative website Bellingcat

Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former commanding officer of the UK’s Joint, Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment

Credits:
Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
Edited and produced by Chris Scott
Production support from Sophia McBride and Victoria Seabrook
Additional voices provided by Cayetano Delgado
The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

What do assassinations, cyber hacks and disinformation have in common? They’re all weapons used by states against each other in a grey zone of harm that sits - deliberately - under the threshold of war, but could be just as dangerous if ignored.

Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes explores this often invisible battlefield, where anything can be - and is - used as a weapon and anyone, anywhere can be a target.

The series examines grey zone assaults; from the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the UK and the killing of a nuclear scientist in Iran; to attempts to influence elections in the United States; and a suspected North Korean cyber-attack on the NHS.

The podcast also includes interviews with spies and military chiefs who warn about the threat to daily life if attacks in the grey zone go unpunished.

In the words of one former head of the UK’s special forces: “We’re being boiled like a frog!”

Credits:
Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
Edited and produced by Chris Scott
Production support from Sophia McBride and Victoria Seabrook
Additional voices provided by Cayetano Delgado
The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris