Borealis Threat & Risk Consulting
Season 4 Episode 3 – August Hanning has an interesting post-intelligence retirement plan Former heads of services talking to our enemies, Elon Musk dialing back Internet services to Ukraine…what the hell is going on? These incidents have huge implications for national security. What do three ex-spies think about this? We are sure you are dying […]
Episode 359 – The Trump administration seems to be undermining expertise If there is one thing I know about ‘expertise’ – a term that is vastly overused IMHO – is that it takes time, a lot of time to acquire. One does not become an ‘expert’ in anything overnight (no matter what Holiday Inn Express […]
Episode 358 – Why it is important to recall earlier eras of terrorism On some occasions a person arises who dominates the headlines, and not necessarily for good reasons. When it comes to bad guys, though, and more narrowly terrorists, there are few more famous than Carlos Ilyich Ramirez, i.e. Carlos the Jackal. What was […]
Season 4 Episode 2 – The next generation (X, Y, Z…) of intelligence? Another week at the virtual bar – is Neil drinking water or vodka at 11 AM? – and the boys deliver their usual combo of insight and banter into current national security issues. In this episode we discuss the US withdrawal of […]
Episode 357 – Southeast Africa has been beset by jihadis for at least two decades Mozambique does not garner a lot of attention on the world stage. The former Portuguese colony is tucked into the southeast corner of the African continent and tends to fly under the radar. And yet, like far too many African […]
Episode 356 – We do NOT need more terrorist group listings! In its never-ending quest to spread the terrorist listing wealth, the Trump Administration has made some odd moves of late. First, there was the decision to call drug cartels ‘terrorists’, despite the unfortunate reality that they are not terrorist groups but rather criminal organisations. […]
Episode 355 – The PRC keeps trying to shut people up it does not like ‘Sanction’ is one of those words that has two opposite meanings. On the one hand it means to support something; on the other it means to condemn something (or someone). In the latter case, we are usually talking about actions […]
Season 4 Episode 1 – FBI go beast mode After a summer hiatus, the retired spies are back! Al, Neil and Phil shake off the dust and dive right back in to discuss national security issues amid good-natured (?) banter. From the FBI’s new ?policy? on bestiality, to the final (!) creation of the Foreign […]
Episode 354: Note to the Trump Administration: don’t ignore far right extremism! In politics, right and left are relative terms. Most people may self-describe as ‘centrist’, but we all have issues on which we lean more right (conservative) or more left (liberal). This is all natural, but what is not – and more importantly worrisome […]
Episode 353 – The terrorist group responsible for 9/11 appears to be growing…again! As we mark the 25th anniversary of the Al Qaeda (AQ) attacks in New York and Washington there is so much to reflect upon. The failure to stop the attacks and perceived holes in US intelligence. The two-decades long war in Afghanistan […]