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Perspectives

Protecting National Security Takes More Than Just Adding a Group to the Terrorist List

This piece first appeared in The Epoch Times Canada on December 3, 2024 In the post 9/11 period, a new tool was made available for the Canadian government in the ill-named “war on terrorism.” It is not as if we had not experienced terrorism before that fateful day (the FLQ crisis in 1970 and the […]

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Perspectives

What if there are no (easy) answers to terrorism?

One of the things you notice about kids, especially younger ones, is their proclivity to ask ‘why’. At times, this habit can get a little annoying as the little tots seem to question the reason behind just about everything. As a grandfather of a 3-yr old boy, I can attest to how many ‘whys’ come […]

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Podcast Spies Like Us

Is New Orleans a harbinger for 2025?

Season 2 Episode 17 In the first episode of 2025 the guys talk about the New Orleans terrorist attack and weigh in on their own concerns for national security and public safety in the coming year. Alternate link

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Podcast Quick Hits

What have we learned from the New Orleans attack?

Episode 258 – While every attack is different there are some familiar characteristics here Another vehicular attack, another round of questions on what happened and why. The families of those killed and injured in an ISIS-inspired incident want answers on why this occurred, what was known, and why it was not stopped. Was there anything […]

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Podcast Quick Hits

2025 has barely begun and we already have what appears to be an ISIS attack…in the US

Episode 257 – What does a vehicular attack in New Orleans tell us about terrorism on a global scale? New Year’s Eve is supposed to be a happy time, ushering out the old year and welcoming the new. For partygoers and revelers in New Orleans it was anything but. A truck rammed into people after […]

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Podcast Quick Hits

What to watch on the terrorism landscape in 2025

Episode 256 – Terrorism is with us to stay unfortunately I would imagine most people are sick of hearing about terrorism. We read and view reports on a daily basis where individuals and groups carry out attacks or, more hopefully, are foiled by law enforcement and security intelligence agencies. Enough is enough, right? Alas, likely […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

How does the intelligence cookie get made?

Episode 251 – What good is intelligence if it is not passed on to decision makers? Those who work in intelligence have a tough job. Whether it is HUMINT, SIGINT, IMINT or any other ‘INT’, the data is vast and must be collected, processed, tested for accuracy, corroborated, analysed and put into short product so […]

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Podcast Quick Hits

There is no need to play the racist card over speculation

Episode 255 – Why can’t we all get along in the terrorism studies field? In many areas it is acceptable to put forward a hypothesis, based on what is known, and see where it goes. Honest practitioners will change that idea once new information is made available, and not hold to it in the face […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

Who is fighting back against the Taliban?

Episode 250 – The Taliban has an opponent: here’s to their success! Ever since the Taliban retook Afghanistan in the fall of 2021 news out of that nation has been solidly negative. Public executions have been reinstated. Women’s rights are as bad now as they were when the Taliban (Taliban 1.0) took power in 2001. […]

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Podcast Quick Hits

Is an act of violence terrorism if there is no underlying coherent ideology?

Episode 254 – Is the Magdeburg Christmas market attack an other example of ‘cafeteria terrorism’? Another mass gathering, another vehicular attack, this time in Magdeburg, Germany. This is a trend, especially amongst Islamist jihadis (Nice, Barcelona, London, Berlin…) in recent years. This case is different, though, as the alleged motive of the alleged attacker seems, […]