Episodes

Apr 5, 2024

Investigative journalists Christo Grozev, Roman Dobrokhotov and Michael Weiss have been looking into the Havana Syndrome since 2020. They initially approached the topic skeptically, questioning the capability of any government to carry out such a mass global attack. However, they discovered a document linking a Russian military unit to the Havana weapon, which sparked their investigation. They have been gathering evidence of overlaps between the travel of members of this unit and incidents related to the Havana Syndrome. The journalists have presented a prosecution case, highlighting motive, means, and opportunity, and are calling for the U.S. government to act as a defense attorney for the accused criminals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 22, 2024

Last week, reports surfaced of a teacher in Estonia who was charged with spying for Russia. Host Michael Weiss discusses this as well as the state of the Russia/Ukraine war with former President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves and former CIA Intelligence Officer, Dan Hoffman. Don’t miss this vital discussion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 9, 2023

All eyes are on Israel and Gaza as the conflict threatens to spread throughout the region. But how have the key regional actors responded? Michael Weiss is joined by Faysal Itani, the Director of the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, to dissect what the key players in the Middle East have been doing and what the future could hold for the region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 30, 2023

Michael’s guest this week is Dr. Anthony (Tony) Tingle, Program Director of the Institute for Future Conflict at the United States Air Force Academy where he oversees research on regional conflict and military technology including artificial intelligence, cyber, and biotechnology. Their conversation centers around Ukraine and the extraordinary footage captured by Tony during a recent trip to Ukraine. They touch on what’s working and what isn’t as well as provide an outlook on what to expect over the next 12 months of the war. They also touch on Israel and their battle with Hamas. Don’t miss it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 28, 2023

Michael’s guest this week is Australian Retired General Mick Ryan. Mick is a military analyst who served in the ADF for more than 35 years and was commander of the Australia Defence College. He is the author of War Transformed and an adjunct fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC. Michael and MIck discuss the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war and what could be in store for the coming months. Don’t miss it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 26, 2023

On this special episode of Foreign Office, Michael is joined by Roman Dobrokhotov, a Russian investigative journalist, political scientist and former activist and Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian investigative journalist and author and the lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat, focusing on security threats, extraterritorial clandestine operations, and the weaponization of information. The three discuss the alleged assassination of former Wagner Group Leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 21, 2023

Sweden is set to join NATO as Turkey drops their objections. They’ve also been staunch supporters of Ukraine in the effort against Russia. To understand Sweden’s role on the international stage, Michael speaks with Martin Kragh, Deputy Center Director of the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS) and Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs. Kragh's research interests include Russia's economy and history, but also the political development in Russia and the former USSR. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 3, 2023

Michael’s guest this week is Calder Walton, Assistant Director of the Belfer Center's Applied History Project and Intelligence Project at the Harvard Kennedy School and author of the book, “Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West. Michael and Calder discuss the history of espionage between Russia and the United States and they touch on Michael’s upcoming book on the GRU. Don’t miss it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 10, 2023

This week, Michael sits down with Estonia’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Kaimo Kuusk, who has been in the post since 2019. Ambassador Kuusk will soon become the Ambassador to Lithuania, but before he takes his new post, he discusses the Ukrainian counteroffensive, the US decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine and his thoughts on Russia and Putin after the Wagner Group’s mutiny. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 3, 2023

Michael’s guest this week is Pierre Vaux, a researcher specializing in open-source investigations, conducting digital forensic analysis of hostile state activity, disinformation and extremism. As a journalist, he has covered the Ukraine war and the Russian military intervention in Syria since their beginnings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 26, 2023

Michael Weiss is on assignment this week. In light of this weekend's events, we're bringing you an episode from the Foreign Office archive. Bellingcat's Christo Grozev on what the latest disclosures out of Bulgaria and Czechia tell us about GRU Unit 29155. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 19, 2023

Michael’s guest this week is Pekka Kallioniemi, a postdoctoral researcher working in the field of human-computer interaction at Tampere University. He is the creator and author of Vatnik Soup , a Twitter thread series (and a hashtag!) where he introduces pro-Russian actors and propagandists from around the world, be they so-called "independent journalists", politicians, military personnel or just regular grifters looking to make some easy money. As is typical with Michael’s guests, Pekka brings perspectives that you won’t hear anywhere else. Tune In! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 5, 2023

Michael’s guest this week is James Rushton, a journalist at Yahoo News who is covering the Ukraine-Russia war from his home in Kyiv. He’s been reporting amidst air raid sirens and other challenges and is extremely well-placed on the front lines of the war to tell you what is happening in the country. His experience and perspective on all things Ukraine is not to be missed. Tune In. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 30, 2023

Michael’s guest this week is Jennifer Cafarella, the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Jennifer and her team of analysts have been providing detailed reports and interactive maps each day since the war began on both Russian and Ukrainian positions. If you’re interested in what’s really happening in Ukraine, don’t miss this conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 22, 2023

This week, Michael’s guest is Jack Margolin, an independent journalist and researcher with a particular focus on private Russian military companies, including Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group. Michael and Jack discuss the motivation behind Prigozhin’s recent comments on Putin’s military and what is behind his provocations. Jack is one of the leading experts when it comes to Wagner and this conversation is not to be missed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 15, 2023

This week, Michael’s guest is Andrei Kozyrev, who was the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation under President Boris Yeltsin. In his position, he was credited with developing Russia's foreign policy immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union. Now living in the United States for the past 12 years or so, he’s been an outspoken critic of Putin and the War in Ukraine. His precise location remains a secret, but through the magic of Zoom, Michael spent 45 minutes discussing the current state of the war. HIs perspectives are definitely worth a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 8, 2023

After a brief hiatus, host Michael Weiss is back, fresh off a trip to Ukraine. He, along with special guest, former CIA Intelligence Officer Marc Polymeropoulos, discuss what's actually happening in Ukraine from interviews with military sources who are actually fighting the battles. Don't miss this timely, insightful conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 3, 2023

This week, host Michael Weiss sits down with Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at Kings College, London and author of a new book, “Command: The Politics of Military Operations from Korea to Ukraine,” to discuss the latest in the Ukraine War. Sir Lawrence has written numerous articles about war strategy in general and his commentary and analysis on the war in Ukraine has been highly sought after. Don’t miss this insightful conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 23, 2023

Michael Weiss discusses the strategic importance of Bakhmut and the large Ukrainian military strategy with Mykola Bielieskov, Research Fellow at National Institute for Strategic Studies under UA President/senior analyst at Come Back Alive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 13, 2023

The former Illinois Representative talks war — both abroad and at home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 21, 2023

Renee DiResta of the Stanford Internet Observatory on the latest attempts to retcon Russia’s election interference Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 15, 2023

Yahoo contributor James Rushton and 'The Killer in the Kremlin' John Sweeney on covering the war from Ukraine and what to expect next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 6, 2023

U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jahara Matisek explains the debate around sending Western jets to Kyiv. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 30, 2023

Eliot Cohen, Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, explains why he's optimistic Ukraine will win. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 23, 2023

Author Owen Mathews on his latest book Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 8, 2022

Gen. Mick Ryan explains how Ukraine has handled Western weapons platforms, and why it's wisely gone back to a war of "corrosion" against Russian forces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 1, 2022

What’s behind Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s sacking of his SBU chief and Prosecutor General? Ukrainian journalist Viktor Kovalenko explains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 26, 2022

How a dog avatar became a meme that chased a Russian ambassador off Twitter (for a while). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 21, 2022

Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropolous discusses the capture of a GRU illegal trying to infiltrate the ICC -- and whether or not former National Security Adviser John Bolton could really plan a "coup." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 2, 2022

War reporter Danny Gold on his time at Ukraine’s eastern front Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 26, 2022

Benjamin Tallis explains the Sholz government's wobbliness on Ukraine and why old habits die hard in Berlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 16, 2022

Nathan Ruser combined open source intelligence and cartography to offer a more precise and explanatory visual of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 10, 2022

James Rushton, an independent national security analyst, on the Western weapons systems sent to help Ukraine defend the Donbas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 13, 2022

Evgenia Kara-Murza talks about her husband Vladimir's latest arrest in Moscow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 4, 2022

Phillips O'Brien, a professor a strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, on why so many overestimated Russia's military capability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 16, 2022

Olexander Scherba, Ukraine's former ambassador to Vienna, on why his country will never be like Austria. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 13, 2022

Russian journalists Andrei Soldatov on how the FSB’s Fifth Service is taking the blame for failure in Ukraine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 7, 2022

Pavlo Kalyuk, the community organizer for Podil, explains why he isn't leaving Ukraine's besieged capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 2, 2022

British journalist John Sweeney reports from Ukraine's besieged capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 23, 2022

Agnieszka Legucka recently returned from Eastern Ukraine, offers her perspective of what happens next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 23, 2022

Peter Pomerantsev and Vladislav Davidson discuss the messaging about an intending Russian invasion of Ukraine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 7, 2022

Hybrid War Expert Liubov Tsybulska on how Russia’s “imminent” invasion is already underway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 24, 2022

Robert Lee, a Russian military analyst, says Putin's buildup at Ukraine's borders means only one thing: an invasion is coming. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 10, 2022

Human rights lawyer Steve Swerdlow and scholar Diana Kudaibergenova on the recent turmoil in the Central Asian republic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 30, 2021

Journalists Holger Roonemaa and Mattias Carlsson discuss their joint investigation with @foreignoffpod into the notorious Russian mercenary corps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 20, 2021

National security attorney Mark Zaid explains the US government’s indictments of the Wikileaks founder, history of the Espionage Act, and why this case is unique. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 31, 2021

Newlines Institute senior analyst Rasha Al Qeedi dissects the results of the last election and how the country has changed since America's invasion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 28, 2021

Ambassador Daniels Fried on why the US keeps making the same mistakes with Russia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 18, 2021

Attorney Jonathan Reich explains how financial safeguards against criminality are being used to target Russian dissidents and exiles from Putin's regime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 1, 2021

Hungarian writer Peter Kreko explains how a Central European country of ten million became the lodestar for a new breed of North American conservative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 31, 2021

Atlantic contributor and USA Today columnist Tom Nichols discusses America's political and cultural dysfunction, and why there may not be a cure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 30, 2021

A scholar and expert on Afghanistan Kamran Bokhari explains how various countries will respond to the Taliban takeover, and what to do about ISIS-K. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 28, 2021

Former US Army intelligence officer Michael Pregent on the terrorist threat from Afghanistan in the wake of two horrific suicide bombings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 20, 2021

Mike Nelson, a U.S. war veteran and visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University, discusses the pullout from Afghanistan. And America's place in the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 18, 2021

Journalist and author Wesley Morgan explains how Afghans integral to the U.S. war effort have been left to a grim fate in a Taliban-run country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 17, 2021

Afghanistan scholar and professor at the US Naval Postgraduate School Thomas Johnson explains how America bungled its longest war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 13, 2021

Russia's former deputy energy minister discusses the political situation in Russia, and why Putin isn't as strong as he looks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 11, 2021

Author Vladislav Davidzon on a decade of writing about (and for) Ukraine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 4, 2021

Veteran Russia expert James Sherr discusses the recent policy pivot on Nord Stream 2, and what the West doesn't understand when dealing with Moscow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 21, 2021

Historian and biographer Owen Mathews on how Soviet master spy Richard Sorge infiltrated the Third Reich. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 21, 2021

Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos on being a victim of directed energy attacks, U.S. Russian relations, and his new book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 26, 2021

Former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicious discusses Belarus's hijacking of a commercial plane, and what the West needs to do about Minsk (and Moscow). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 24, 2021

Andrei Sannikov, a former Belarusian presidential candidate, explains Alexander Lukashenko's crazy plot to arrest a journalist by hijacking a RyanAir plane. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 19, 2021

National security reporter Tom Rogan on why the CIA isn't giving up on the GRU 'bounties' claim, and on alleged directed energy attacks against Americans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 5, 2021

Czech analyst Jakub Janda on how Russian state terrorism on NATO soil has upended Prague's relationship with Moscow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 4, 2021

Bellingcat's Christo Grozev on what the latest disclosures out of Bulgaria and Czechia tell us about GRU Unit 29155. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 26, 2021

Nerma Jelacic, director of External Relations and Communications at Commission for International Justice and Accountability, explains how her NGO unmasked a Russian-back disinformation network on Syria — by pretending to be a Russian spy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 19, 2021

RFE/RL’s Mike Eckel explains how the latest US sanctions on Russia advance what Mueller alleged about the Trump campaign’s ties to Moscow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 12, 2021

USIP Russia Director Don Jensen weighs the possible reason for Russia’s military buildup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 29, 2021

Analyst Monika Richter explains how Chinese government threats got an EU report on COVID-19 disinformation censored. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 22, 2021

Johns Hopkins scholar and “Active Measures” author Thomas Rid on the DNI report on Russian meddling and how 2020 is different from 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 15, 2021

Wired journalist Andy Greenberg on the SolarWinds hack and why cyberespionage is not cyber warfare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 8, 2021

Benjamin Schmitt, an energy security expert, argues Nord Stream 2 can and should be cancelled. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 25, 2021

Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats — on Amnesty International’s decision to revoke Navalny’s prisoner of conscious status. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 23, 2021

Andrea Chalupa, screenwriter of "Mr. Jones," on what inspired her to memorialize the journalist who uncovered Ukraine's terror-famine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 15, 2021

Senior Fellow at the European Values Center for Security Policy Nathalie Vogel on why the EU let the Kremlin humiliate it — again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 8, 2021

The deputy editor of Newlines magazine Faysal Itani on the murder of Lebanese activist Lokman Slim and what America can and cannot do in the Middle East. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 4, 2021

Former CIA Officer John Sipher discusses the grey area between Russian informant and Russian agent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 14, 2021

Journalist Marcy Wheeler explains the U.S. government's charges against the Wikileaks founder, and why Britain refused to extradite him to America to face them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 19, 2020

Christo Grozev, the Bellingcat journalist who unmasked Alexey Navalny’s hit squad, explains how he did it, and what it says about Putin’s security state. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 17, 2020

Foreign policy analyst Damir Marusic on why a Biden presidency won't necessarily change much. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 8, 2020

Former Biden adviser and Russia expert Michael Carpenter discusses his coauthored articles with President-Elect Joe Biden and what to expect from the new administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 1, 2020

Award-winning journalist Simon Ostrovsky reports from Nagorno-Karabakh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 11, 2020

As Joe Biden crept to victory, Estonia's former President Toomas Henrik Ilves explained how much of Europe saw this election -- and what it expects and (doesn't expect) from America going forward Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 26, 2020

FireEye's John Hultquist explains the U.S. government's newly unsealed indictment about the GRU's devastating hacking operations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 19, 2020

Tim Weiner, the acclaimed historian of the CIA, discusses his new book on American-Russian political warfare, from the Cold War till now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 12, 2020

Time magazine's Simon Shuster discusses the ongoing Kremlin disinformation campaign involving individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Government Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 1, 2020

In this episode, Vladimir Kara-Murza, vice president of Free Russia Foundation, recounts his own poisoning (twice) while traveling in Russia and what the FBI will has and hasn't told him about what it knows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 28, 2020

Russian journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan discuss Russia's history of poisonings in light of the Navalny case and why the use of a signature toxin such as Novichok implicates Vladimir Putin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 21, 2020

In our pilot episode, Michael interviews Anton Shekhovtsov, an expert on the European far-right and the Russian government's ties to it. They discuss their jointly written essay for The Daily Beast, drawn from a still-classified KGB training manual, about the false-flag recruitment of an adviser to the Austrian chancellery in the late 1950s and early 1960s by a particularly resourceful Soviet double agent "Safo." Also, the stunning revelations about a Wirecard executive, Austria's first expulsion of a Russian intelligence officer, and why Vienna has the well-earned reputation of being the spy capital of Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices