Surprise Attack: Understanding the Challenges of Intelligence Analysis

An episode of the Overheard podcast, hosted by Foreign Policy Research Instit, titled "Surprise Attack: Understanding the Challenges of Intelligence Analysis" was published on October 30, 2023 and runs 36 minutes.

October 30, 2023 ·36m · Overheard

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Summary

The horrors of Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023 are compounded by the shock that Israel’s vaunted intelligence services were seemingly caught unawares after decades of exceptional performance. In this two-part series, the Overheard podcast addresses the challenges of predicting and preventing surprise attacks from the perspectives of intelligence collection, analysis, and interaction with policy makers. In part two, Phil Wasielewski speaks with Bruce Riedel and Nathan Dietrich, both former CIA analysts, about the challenges related to analyzing all-source information to prevent surprise attacks and issues of communicating warnings between an intelligence community and its policy makers.Listen to part one here. Upcoming EventJoin us for the 17th Annual Benjamin Franklin Award Celebration on December 13th, featuring a discussion with Phebe Novakovic and H.R. McMaster on the future of technology and national security. Click here for more information.

Episode Description

The horrors of Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023 are compounded by the shock that Israel’s vaunted intelligence services were seemingly caught unawares after decades of exceptional performance. In this two-part series, the Overheard podcast addresses the challenges of predicting and preventing surprise attacks from the perspectives of intelligence collection, analysis, and interaction with policy makers.

In part two, Phil Wasielewski speaks with Bruce Riedel and Nathan Dietrich, both former CIA analysts, about the challenges related to analyzing all-source information to prevent surprise attacks and issues of communicating warnings between an intelligence community and its policy makers.

Listen to part one here.

Upcoming Event

Join us for the 17th Annual Benjamin Franklin Award Celebration on December 13th, featuring a discussion with Phebe Novakovic and H.R. McMaster on the future of technology and national security. Click here for more information.