Summary

Shane Harris (Twitter, LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the role of intelligence in the Ukraine conflict one year after it began. Shane reports on intelligence for the Washington Post and is the author of two books.

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

Where we are with the war in Ukraine
The role intelligence agencies are playing in the conflict
The leadership of Zelensky and Putin
What it’s like to report on spies
Dealing with sources inside the intelligence agencies

Reflections

The tenacity of the Ukrainian people and army
History as both repetitive and unpredictable

Episode Notes

This week on SpyCast, Shane Harris of The Washington Post joins Andrew to reflect on the previous year and discuss the role of intelligence within the war in Ukraine. He has been writing about these issues for more than two decades, including a period with the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of two books, The Watchers, on the rise of surveillance in the US, and @War, on the rise of the military-internet complex. He was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2021.

Quote of the Week

“At the outset, [I] believed that what we were looking at was probably a pretty swift Russian victory … They would come in, they would decapitate the central government in Kiev in the first 72 hours, and it would be bloody, and it would be violent, but that Russia would prevail because they were deemed to have the superior military in terms of technology experience numbers. Turns out, all those things were spectacularly wrong.” – Shane Harris.

Resources

SpyCasts

How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Spy Game with Mike Susong (2023)
Dealing with Russia A Conversation with Counterintelligence Legend Jim Olson (2022)
Becoming a Russian Intelligence Officer with Janosh Neumann (2022)
The Information Battlespace: Foreign Denial and Deception with Bill Parquette (2022)

Beginner Resources

Has Putin's war failed and what does Russia want?, P. Kirby, BBC (2023)
A Brief History of Modern Ukraine, BBC (2022) [YouTube video]
Russia-Ukraine Relations in 60 Seconds, CBC News (2022)

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