Unauthorized Disclosure

Jen Perelman has had the same representative in the United States Congress for nearly 16 years—Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat in Florida’s 23rd congressional district. Now, Perelman is mounting a primary challenge against Wasserman Schultz. For this week's show, we share this interview with Jen about her campaign. She discusses her platform, which includes Medicare For All, the Green New Deal, student loan debt forgiveness, eliminating policing where it is not needed, and dismantling the military-industrial complex. Jen confronts key issues like regime change wars and U.S. meddling in Venezuela.  She also talks about the state of the Democratic Party and what Florida Democrats are doing to protect Wasserman Schultz from her campaign.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by journalist Gareth Porter to discuss the media malpractice surrounding "Bountygate," which was manufactured to extend the war in Afghanistan. Gareth has covered national security policy since 2005 and was the recipient of the Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in 2012.  His most recent book, The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis, was co-authored with John Kiriakou and published in February. For the Grayzone, Gareth how the Pentagon "failed to sell the Afghan government's bunk 'Bountygate' story" United States intelligence agencies. The New York Times published a report that was like a bad spinoff to the Russiagate stories they churned out. As it turned out, the Afghan intelligence service known as the National Directorate Security (NDS) was the source of unsubstantiated claims that Russia offered Afghan militants bounties to kill U.S. troops. "This is absolutely the worst so-called intelligence, not real intelligence, scandal of modern history," Gareth contends. "It surpasses Iraq and Iran by a fairly comfortable margin." During the interview, Gareth describes the culprits responsible for pushing this fabricated "bombshell." He addresses the fallout from the alleged story and then focuses on the malpractice by the Times and other media outlets, which have declined to do the kind of follow-up reporting that he has done. In fact, because they seem to recognize it is embarrassing, details that would effectively show the Times committed malpractice were buried in the back pages of the printed edition of their newspaper.

The following is a preview clip. If you enjoy what you hear, become a patron at patreon.com/unauthorizeddisclosure and support the show.  *** During a live broadcast of "Unauthorized Disclosure," hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the obstacles that stand in the way of ending the war in Afghanistan. Democrats recently made common cause with neoconservative Republicans to ensure President Donald Trump could not withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan. This was tied to dubious reports of Russian bounties for militants who killed U.S. soldiers.

Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola welcome Vincent Bevins, the author of The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World, to discuss his book. He was the Brazil correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and the southeast Asia correspondent for the Washington Post. As Bevins contends, United States-backed violence that occurred in Brazil and Indonesia in 1964 and 1965 "greatly reshaped the world." He examines the dark history and legacy of anticommunism in two of the most populous countries. Bevins offers a brief overview of the politics in Indonesia and the Third World and how there really wasn't any opposition or fear of communism until it was fueled by the U.S. and factions within the Indonesian military. Sukarno was removed from power in a CIA coup and replaced by Suharto. Bevins highlights who each of these figures were and describes the massacres that occurred. Later in the interview, Bevins offers his view on the parallels between the 1960s and now. He comments on the economic warfare that was used against Indonesia, U.S. training of military officers from Indonesia, and the way in which the U.S. media justified the bloodshed that occurred.

For this week's show, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola present a conversation that was recorded several months ago on Angola history: Portuguese colonialism, Black anti-colonial resistance, United States imperialism, and the way in which this history reverberates during President Donald Trump's administration. "Unauthorized Disclosure" welcomed two guests: Prexy Nesbitt, who is a presidential fellow at the Peace Studies Department at Chapman University in Orange County, California where he teaches Southern African History, and Marissa Moorman, who is the author of the book, Powerful Frequencies: Radio, State Power, and the Cold War in Angola, 1931-2002. Prexy was one of Kevin's professors in college, and he wanted to introduce some more people to the history of southern African countries. (Plus, Kevin attributes a significant part of his political awakening in college to Prexy.) Our conversation begins with Marissa, who provides a brief background on Portuguese colonialism in Angola and the rise of black Angolan resistance that ignited a struggle for independence. We pay particular attention to Jonas Savimbi, who was the militant leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Savimbi sought support from the U.S. government, and the government was willing to provide support during the Cold War because they believed Angola was a crucial battleground in the fight against the Soviet Union. The Clark Amendment was repealed in 1985, which removed a prohibition to providing covert or overt U.S. assistance to militant groups in Angola. It was the result of a lobbying effort by conservative organizations like the Conservative Caucus, the Heritage Foundation, and the American Security Council, as well as Senator Jesse Helms, Representative Jack Kemp, and Representative Claude Pepper. Savimbi was as the leader of "true anti-communist freedom fighters." The militant leader even traveled to the United States in 1985 and hired a publicity firm called Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly for $600,000/year. It was tied to President Ronald Reagan, and one of the partners at the firm was Paul Manafort. The firm was largely successful. Reagan said during the tour, "We want to be very helpful to what Dr. Savimbi and his people are tying to do." Later, Marissa and Prexy talk about the civil rights movement and solidarity work with struggles against colonialism in southern Africa. They address how developments in Angola led to fractures in organizing, including among Black activists. We really have not done a show on this part of the world before so we're pleased to share this conversation.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Alex Vitale, sociology professor at Brooklyn College and a coordinator of of the Policing and Social Justice Project. He's also the author of The End of Policing, which is a best-selling book from Verso. E-book copies are available for FREE at . The conversation focuses on the limitations of police reforms, many which have been proposed for decades. Alex particularly highlights the reforms that were proposed by President Barack Obama's administration after Mike Brown, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, and Tamir and so many others were murdered. "It did nothing to change policing. It did nothing to save George Floyd's life, and people have had enough of it," Alex declares. "They understand that radical changes to our reliance on policing have to be enacted." According to Alex, the response to Floyd's murder caught the establishment media off guard because they were ignoring what communities were doing across the United States to shut down a gang unit or move police overtime into social programs. Alex describes some alternatives that may be pursued by cities that want to turn away from relying so heavily on police. He breaks down what it may mean to "defund" a police department. Later in the show, Alex addresses the issue of protest policing as well as broken windows policing in the country, which reforms pushed by Democrats do virtually nothing to change.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the protests calling for justice for George Floyd. They highlight some of the positive developments from the past week while offering an overview of attacks from police departments against protesters. During the show, Rania highlights the issue of whether there may be a spike in the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of demonstrations. Both Rania and Kevin consider how the left may be blamed for a second wave. Later in the conversation, Kevin and Rania highlight the federal government's response to the protests. *Note* The first half of the show was recorded for everyone, and the last half is for only patrons.

*This episode was released early for patrons. Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola welcome Matt Kennard, the head of investigations for Declassified UK, to the "Unauthorized Disclosure" podcast.    is an investigative journalism organization that focuses on U.K. foreign, military, and intelligence policies. Matt describes why he founded Declassified UK and some of the obstacles the organization experiences when it comes to challenging the British national security state. He outlines how The Guardian has transformed into a media organization more beholden to security agencies. He highlights what he considers to be "third rail" subjects that "blue-check" progressives cannot "take a heterodox view" on and retain access to BBC shows or The Guardian.    Later in the discussion, Matt shares his views on how Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the UK have handled the coronavirus response.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola welcome Anya Parampil, Grayzone contributor and host of "Red Lines." She joins the show to discuss Silvercorp USA and the planned mercenary invasion against Venezuela that failed spectacularly. During the show, Anya highlights the players involved and what the United States government knew and/or should have known about former Green Beret Jordan Goudreau and his negotiations with right-wing opposition leaders, including Juan Guaido. Anya suggests Goudreau wanted Silvercorp USA to be the next Blackwater, and later in the conversation, she talks about a contract that was apparently inked between Goudreau and opposition leaders.   The conversation concludes with an update on how Venezuela is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week's episode of "Unauthorized Disclosure" featured filmmaker Josh Fox, and Kevin Gosztola talked with Josh about the "Planet Of The Humans" documentary that Michael Moore posted to his YouTube. Our interview with Josh was scheduled before the documentary stirred controversy among the climate movement, and we did our best to engage in a constructive critique of the film, even as Josh essentially endorsed censorship of the film by demanding Films For Action take the film off of their website. There are a few problems we aim to address with this additional discussion. Rania Khalek had not seen the film so she was unable to join the conversation between Josh and Kevin. And in the past week, Josh has escalated his rhetoric and now contends the documentary features "fossil fuel talking points" and Michael Moore has essentially become the new flack for the oil and gas industry. Rania and Kevin object to this label that Josh and other voices seem intent to pin on Michael Moore.   In this discussion, Rania, who finally watched the film, offers her review, and Kevin adds some comments that he had difficulty expressing during the prior episode. We both believe censorship is not the answer. If there is misinformation, let's address it. If the framing and the way the movement is covered is problematic, let's have a debate. But acting as if the filmmakers are engaged in personal and vicious attacks against climate leaders, when they have not displayed any malice, only serves to undermine solidarity that we need to confront an ever-looming catastrophe. Or, as PEN America's Summer Lopez , "Calls to pull a film because of disagreement with its content are calls for censorship, plain and simple. Those who take issue with the film have every right to make their concerns and arguments heard, but first and foremost, the public also has the essential right to view Moore’s film and make their own judgements.”