The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast

This week, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson interview VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara on the Trump administration's efforts to silence the Voice of America and what the loss of that capability means for both U.S. national security and the global audience that has come to rely on VOA for independent journalism.  They also review reporting on China's growing efforts to gain influence in the Western hemisphere as well as proposals to better organize the U.S. government for information warfare.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Russian campaigns again dominate this week's episode with hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson recapping the best reporting on the Russian Pravda network, a campaign known as "Overload," and Russian ties to neo-Nazis. Along the way, they consider why Russia might target small-population languages, and discuss the hard-learned wisdom of Latvia who has long endured Russian information campaigns.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson welcome McKenzie Sadeghi and Isis Blachez from NewsGuard to discuss their research on Moscow's Pravda-network, the rise of 'LLM Grooming,' and the infection of AI tools with Russian-sponsored disinformation.  The show also reports on a Russian-campaign to deepen tensions between Denmark and the United States over Greenland; the impact of Trump administration policies on Taiwan and U.S. security competition with China; as well as the growing sophistication of AI; and the failure of technology companies to equitably meet the needs of marginalized communities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson review the decision by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to shutter the surviving office countering foreign disinformation on the grounds that it was actually censoring American voices.  The conversation then turns to the nominee for the U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia and his failure to disclose more than 150 appearances on Russian state-run media; the health of the Canadian information ecosystem in the run-up to the country's election; Russia's efforts to capitalize on the end of American support for independent media in Ukraine; and tremendous reporting on Russia's Pravda Network and its global reach.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson search the tea-leaves left behind by DOGE cuts to try to understand the grand-strategy and intention behind gutting American soft-power and threatening NATO allies. Then, they turn their attention back overseas for a reminder that America's adversaries continue to operate political warfare campaigns despite America's unilateral disarmament.  Finally, they look at the potential for AI-created deepfakes to undermine public confidence in what we know and the danger of search engines to respond to our own biases.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson dissect a raft of moves by the U.S. government that can't be explained as either accident or intentional act, but paint a picture of a strategic realignment with Russia. They also discuss a new report from CSIS about foreign governments targeting corporations with mal-information, while China increasingly employs so-called "Gray Zone" tactics.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson welcome Matt Armstrong, a former member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversaw the U.S. government's international media, for a discussion of the late breaking moves by the Trump administration to shutter America's overseas broadcasting and the impact those closures might have on international audiences, American alliances, and the ambitions of America's adversaries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson tackle news that the Secretary of Defense has instructed U.S. Cyber Command to cease planning for offensive cyber operations against Russia; an American think-tank reports on disinformation in every American state; AI can help audiences resist disinformation; while one American scholar notes that right-wing populist information campaigns have the hallmarks of improv; capped off with a couple of articles on losing the current information fight for all the wrong reasons.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the aftermath of his party's election victory, Christian Democrat leader Friedrich Merz charted a course for Germany in a Europe that must be independent of the United States, telling an interviewer that the pre-election  “intervention from Washington was no less drastic, dramatic, and ultimately no less outrageous, than the intervention that we have seen from Moscow,”--a reference to forays by Elon Musk and Vice President J.D. Vance into German politics. In this week's Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson examine the German election, the impact of Elon Musk on politics from Berlin to Washington, and the latest reporting on Russian hybrid warfare.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosts dive into the alarming shifts in U.S. foreign policy under the Trump administration, highlighting unilateral disarmament that threatens American influence. They scrutinize significant funding cuts to USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy, questioning the implications for global democracy. The conversation extends to the erosion of long-standing alliances and the dangers of executive overreach, stressing the urgent need to address the vulnerabilities of American democracy amidst rising authoritarianism.