The World of Intelligence

Andrew MacDonald heads the Janes budgets team, while Guy Anderson leads their Defence Markets and Economics team. They dive into NATO's ambitious 5% GDP target for defense spending amidst complex political dynamics. The conversation reveals how open-source intelligence sheds light on member nations' financial commitments and the challenges of meeting these targets. They explore Ukraine's defense implications, the impact of geopolitical shifts, and the need for coherent strategies to enhance military readiness in the face of rising global tensions.

Myanmar is an often overlooked conflict. In this revealing episode of Janes World of Intelligence hosts Sean Corbett and Kate Cox are joined by guest Tony Davis, a senior Asian security analyst and Janes contributor, to provide expert analysis of the geopolitical and humanitarian crises unfolding in Myanmar. They explore the roles of China and other regional powers, the burgeoning issue of transnational organised crime, and the future of this tumultuous region.

In this insightful discussion, Jim Clover OBE from Varadius Ltd teams up with experts Harry Kemsley and Sean Corbett to dissect the dynamic role of AI in the intelligence community. They highlight the delicate balance between utilizing AI's prowess and the essential need for human oversight. Discover the importance of prompt engineering for ethical AI outcomes, the emergence of local language models for privacy, and how AI is democratizing coding skills. They also navigate the opportunities and limitations AI brings to intelligence processes.

While Artificial Intelligence AI is not a new phenomenon, its use in the gathering of intelligence and the amount of AI tools available are growing at pace. In part one of this podcast Harry Kemsley and Sean Corbett are joined by Jim Clover OBE, Varadius Ltd, to take a deeper look into the practical uses and implications of AI for the defence intelligence community. They explore its real-world effectiveness in gathering and analysing intelligence and also why human oversight is still critical to ensure the intelligence it is producing is both ethical and valuable.

Janes analysts James Trigg and Aparna Iyer join Sean Corbett and Kate Cox to discuss the strategic depths of Yemen’s role in global security. They unpack the complex military, political, and regional dynamics shaping this pivotal Middle Eastern country and how Yemen’s conflict influences international shipping lanes, serves as a battleground for proxy wars, and impacts the delicate balance of power in the region. James and Aparna also discuss the challenges and techniques they use to monitor such a fluid situation.

Five years after their first episode of the World of Intelligence podcast, Kate Cox, director of Janes RD&A Strategic Programmes, turns the table on Harry Kemsley and Sean Corbett to uncover the origins of the podcast and how it has evolved alongside the prominence of OSINT for intelligence analysis, and to offer a glimpse into the future of intelligence.

Faced with the starkest security environment for in decades, and against the backdrop of competing security priorities by the US as its strongest ally, the European Union (EU) has embarked on a plan to reverse its under-investment in defence and rebuild military capability through the Readiness 2030 initiative. Andrew MacDonald, head of Janes Defence Budgets, and Guy Anderson, head of defence markets and economics at Janes, join Sean Corbett to discuss the costs ahead and the outlook for success.

Following the release of a special report examining the recent record number of Chinese air-sea operations around Taiwan, Janes Senior Air Reporter Akhil Kadidal joins Harry Kemsley and Sean Corbett to discuss what these escalations could mean for Taiwan. They also examine how the changing military capabilities of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could signify a shift in its focus from training to combat orientation.

In this podcast culture expert Satgin Hamrah joins Harry Kemsley and Sean Corbett to discuss why understanding culture is crucial in providing context to your intelligence. They explore how ingrained cultural nuances and historical ties influence global security trends, decisions, and behaviours, and why grasping the subtleties of culture is essential for effective engagement and decision making in the defence intelligence community.

In part two of our podcast, Jenny Town, Rachel Minyoung Lee, and Martin Williams from 38 North and Cristina Varriale from Janes join Harry Kemsley and Sean Corbett to continue to unravel the implications of the new US administration on North Korea’s place on the world stage and how its relationship with Russia might evolve in 2025 and beyond.