CTG's Threat Intelligence Podcast

Advancements in 3D printing technology have dramatically increased the potential deadliness of homemade firearms. Advances in homemade manufacturing techniques greatly facilitate the probable proliferation of these untraceable, high-powered 3d printed firearms. New 3d printed firearms represent a much more significant threat compared to the previous 3d printed weapons that had a limited effective range of fewer than 100 yards. In this week's episode, Isaiah Johnson from the Weapons and Tactics team joins Salomon Montaguth to discuss the impact it will have globally.

On Sunday, September 11, 2022, Sweden held their general elections. The Sweden Democrats, the far-right Swedish political party, was expected to defeat the current government headed by Prime Minister Eva Andersson. The far-right party has gained more support than in previous years due to ultra-conservative policies, addressing gang-related offenses, inflation, and the energy crisis. Despite rebranding its nationalist image, the party is known for its hardline immigration worldviews and ties with extremists. In this week's episode, Andreea Troneci and Paige Biebas from CTG’s Extremism Team join Salomon Montaguth to discuss the impact it will have in Europe.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced he will seek reelection for the presidency in 2024. In 2021, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, appointed by President Bukele, permitted the presidential reelection. President Bukele’s popularity has stayed above 80%, but human rights groups and foreign governments, such as the US, are concerned about President Bukele’s concentration of power. Daniel Ruiz and Jan García Casanova from CTG’s Latin American team joins Salomon Montaguth to discuss the impact it will have globally.

Cultures and subcultures have existed for the entirety of human history. Some cultures are more prevalent than others, while others still are very niche, serving only a small number of people who share similar interests or beliefs. In the internet age, niche subcultures are much more accessible. All it takes is a few searches and keywords and whatever Google has to offer will be bared to you. Today we discuss the language of memes and how they drive the neo-nazi subculture. In this episode, Charley Gleeson and Christie Hui from CTG’s CTSC team joins Adam Stevens to discuss what this all means.

In this week's episode, we look into a security brief from CTG’s CICYBER team. First on the report was a new strategy by the U.S. government: The Central Intelligence Agency created a Russian language video directed to Russian language speakers affected by the war in Ukraine. Additionally, the U.S. government addresses key North Korean cyber threats by implementing sanctions on important cyber-financial infrastructure. Helping to break down this brief is Keanna Grelicha from CTG’s CICYBER team.

Earlier this year national headlines were being made by a group of truck drivers at the U.S. and Canadian border, blocking international trade routes. The group was protesting Canadian and American mask and vaccine mandates which impacted who could cross the border. After a brief détente thanks to the war in Ukraine, a group known as the People’s Convoy is planning its next trip to Washington D.C. in protest of any number of conservative talking points, from vaccines to abortion. Savannah Fellows from CTG’s NORTHCOM joins Adam Stevens to explain the group's origins and the impact in this time of increasing tension.

In a forthcoming Special Report, CTG analyzes the importance of foreign fighters joining terrorist movements in Central Asia. The history of foreign fighters arguably dates back to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. Fighters from all across the world, including Osama bin Laden and others, joined to fight the invading imperialists. The same inspirations have been used throughout the first two decades of the 2000s. Many jihadists use the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan by the U.S. as a call to arms. Alberto Suarez from CTG’s CENTCOM team joins Adam Stevens to discuss how these wars impacted the foreign fighter movement, as well as tell us what the foreign fighter movement looks like today.

In the events of Russia versus Ukraine, Cyber threats have been just as much the story as physical attacks. In a security brief, CTG assessed and analyzed two different instances of Russian cyber attacks. When bombs and guns go off, the world responds in a relatively predictable way. When a cyber-bomb blows however, the world can react in sporadic, unpredictable ways. Marina Tovar from CTG’s CICYBER team joins Adam Sevens to discuss the real-world impacts that cyber attacks have in a world at war.

ISIS has claimed its first attack in Israel roughly five years, meanwhile in Iraq, funding has begun on a border wall in vulnerable locations along the Iraq-Syria border in response to ISIS fighters using these routes to enter the country and wreak havoc. Meanwhile, on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Afghani Taliban regime attempts to rid themselves of Pakistani Taliban forces, otherwise known as TTP. The TTP has been using the borderlands in Afghanistan to launch attacks in an attempt to overthrow the current Pakistani regime. Alberto Suarez Sutil from CTG’s CENTCOM team joins Adam Stevens to break down these events.

Over the last several years social media companies like Facebook and Twitter have been criticized by seemingly everyone. Many argue that social media companies have an obligation to call out or de-platform accounts producing disinformation on their platforms. Others decry it as a slippery slope to government censorship if they don’t call it outright censorship as is. In response to this many alt-right groups and personalities have taken to other social media sites, which promote free speech, and censor-free zones. Adam is joined by Brianna Corrie, from the Counter Threat Strategic Communications team to try and better understand the real impacts this transition to niche social media platforms has.