A declassified National Intelligence Council Assessment from April 2020 says "China and other authoritarian governments are using cyber espionage, attacks and influence operations to extend the coercive reach of their ideological enforcement and political control efforts beyond their borders." How are cyber threats evolving? And how is cyber threat intelligence changing to keep up? I spoke with Jim Richberg, the former national intelligence manager for cyber, to discuss those issues and others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The intelligence community has made strides in recent years across a range of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility metrics. But the IC's latest demographic report shows that intel agencies still lag behind the broader federal workforce when it comes to the hiring and retention of minorities, women, and persons with disabilities. I spoke with Stephanie La Rue, the IC's first-ever chief of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, about how she's trying to bolster DEI&A across intelligence agencies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Congress is out-of-town for the mid-term elections, but when they come back, the annual intelligence authorization bill could get passed. There are a number of key provisions in this year's bill, including one that would allow more industry employees top receive clearance. Another would conduct a study of how agencies and industry utilize classified facilities. To break it down, I spoke with Larry Hanauer, vice president for policy at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The theme of this September’s National Insider Threat Awareness Month is is "critical thinking in digital spaces" I spoke with Rebecca Morgan, deputy director of the National Insider Threat Task Force, about how new forms of social engineering, misinformation and phishing are increasingly being used to target the federal workforce and others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The National Counterintelligence and Security Center is among the many federal offices looking to shore up the security of U.S. supply chains. Jeanette McMillian is the NSCS's assistant director of supply chain and cyber. "Everything from software to semiconductors, pipelines to peanut butter, malware to meat packing, we have seen it all with regards to how global supply chains have impacted our lives," McMillian told me in today's show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The National Background Investigations Services program, or NBIS, has been described as the "lynchpin" to the federal personnel vetting reform efforts. The massive software project is aimed at both replacing legacy IT systems with modern functionality, institutionalizing new processes like continuous vetting, and bringing many personnel vetting systems together into one IT environment. To get the latest on the program's developments, I spoke with Jeff Smith, the executive program manager for NBIS at the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The zero trust security concept has been around for more than a decade, but it's turned into a major buzzword in recent years. The federal government now has a zero trust strategy. The National Security Agency is also embracing the concept. I spoke with Kevin Bingham, the zero trust lead at the NSA, about what this whole zero trust thing really means. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Open source intelligence, or OSINT, is often treated as an afterthought in the U.S. intelligence community compared to other forms of intel. Now, a group of former intelligence leaders are trying to change that. They are forming a new OSINT Foundation to help elevate the tradecraft, establish standards, and build a community around open source. I spoke with two of the foundation's leaders, Barbara Alexander and Eliot Jardines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode features part two of an interview with Larry Hanauer, vice president for policy at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance. Larry discusses INSA's ideas for how the intel community can improve how it recruits and clears people with foreign connections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The security clearance process often poses a challenge for both government and industry when they want to move people around and bring new personnel onboard. That's especially true for the highest levels of clearance, where polygraph requirements and other inconsistent policies can bog things down for weeks and months. To break down the issue, I spoke with Larry Hanauer, the vice president for policy at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, and Greg Torres, the director of personnel security at Booz Allen Hamilton, about INSA's new paper, "Improving Security Clearance Mobility: How to Save Time and Resources and Enhance Mission Outcomes." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices