The Intercept Briefing

Back in 2014, the FBI worked with an attorney-turned-informant to try to stop a meeting between journalist James Risen and a source. This week on Intercepted: Risen, national security correspondent for The Intercept, reveals how the FBI used his reporting to try to catch a person they secretly called "the second Snowden." Recordings of conversations between an FBI agent and the attorney expose the government's efforts to prevent Risen from obtaining documents that they feared could expose new details about U.S. government spying. join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two weeks ago, Politico obtained a leaked draft of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the nearly 50-year-old ruling that acknowledged the constitutional right to abortion. Although this is the most egregious attack on reproductive rights, it only follows the anti-abortion momentum that has been building for years around the country. This week on Intercepted, Intercept investigative reporter Jordan Smith discusses the aggressive, irrational, and dangerous Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Smith is joined by Melissa Murray, the Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law at New York University and co-host of “Strict Scrutiny,” a podcast about the Supreme Court. Smith and Murray talk through the draft decision, its implications, and the future of reproductive rights. join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Smartphone apps constantly harvest your location data. That information is shared with advertisers, typically without your knowledge or informed consent. There are no laws in the U.S. prohibiting the sale or resale of that private data. And companies like phone-tracking firm Anomaly Six exploit that. So do government agencies.This week on Intercepted, Intercept reporter Sam Biddle and Tech Inquiry’s Jack Poulson discuss their reporting on Anomaly Six and the company's pitch to a social media monitoring company, Zignal Labs. Anomaly Six proposed that their joint efforts would permit the U.S. government to effortlessly spy on its adversaries. To show off its vast surveillance capabilities, Anomaly Six demo'd its software by spying on the CIA and NSA. Biddle and Poulson talk about the Wild West of personal data brokers, how the advertising industry feeds the surveillance industry, and just why the apps on your phone made it easy for Anomaly Six to build a tool it claims can spy on billions of devices. join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Murderville, Texas just ended its nine-episode season, casting significant doubt on whether a man on death row for the 1992 murder of a Houston grandmother is actually guilty. This week on Intercepted: Intercept Senior Editor Andrea Jones speaks with Jordan Smith and Liliana Segura, the reporters behind the investigative podcast, about what happened after the murder of 72-year-old Edna Franklin.Relying on a hunch from one of her grandsons, police had a suspect — and an arrest warrant — within 24 hours: a family friend named Charles Raby, 22, who had been released from prison two months earlier. Raby was prosecuted on the basis of a single powerful piece of evidence: a confession he gave to police four days after the murder. After a brief trial in which his attorneys called no witnesses, Raby was found guilty by a Harris County jury. He was sentenced to death. Today Raby maintains his innocence. Smith and Segura break down shoddy police work, questionable confessions, and whether the state went after the wrong man. join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Talks with Iran to revive the nuclear deal appear to be progressing, but in recent weeks, the United States’s designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, as a terror group has emerged as a major obstacle. The listing isn’t just about nuclear diplomacy: Countless Iranians who served in the IRGC are now labeled as terrorists — including hundreds of thousands who were conscripted without a choice. This week on Intercepted, senior news editor Ali Gharib and reporter Murtaza Hussain examine the effects the terrorist designation has had on former conscripts who have lived for decades in the West. These dual nationals have been banned from the U.S., lost jobs, and separated from family as a result of the policy. join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, President Joe Biden is visiting European nations — including Poland — as the war in Ukraine rages on. This follows on the heels of Biden pledging to send $800 million worth of weapons to Ukraine, on top of an additional $13.8 billion approved by Congress. This week on Intercepted: associate editor Maia Hibbett discusses the details behind the U.S. support for Ukraine with investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein and associate reporter Sara Sirota. As Klippenstein and Sirota explain, the U.S. has been sending ISR — or intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance — assistance to Ukraine, without being fully involved in the conflict. The aid, however, could be seen as an escalation to the conflict, despite major news organizations and think tanks pushing for an even more aggressive stance. Klippenstein and Sirota explain that the way out of the conflict is to assist in diplomacy between Ukraine and Russia — not add fuel to the fire. join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

U.S.-trained officers have led seven coups and coup attempts in Africa over the last year and a half. This week on Intercepted: Investigative reporter Nick Turse details the U.S. involvement on the African continent. U.S.-trained officers have attempted coups in five West African countries alone: three times in Burkina Faso, three times in Mali, and once each in Guinea, Mauritania, and Gambia. Turse offers the stories behind the coups, details about clandestine training efforts, and a look at the sordid history of the U.S. military’s involvement on the continent. He examines why most Americans have no idea what their tax dollars have wrought in Africa and the broader implications of failed U.S. counterterrorism policies being implemented repeatedly, in country after country. join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Smoke-filled cells. Triple-digit temperatures. Chest-deep water. People trapped behind bars when climate disasters strike. This week on Intercepted: Ali Gharib, a senior editor, speaks to his colleagues, reporter Alleen Brown and senior research engineer Akil Harris, about the intersection of climate risks and mass incarceration. For more than a year, Brown and Harris analyzed climate risks to more than 6,500 carceral facilities throughout the U.S. join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The number of people experiencing homelessness decreased by 8 percent between 2020 and 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD suggests that the decrease could be attributed to Covid-19 pandemic relief efforts. However, many relief efforts have expired or will soon, from eviction moratoriums to expanded unemployment benefits. Meanwhile, the U.S. housing market has continued unabated, with rents rising and housing prices soaring.This week on Intercepted: Akela Lacy, an Intercept politics reporter, talks to Stephanie Sena, the founder and executive director of the Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit in Philadelphia, about the housing choices low-income families and people face and how the recent deadly residential fires in the Bronx and Philadelphia illustrate how dire the housing crisis is. We also hear from organizers and tenants who are fighting back. join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Murderville, an investigative podcast hosted by senior Intercept reporters Liliana Segura and Jordan Smith, examines the systemic failures that lead to wrongful convictions. Season Two takes Segura and Smith to the death penalty capital of the country, Harris County, Texas, where they investigate a disturbing crime, a startling confession, and a story that doesn’t add up. To follow the series, subscribe to Murderville at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more at https://theintercept.com/podcasts/murderville/If you’d like to support our work, go to theintercept.com/donate — your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.