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In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with AFPC Senior Fellow Thomas Kent about his new book, The Propaganda Manual of the Ukraine War, and about how the Kremlin is weaponizing information in the context of Ukraine... and beyond. MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: Thomas Kent, The Propaganda Manual of the Ukraine War: Information Warfare by Russia, Ukraine, and Western Nations - Lessons Learned for Future Conflicts (AFPC Press, 2026), https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-propaganda-manual-of-the-ukraine-war-information-warfare-by-russia-ukraine-and-western-nations-lessons-learned-for-future-conflicts-thomas-kent/b6406493de2e6bda?ean=9781968919498 BIO: Thomas Kent joined the American Foreign Policy Council in February 2024 as Senior Fellow for Strategic Communication. He is a specialist in Russian propaganda, the world information war, international journalism, and media ethics. He teaches at Columbia University about disinformation, and consults for governments, NGOs, news organizations and corporations. Until 2018, Kent was president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a congressionally-financed company providing independent news in 27 languages to 23 countries. Before that, he was a correspondent and executive at the Associated Press, serving as standards (ethics) editor, deputy managing editor, head of international news, Moscow bureau chief, chief of operations in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, and NATO and European Union correspondent.

In thIs episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Alsu Kurmasheva of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, who was imprisoned by the Russian government for her work. Also tells her story, and talks about the how Russia’s information environment is changing - and what it means for Western governments.  BIO: Alsu Kurmasheva is an award-winning journalist and editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). In October 2023, she was detained in Russia and charged with spreading “false” information about the Russian military, a charge linked to her alleged role in editing and distributing a book featuring accounts from Russians opposed to the invasion of Ukraine. In July 2024, she was sentenced to six and a half years in prison. In August 2024, Alsu was released as part of a prisoner exchange. Since then, she has emerged as a vocal advocate for press freedom, drawing on her own experience of imprisonment to highlight the risks journalists face in authoritarian regimes. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the James W. Foley Foundation.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Andres Ilves of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks regarding how the Islamic Republic is manipulating the flow of information during its present conflict with America - and what we can glean about conditions within Iran, despite these efforts. MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: -- MBN's weekly "Iran Briefing" newsletter (https://alhurra.com/en/category/iran-briefing) BIO: Andres Ilves is currently Special Advisor and Iran lead at the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. He is a veteran Iran watcher who previously ran both the BBC Persian Service and RFE/RL’s Persian-language Radio Farda.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Leah Soibel of Fuente Latina about the state of the Latin American media market - and how external actors like Iran, China and Russia are trying to manipulate opinions and attitudes in the Western Hemisphere. BIO: Leah Soibel is the Founder and CEO of Fuente Latina, the only nonprofit media organization that empowers Hispanic journalists and influencers globally to report on the Middle East accurately and in real time. Leah has spent two decades producing news for thousands of Spanish-language media professionals covering Israel and the Middle East. Each year, Fuente Latina's work drives thousands of news stories that counter disinformation. In 2023, she also launched Activista Media, the first Spanglish digital news brand informing US Latinos under 40.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Dr. James Robbins, Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and Dean of Academics at the Institute of World Politics, about their experiences dealing with international broadcasting during the Trump 47 Transition - and where America's public diplomacy enterprise is today. BIO: Dr. James S. Robbins is a national security columnist for USA Today and Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council. He is a former special assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and in 2007 was awarded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award. Dr. Robbins is also the former award-winning Senior Editorial Writer for Foreign Affairs at The Washington Times. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and other publications. He appears regularly on national and international television and radio. Dr. Robbins holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and has taught at the National Defense University and Marine Corps University, among other schools.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Arthur Barys of TVP World about how Poland's premier English-language broadcaster is trying to change the conversation - and provide crucial context - about Russia's information offensive on Europe's eastern flank. BIO: Arthur Barys is a Warsaw-based translator and head language editor at TVP World, the English-language news channel of Poland’s public broadcaster. TVP World covers the region from a Central European perspective, with a special focus on Ukraine, Russia, and NATO’s eastern flank.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with journalist and author Yaakov Katz about the institutional dysfunctions plaguing Israel's conduct of public diplomacy - and the impact these deficiencies have had on the country's current conflict with Hamas. MATERIALS REFERENCED: -- Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot, While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East (St. Martin's Press, 2025) BIO: Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist and a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, where he continues to write a popular weekly column. He is the author of three prior books - “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards - How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War”. His new book, co-authored with Amir Bohbot, is “While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East."

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Ellen McCarthy, CEO of the Trust in Media Cooperative, about how AI and foreign actors are altering the media landscape, the dangers associated with declining trust in information, and what the U.S. government and private sector institutions can do about it. MATERIALS REFERENCED: -- Gallup, "Americans' Trust in Media Remains at Trend Low," October 14, 2024, https://news.gallup.com/poll/651977/americans-trust-media-remains-trend-low.aspx. -- YouGov, "Survey: Trump and the Media," January 30-February 3, 2025, https://ygo-assets-websites-editorial-emea.yougov.net/documents/Trump_and_the_Media_poll_results.pdf. BIO: The Honorable Ellen McCarthy is Chairwoman and CEO of the Trust in Media Cooperative (https://www.timcoop.org), a nonprofit working to rebuild public trust in the information ecosystem through a new infrastructure that includes multi-sector standards, tools, and public awareness. She has over 30 years of experience in the U.S. intelligence community and public service, including serving as Chief Operating Officer of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) from 2015-2018. From January 2019 to January 2021, she served as Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research (INR).

In this episode, host Ilan Berman speaks with Sam Douglas-Bate of British futures consultancy ForgeFront about how advances in technology are assisting the proliferation of “fake news” and disinformation - and what Western governments can do about it. MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: — Sam Douglas-Bate, "The Double-Edged Sword: New Technologies to Win the War on Fake News," New Lines Institute, May 2, 2025, https://newlinesinstitute.org/strategic-technology/the-double-edged-sword-new-technologies-to-win-the-war-on-fake-news/. BIO: Sam Douglas-Bate is the founder of ForgeFront, a futures and foresight consultancy based in the UK. The company works with government and businesses around the world in a policy field called futures thinking, helping them use technology to analyze and react to systemic threats and opportunities. A large part of ForgeFront's work is focused on how new technologies intersect with fake news. Prior to establishing ForgeFront, Sam worked for the European Union and the UK’s Cabinet Office, Brexit Department and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. He has also worked in the House of Commons, led high profile accounts for a leading public affairs firm and was in the last tranche of British EU Civil Servants working for the institutions in Brussels.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Janis Sarts, Director of NATO's Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, about the current informational environment in Europe, and the threats now being posed to the West by Russia, China and others. BIO: Jānis Sārts is the Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, a multinational, cross-sector organisation providing comprehensive analysis, advice, and practical support in strategic communications to the Alliance and its allied nations. Prior to that, he served as State Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Defence for more than seven years, leading defence sector reforms during an economic crisis period, developing a new state defence concept, and encouraging regional defence cooperation within NATO and the EU. He has also led the Latvian Government’s efforts to increase its security and defence in cyberspace. As Chair of the National Cyber Security Board, he was responsible for formulating and overseeing the implementation of Latvia’s cyber security policy, as well as for overseeing the work of the National Information Technology Security Incident Response Institution.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Laura Cunningham, President of the Open Technology Fund, about how authoritarian regimes are improving their censorship game - and how technology is helping free media fight back against this growing digital authoritarianism. MATERIALS REFERENCE IN THIS EPISODE: — “Does Bypassing Internet Censorship in China Change Individual Beliefs, Attitudes and Behaviors?” Stanford University China Brief, May 1, 2023 (https://sccei.fsi.stanford.edu/china-briefs/does-bypassing-internet-censorship-china-change-individual-beliefs-attitudes-and) BIO: Laura Cunningham is the President of the Open Technology Fund, a position she has held since April of 2020. In that role, she is responsible for OTF’s strategic development, long-term planning, and day-to-day operations to enable OTF to fulfill its mission to support internet freedom worldwide. Prior to joining OTF, Laura was the Senior Advisor for Internet Freedom in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, where she led the Department’s Internet freedom programs focused on technology development, digital security, Internet policy advocacy, and research.

In this episode, host Ilan Berman speaks with Andrew Fox of the Henry Jackson Society about how terror group Hamas has weaponized data and statistics to gain the upper hand in the informational front of Israel's new war. BIO: Andrew Fox is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, specializing in defense, the Middle East, and disinformation. He served in the British Army from 2005 to 2021, completing three tours in Afghanistan, including one attached to the U.S. Army Special Forces. He is the author of the new HJS report, "Questionable Counting: Analysing the Death Toll from the Hamas-Run Ministry of Health in Gaza." MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: -- "Questionable Counting: Analysing the Death Toll from the Hamas-Run Ministry of Health in Gaza" (Henry Jackson Society, 2024), https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/HJS-Questionable-Counting-–-Hamas-Report-web-v2.pdf

In this episode, host Ilan Berman speaks with retired Israeli Major General Amos Yadlin, the former head of IDF Military Intelligence, about his country's recent battlefield victories against Iran and its proxies, and what they mean in strategic terms. BIO: Major General (ret.) Amos Yadlin is the president and founder of MIND Israel, an action-oriented strategic consulting team advising Israeli leadership and entities involved in Israel’s security. He is the former Executive Director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). Prior to that, Gen. Yadlin served for more than 40 years in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), including 10 as a member of its General Staff. In his last military position, General Yadlin was the Head of Israel's Defense Intelligence.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Ammar Maleki, the founder and director of the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran, or GAMAAN, regarding what innovative polls tell us about how Iranians think about their own government, and the rest of the world.   BIO: Ammar Maleki is the founder and director of the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran, GAMAAN (www.gamaan.org). He is also an Assistant Professor at Tilburg University in The Netherlands. He is a board member of the NGO Iran Human Rights, based in Oslo, Norway.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Col. Peter Garretson, AFPC Senior Fellow in Defense Studies and former chief futurist for the U.S. Air Force, regarding China’s recent strides forward in space internet, and what it might mean for the unfolding “great power competition” between Washington and Beijing.   BIO: Peter Garretson is a Senior Fellow in Defense Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council and a strategy consultant who focuses on space and defense. He is the coauthor of Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space and the host of AFPC's Space Strategy Podcast. Prior to joining AFPC, Col. Garretson spent over a decade as a transformational strategist for the Department of the Air Force, where he served as a strategy and policy advisor for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, as Division Chief of Irregular Warfare Strategy Plans and Policy, and as the Chief of the Future Technology Branch of Air Force Strategic Planning. As an instructor of Joint Warfare at Air University, he laid critical foundations for the future of American and allied spacepower, initiating the Schriever Scholars (America's premier program to develop space strategists), the Space Horizons Task Force (America's think tank for space), and developing the rationale for a U.S. Space Force.  He taught courses in war theory, joint planning, and national security implications of artificial intelligence. MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: — Richard M. Harrison and Peter Garretson, The Next Space Race: A Blueprint for American Primacy (Praeger Security International, 2023), https://www.amazon.com/Next-Space-Race-Blueprint-International/dp/1440880808/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UFE24YXJ64RY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.U5jc8fFfd3tUDF3jfbDynL9Nuq9BLl_DkRXTRmNuvtM76WLNhBJZaoe0LEhH22OR8D_kBygP0ixcMFkPOGTkc1oBimuINW2JB20AeEYleaWJNzMgO-S-zrz2EEtnDy1NnoxVCNxzUTBDnCNN0Peg2OjrzjVZtN3LlliApM3LuFnUTGrhiRdcBHpx1sf6ahlcExyjdN2OH56fXcxfoyN4tLDnSrzVpGoyQvZ1JgxF0Dw.XqO3ZsBLh237M-t_eWtecmX8EF7h1Jfrq6IyoMNBlrg&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+next+space+race&qid=1725217225&sprefix=the+next+space+race%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-1.  — Peter Garretson and Richard M. Harrison, “Reacting to Major Space Events at or Below Geostationary Orbit - After Action Report 1,” AFPC Special Report, July 5, 2024, https://www.afpc.org/publications/special-reports/reacting-to-major-space-events-at-or-below-geostationary-obit-after-action-report-1.