Canadian Intelligence Eh
Everywhere you look these days terrorism and violent extremism dominate the headlines. Whether you follow what is happening in Afghanistan or Iraq, or in the West writ large, we are inundated with news of attacks by groups and individuals fighting for a 'cause'.In a world of multiple voices and opinions it can be very hard to know where to turn. One choice is to look to those who actually worked in counterterrorism in the national security world. In these half-hour podcasts 30-year Canadian intelligence veteran Phil Gurski is joined by a fascinating array of individuals with something meaningful to say about these issues as they provide insight into what they mean and what we need to do about them.
Episodes
215 episodes
Episode 259 - Has terrorism as a concept run its course?
Of all the UK counter-terrorism initiatives, the 'early detection' efforts (known as PREVENT and Channel) have been quite controversial. One of the problems lies with how we define terrorism and thus what the public should do to help authoritie...
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28:06
Spies Like Us Season 2 Episode 23 - Valentine's Validation
The guys talk about what to do with ISIS returnees, the challenges of recruiting human sources with, shall we say, sketchy backgrounds, and show how Nancy Drew steals a page from Monty Python's "trying hard not to be seen".
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37:48
Spies Like Us Season 2 Episode 22 - Canada-US security relations just got B-Czar!
This week the guys talk about the latest brain fart to come from the US on joint border security, Al comes up with a complicated jurisdiction story which he worked on very hard and yes, it is again time for Poetry by Phil
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36:52
Episode 258 - Canada needs to step up its far north game
We in the Great White North proudly describe ourselves as an "Arctic" nation. In truth, we have a large portion of that part of the globe, which is lightly inhabited, but is increasingly becoming strategic in the face of global warming. M...
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23:11
Episode 257 - How to tell non-violent 'radicals' from the violent ones
The field of 'radicalisation' studies has been growing quickly, especially since 9/11. Practitioners and academics have seen this process as a precursor to the actual execution of acts of terrorism. But most of those who radicalise never ...
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25:44
Spies Like Us: Season 2 Episode 21 - Hogus pocus...bogus
The guys are joined by investigative journalist Sam Cooper to dissect the recently released Hogue report on foreign interference in Canada. Suffice to say they ain't impressed and suspect, like the Hardy Boys, that there is much left unsa...
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34:03
Episode 265 - Why is Africa rife with jihadi groups?
Last year the Global Terrorism Index for the first time put an African nation, Burkina Faso, at the top of its list of terrorist attacks. A phenomenon most associate with the Middle East (and West Asia: think Pakistan and Afghanistan) is ...
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24:29
Spies Like Us Season 2 Episode 20: Putting the terrorism cartel before the horse?
The guys muse about the US decision to list Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organisations, whether politicians are too timid in labeling terrorist acts as terrorism and what Nancy Drew teaches us about confusion.
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35:58
Episode 255 - Are ISIS terrorists also engaged in what are known as war crimes?
War is part of human history alas. Our penchant for killing one another goes back millennia and, as current events demonstrate (Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan...), it shows no signs of ebbing. Terrorism, on the other hand, is a much more recent ill...
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21:59
Spies Like Us Season 2 Episode 19
The guys delve into Russian antagonistic moves in the West, the abuse of Canada's student visa programme, and encourage Marc Garneau to run for Prime Minister
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37:37
Episode 254 - Does TikTok really pose a 'national security' threat?
That TikTok is a very popular social media platform is not debatable. There are more than 1 BILLION users worldwide and 170 million in the US alone. However, the fact that TikTok is owned by a Chinese company is raising questions. What ha...
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24:19
Episode 253 - Another bad year for terrorism in Africa?
In its 2024 report The Global Terrorism Index, the Institute for Economics and Peace noted that for the first time an African country, Burkina Faso, took top sp...
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22:46
Episode 259 - Terrorism is terrorism, and that includes Jewish extremism
Setting houses on fire. Uprooting olive groves. Attacking schools. Killing civilians. These are things we have become accustomed to when we talk about jihadis but in this case we are talking about Israeli Jewish settlers in the West Bank....
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10:33
Spies Like Us Season 2 Episode 18: You got questions, we got answers!
The popular Q&A show is back! The guys talk about the greatest national security threats facing Canada in 2025 and what the heck is a UAP? Thanks to all who sent us their questions and comments.
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35:41
Episode 252 - When the soldiers come home from a foreign deployment, what then?
After 9/11 Canada was one of the first nations to send its forces to Afghanistan to find Al Qaeda and help Afghanistan oust the Taliban. Thousands of soldiers deployed and over a decade 159 died (in addition to seven civilians). Canada le...
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25:57
Spies Like Us Season 2 Episode 17
In the first episode of 2025 the guys talk about the New Orleans terrorist attack and weigh in on their own concerns for national security and public safety in the coming year.
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35:33
Episode 258 - While every attack is different there are some familiar characteristics here
Another vehicular attack, another round of questions on what happened and why. The families of those killed and injured in an ISIS-inspired incident want answers on why this occurred, what was known, and why it was not stopped. Was there ...
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11:01
Episode 257 - What does a vehicular attack in New Orleans tell us about terrorism on a global scale?
New Year's Eve is supposed to be a happy time, ushering out the old year and welcoming the new. For partygoers and revelers in New Orleans it was anything but. A truck rammed into people after midnight, killing ten (so far) and wounding a...
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10:35
Episode 256 - Terrorism is with us to stay unfortunately
I would imagine most people are sick of hearing about terrorism. We read and view reports on a daily basis where individuals and groups carry out attacks or, more hopefully, are foiled by law enforcement and security intelligence agencies...
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11:27
Episode 251 - What good is intelligence if it is not passed on to decision makers?
Those who work in intelligence have a tough job. Whether it is HUMINT, SIGINT, IMINT or any other 'INT', the data is vast and must be collected, processed, tested for accuracy, corroborated, analysed and put into short product so that bus...
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26:05
Quick Hits Episode 255 - Why can't we all get along in the terrorism studies field?
In many areas it is acceptable to put forward a hypothesis, based on what is known, and see where it goes. Honest practitioners will change that idea once new information is made available, and not hold to it in the face of clearly contra...
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11:34
Episode 250 - The Taliban has an opponent: here's to their success!
Ever since the Taliban retook Afghanistan in the fall of 2021 news out of that nation has been solidly negative. Public executions have been reinstated. Women's rights are as bad now as they were when the Taliban (Taliban 1.0) took power ...
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25:29
Episode 255 - Quick Hits Episode Is an act of violence terrorism if there is no underlying coherent ideology?
Another mass gathering, another vehicular attack, this time in Magdeburg, Germany. This is a trend, especially amongst Islamist jihadis (Nice, Barcelona, London, Berlin...) in recent years. This case is different, though, as the alleged m...
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10:41
Spies Like Us Season 2 Episode 16 - Operation Kris Kringle
In this last episode of 2024 the guys talk about the pluses and minuses of calling Luigi Mangione, the killer of a US healthcare executive, a terrorist, and why Santa Claus would make a GREAT intelligence operative
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33:27
Episode 249 - Who are the Balochis and what do they want?
Think Pakistan and you probably think of Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden's last refuge in Abbottabad (before US Navy Seals killed him in 2011). The country is a producer of terrorists - in India - but also a receiver of them - in the form...
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23:42