Intelligence Matters

In the first installment of our special limited series Intelligence Matters Presents: Remembering 9/11, host Michael Morell speaks with Stephen Hadley, who served as deputy national security advisor to President George W. Bush on the day of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Hadley and Morell walk through the reactions and responses of White House officials who scrambled to understand the scope and origin of the attacks in real time. They also discuss President Bush's early instructions to government agencies and his messages to the shocked and grieving nation.

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In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with James Cunningham, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Israel and the United Nations. Morell and Cunningham review the country's efforts at arriving at a peace deal with the Taliban and the Afghan government, and explore why a deal remains elusive. They also examine the obstacles to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, China's crackdown on Hong Kong, and Russia's interests in the Middle East. Cunningham offers views on the future of U.S. diplomacy.

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In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. under President George W. Bush and Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation from September 2018 to October 2021. Khalilzad and Morell discuss the history of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan, including in the period during the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1989, after 9/11, and today. Khalilzad offers new details about the deal his team brokered with the Taliban in 2020 - including the contents of two still-secret annexes - and explains why he believes diplomatic engagement with the Taliban should continue. Khalilzad also reflects on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as well as his own role as lead negotiator under Presidents Trump and Biden.

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In this bonus episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell offers an in-depth analysis of seven potential national security consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. He describes, among other factors, the possible effects of a prolonged financial crisis, of growing political instability, of escalating conflict in global hotspots, of the threat of a reconstitution of ISIS, and of the consequences of sustained tension in the US-China relationship. He also discusses the role of the United States in navigating an expected period of global turbulence.

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In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell offers personal reflections in Part Two of a two-part essay on the CIA's strategic warnings before 9/11, the terror plots it helped foil in its aftermath, and its efforts on the ground in Afghanistan post-9/11. Morell offers new details about the CIA's race to gather intelligence on secondary al Qaeda plots targeting the U.S. - including the agency's behind-the-scenes engagements with leaders in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia - and explains why he believes thousands of lives were saved in the immediate post-9/11 period. He also shares his perspective on the agency's Detention and Interrogation program and how it affected CIA's public standing.

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