Introducing Into the Grey Zone

01/01/21 • 2 min

What do assassinations, cyber hacks and disinformation have in common? They’re all weapons used by states against each other in a grey zone of harm that sits - deliberately - under the threshold of war, but could be just as dangerous if ignored.
Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes explores this often invisible battlefield, where anything can be - and is - used as a weapon and anyone, anywhere can be a target.
The series examines grey zone assaults; from the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the UK and the killing of a nuclear scientist in Iran; to attempts to influence elections in the United States; and a suspected North Korean cyber-attack on the NHS.
The podcast also includes interviews with spies and military chiefs who warn about the threat to daily life if attacks in the grey zone go unpunished.
In the words of one former head of the UK’s special forces: “We’re being boiled like a frog!”
Credits:
Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
Edited and produced by Chris Scott
Production support from Sophia McBride and Victoria Seabrook
Additional voices provided by Cayetano Delgado
The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

Next Episode

Episode One: The Gathering Storm

This episode seeks to explain what the grey zone is. It includes a warning from General Sir Nick Carter, the head of the UK’s armed forces, and Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, about the danger of ignoring attacks in this murky space, while Lieutenant General Graeme Lamb, a former director of UK special forces, warns: “We’re being boiled like a frog!”
Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes then travels to Salisbury with the widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko to visit the site of one of the most high profile grey zone attacks – the poisoning of another ex-Russian agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia.
Lord Mark Sedwill, a former national security adviser, talks about how he led the UK’s response to nerve agent poisoning and the fake news that followed.
Finally, Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative website Bellingcat, describes how he and his team revealed the true identities of the Russian military intelligence officers named by the UK as prime suspects in the attempted assassination. Russia denies involvement.
Interviews:
General Sir Nick Carter, chief of the defence staff
Ben Wallace, defence secretary
Lord Mark Sedwill, former UK national security adviser, former cabinet secretary
Lieutenant General (retired) Graeme Lamb, former director of UK special forces
Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko
Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative website Bellingcat
Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former commanding officer of the UK’s Joint, Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment
Credits:
Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
Edited and produced by Chris Scott
Production support from Sophia McBride and Victoria Seabrook
Additional voices provided by Cayetano Delgado
The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris