Reporting Intelligence - with Warren Strobel and Brett Forrest of the Wall Street Journal

Summary

Brett Forrest and Warren Strobel join Andrew to discuss reporting intelligence. Brett and Warren are national security reporters for The Wall Street Journal. 

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

• The intelligence learning curve 
• Stories from the front lines of modern conflicts and critical moments 
• The unique challenges that come with reporting on intelligence, and ...
• The risks, including being a target of espionage

Reflections

• Privacy and protection 
• The power, and danger, of sharing information

And much, much more …

Episode Notes

This week on SpyCast, Andrew was joined in the studio by Brett Forrest and Warren Strobel, intelligence correspondents at the Wall Street Journal. As SpyCast listeners will know, issues of intelligence and espionage are constantly going on all around us – But how does the public stay in the know and up to date on the latest cases and news from around the world? Well, that's where these two come in. 

Their jobs as national security reporters have Brett and Warren effectively working as detectives, salespeople, and researchers all wrapped into one. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear insights from the front lines of reporting intelligence. 

And… 

Vol. 1, No. 1 of the Wall Street Journal was released on July 8^th, 1889. The Journal has changed a lot since that first publication – If you take a look through that first page, you’ll find detailed reporting on the stock market, banks, and brokers, all for the low price of 2 cents a paper. Today, you’ll still find financial news, but the Journal now has a little bit for everyone from fashion to artificial intelligence. 

Quotes of the Week

“It's about knocking on every possible door that you can imagine, that you can come up with, that you can dig up. And, all you're hoping for is one of those doors to open. You know, you knock on a hundred doors, you get 99 doors to open. You just want that one door to open because that's where the information is. That's where the source is. So, I don't know if I would call that luck, I would call that persistence.” – Brett Forrest.

Resources 

SURFACE SKIM

*SpyCasts*

• Zelensky, Ukraine, and Intelligence with Simon Shuster (2024)
• China’s Corporate Spy War with CNBC’s Eamon Javers (2023)
• My Life Looking at Spies & the Media with Paul Lashmar (2021)
• The Women of NatSec Journalism – 6 Leading Journalists (2017)

*Beginner Resources*

• A Brief History of Journalism in America, M. A. McIntosh, Brewminate (2022) [Short article]
• A History of The Wall Street Journal, G. Hughes, Historic Newspapers (2021) [Short article]
• What Is Journalism and Why Does it Matter? CTRL-F, YouTube (2018) [3 min. Video]

DEEPER DIVE

Books

• Spies, Spin and the Fourth Estate, P. Lashmar (EUP, 2021)
• Spies and the Media in Britain, R. Norton-Taylor (IBT, 2018)
• Spinning Intelligence, R. Dover and M. Goodman (CUP, 2009)

Articles

• How Cuba Recruits Spies to Penetrate Inner Circles of the U.S. Government, B. Forrest & W. Strobel, The Wall Street Journal (2024)
• Reporters who covered U.S. invasion of Iraq reflect on impact of war, N. Schifrin & Z. Warsi, PBS News (2023)
• Russian Spy or Ukrainian Hero? The Strange Death of Denys Kiryeyev, B. Forrest, The Wall Street Journal (2023)
• In Ukraine, New Reports of War Crimes Emerge as Russians Retreat From Kyiv Area, B. Forrest, The Wall Street Journal (2022)
• Questioning the Case for War, C. A. Preble, CATO Institute (2018) 
• CIA Intercepts Underpin Assessment Saudi Crown Prince Targeted Khashoggi, W. Strobel, The Wall Street Journal (2018)

Video

• Lost Son with Brett Forrest, International Spy Museum, YouTube (2023) 
• Ukrainians in Bucha reflect on horrors and brutality suffered at hands of Russian forces, PBS News (2023)

Primary Sources 

• It is time to do everything to make the war crimes of the Russian military the last manifestation of this evil on earth - address by the President of Ukraine (2022) 
• UN Report on the Killing of Civilians in Ukraine (2022)
• McClatchy (Knight Ridder) Iraq Intelligence Archive (2001-2007)
• Reporting the War (2005)

*Wildcard Resource*

• Shock and Awe (2017)
• Starring James Marsden as Warren Strobel!