Target USA Podcast by WTOP

Target USA Podcast by WTOP


Latest Episodes

Target USA - Ep 53: U.S.-Russia showdown in North Africa
February 23, 2017

In February, at a security conference in Morocco dealing with terrorism, a Russian scholar took to the podium and launched into a blistering critique of the U.S. war on terror, calling it a fiasco and blaming the U.S. for an increase in...

Target USA - Ep 52: The Council of Europe's Plan to Deal with Terrorism
February 16, 2017

Terror groups are utilizing gang tactics as they try to extend their influence, and prisons are a "hotbed" for recruiting. Kristian Bartholin, Deputy Head of Counter Terrorism at the Council of Europe, explains how ISIS is recruiting...

Target USA - Ep 51: Why the US Might Lose the Messaging War with Terrorists
February 09, 2017

In this week's Target USA, J.J. Green talks to Martha Crenshaw, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University and co-author of the new book "Countering Terrorism." Crenshaw says...

Target USA - Ep 50: Should the US Torture Terrorists?
February 02, 2017

The U.S. government is considering a return to torturing terrorists and using black sites abroad to house those operations. U.S. law says it is illegal, but some argue that terrorists do much worse. Former CIA analyst Philip Mudd explains...

Target USA - Ep 49: Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman - ISIL recruiting children in attempt to save group
January 26, 2017

There are 200,000 buildings in Mosul. ISIL fighters are using rooftops, internal spaces and subterranean elements of those buildings to launch attacks against Iraqi forces. U.S. Air Force Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for Operation Inherent...

Target USA - Ep 36 - The Epic Battle for Mosul
October 27, 2016

An apocalyptic scene is unfolding in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. Large sulfur fires and huge pits of oil are burning. Buildings are booby trapped, hundreds of suicide bombers are on the loose. Hundreds of thousands of people...

Target USA - Ep 35 - Understanding How Terrorists Use Social Media
October 19, 2016

Seamus Hughes is among a growing number of terrorism experts that have realized today's terrorists are far more savvy at using social media to support their activities than counter-terrorism authorities are at using social media to...

Target USA - Ep 34 - Running Out of Time to Stop N. Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program
October 13, 2016

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) recently published a report about a grave, worsening global threat - the North Korean nuclear and missile programs. The bottom line: North Korea is rapidly becoming an existential threat to the U.S.,...

Target USA - Ep 33 - She Saw Something, So She Said Something
October 06, 2016

The Department of Homeland Security campaign urging people to report suspicious activities and packages really does work. Jane Schreibman, who discovered a bomb in New York's Chelsea neighborhood on Sept. 17, probably saved a lot of...

Target USA - Ep 32 - Online and Undercover: The FBI Chasing Terrorists in Cyberspace
September 29, 2016

Paul Abbate, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office (WFO), is losing a lot of sleep over what he's seeing now. In the last two years, 15 terrorism cases have been brought in the National Capitol Region,...