Best Peter Berg Podcasts (2024)

1
Don’t Miss These Upcoming Episodes of In The Room 1:34

3M ago1:34

1:34

In the Room will be covering national security, broadly defined, as the U.S. heads into an exceptionally consequential election and contends with multiple destabilizing dynamics around the world. Here’s a sneak peek at some upcoming episodes, and more of the direct-from-the source reporting you’ve come to expect. Plus an important announcement abou…

1
Does the Pentagon (or the Cops) Know What Side of the Bed You Sleep On? 41:56

4M ago41:56

41:56

In the wake of 9/11, a massive surveillance system quietly made its way onto our smartphones. The data of millions of Americans is for sale to the highest bidder — and it’s not always clear who’s buying. Here’s how information about everything, from where you got a drink last night (and maybe even with whom) to where you sleep, might be available f…

1
How Tiny Qatar Became a Global Player 38:47

4M ago38:47

38:47

These days when a thorny international conflict is resolved, more and more often a major player in the negotiation has been the small Persian Gulf state of Qatar. The country has made itself uniquely indispensable on the global stage by trying to play nice with pretty much everyone, including Hamas and Iran. And also by keeping on very good terms w…

1
The One Way Out of an Israeli-Palestinian Forever War 35:34

4M ago35:34

35:34

New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman has been thinking about the Middle East since he was 15 years old and he’s been covering the region for 45 years. He remains adamant that the only way forward for Israelis and Palestinians is through a two-state solution. He tells Peter what it will take to get there. Go to audible.com/news w…

1
The Rise, and Maybe Downfall, of Liberal Democracy 40:12

5M ago40:12

40:12

Veteran journalist and CNN host Fareed Zakaria has made a career of putting hard questions to many of the world's most powerful people. Taking the temperature of global politics these days, he’s worried democracy is on a dangerous downward slide. He explains why — and where — leaders are taking their countries down dark paths, and what can be done …

1
The Right-Wing Plan for Trump to Root Out the “Deep State Department” 47:31

5M ago47:31

47:31

You may have heard some ruckus about Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s 887-page plan to overhaul the federal government, fire thousands of career bureaucrats and bring in loyalists if Trump wins a second term. But what would this look like in practice? You’ll hear from the author of one chapter of the plan who says curing what ails the US Sta…

1
How Women Became Central to the Central Intelligence Agency 44:46

5M ago44:46

44:46

When the CIA got started in 1947 it recruited women for one type of job: typing and filing. Very few women were out in the field gathering intelligence and recruiting foreign agents. But once they finally got the chance, they proved instrumental to obtaining secret codes and tracking down terrorists - despite sometimes facing discrimination and har…

1
India’s Modi Will (Likely) Get the Most Votes in Human History. Why? 47:28

5M ago47:28

47:28

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is the most popular leader in the world — and he’s poised to win reelection to a third term. With his embrace of religious nationalism, is India’s secular democracy in peril? Or is Modi just giving the country’s 1.1 billion Hindus what they want? Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommend…

1
The Man Who Led NATO Is Trying to Frighten You 35:35

5M ago35:35

35:35

How could the US lose a war with China? What happens if American political divisions keep getting more extreme? And what in the world will A.I, mean for national security? These are the questions that keep the former commander of NATO, retired Admiral James Stavridis and retired Marine Captain Elliot Ackerman up at night. But unlike a lot of people…

1
The View From a Newsroom in the Middle East 38:35

6M ago38:35

38:35

Mina Al-Oraibi is the editor of The National, an English-language newspaper headquartered in Abu Dhabi. She shares how the post-October 7th news landscape looks inside the Middle East: how Hamas is viewed in the region, how much of a threat Iran poses, and why she calls the conflict in Gaza “Joe Biden’s war.” Go to audible.com/news where you'll fin…

1
1-on-1 with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (9/26/23 Rebroadcast) 1:19:07

6M ago1:19:07

1:19:07

RFK, Jr.’s views on vaccines and his penchant for questioning official narratives have kept him on the fringes of American politics for years. But now, as a third-party presidential candidate he is polling around 10% — enough to affect the outcome of an election that is expected to be decided on a razor-thin margin. In this lengthy sit-down, first …

1
Is America Headed into a New Cold War? 36:29

6M ago36:29

36:29

David Sanger thinks so. After four decades at The New York Times, he may be America’s most experienced national security reporter, and he thinks superpower conflict is back. He describes how the U.S. overestimated the democratizing power of globalization, underestimated the ambitions of Russia and China, and what, if anything, can be done to counte…

1
What Happened When the Migrant Crisis Came to Chicago? 48:49

6M ago48:49

48:49

Busloads of migrants have been arriving in northern cities for the past two years, testing the patience of some residents and bringing out empathy in others. We go to Chicago to find out what the real, local effects of this surge are — not just what the politicians with their megaphones say they are. And we explore some solutions to a problem that …

1
Where Did the Migrant Crisis Come From? 35:28

7M ago35:28

35:28

American voters say immigration is the number one issue on their minds in this crucial presidential election year. How did we get here? In part one of this series we look at Venezuela, a country that has seen a massive exodus of its population over the past decade, many of whom end up in cities and states across the U.S. Go to audible.com/news wher…

1
What UFO Conspiracies Have to Do with Jan. 6th 38:03

7M ago38:03

38:03

The Pentagon UFO office just released its investigation of UFO sightings going back to the 1940s. We talk with maybe the most serious historian to study UFOs, Garrett Graff, to learn what UFO questions the Pentagon investigation has laid to rest, what new questions have been raised, why it’s sometimes in the interest of national security to keep in…

1
Counterterrorism Chief Says Hamas Attack and Gaza War Have Reshaped Terror Threat 41:44

7M ago41:44

41:44

When Christine Abizaid — the director of the National Counterterrorism Center — first began working for the United States government in 2002, the biggest terror threat facing the U.S. was from Al-Qaeda. Now, homegrown far-right terrorists pose a key threat, the Hamas attacks on October 7th and the ongoing war in Gaza are fueling new risks, and some…

1
Can the U.S. Just Pull Out of the Middle East? 40:55

7M ago40:55

40:55

The answer is probably not. And that has to do with oil, the internet, and one of America’s most persistent foes, Iran. Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privac…

1
How Does the US Government Get Detained Americans Home? 48:40

8M ago48:40

48:40

Almost immediately after Hamas attacked Israel, the US began a well-coordinated, high-level, high-wire effort to free the Americans taken hostage. It wasn’t always like this. Until a few years ago, the US had no effective approach to securing the release of its citizens held overseas. After multiple Americans died in captivity while the government …

1
A Friendly Warning for America 38:18

8M ago38:18

38:18

With November’s election approaching, it feels like the United States is at a crossroads — not just at home, but abroad too. Will the country continue to lead the global order, as it’s done so successfully since the end of WWII? Or will it retreat into isolationism? A distinguished foreign friend of America’s — the British soldier, diplomat, politi…

1
You Should Worry About A.I., But Not For The Reason You Think 44:13

8M ago44:13

44:13

New tools like Chat GPT have sparked futuristic fears about intelligent machines wiping people out. But there’s a more immediate A.I. threat coming, in a year when half the world’s population is headed to the polls. Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening. See Priva…

1
Did Oppenheimer’s Atomic Bomb Make the World Safer? 41:51

8M ago41:51

41:51

The wild success of Oppenheimer, with 13 Oscar nominations and nearly $1 billion in ticket sales, has revived a debate about the most destructive weapon ever created — and renewed concerns about how close the world might be to nuclear war. The leader of the project to build the bomb during WWII, Robert Oppenheimer, believed — at first — that it cou…

1
China is Stalking its Dissidents — Even on U.S. Soil 42:54

9M ago42:54

42:54

The United States is home to countless dissidents from around the world who have fled repression in places like Iran, India, Russia and, increasingly, China. But US soil — even U.S. citizenship — isn’t a guarantee they’ll be left alone. Why are foreign governments daring to harass, hurt, or even kill their foes in the U.S. — and what's being done t…

1
Why America’s Biggest Terror Threat Is Homegrown 40:56

9M ago40:56

40:56

The January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol was the culmination of political trends in the United States that have festered for decades. And it may be a dress rehearsal for what comes next. Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening. See Privacy Policy at https://art1…

1
Hunting the Bidens 51:03

9M ago51:03

51:03

How did Hunter Biden’s laptop, a digital chronicle of misadventures by President Joe Biden’s troubled son, become a political flashpoint and help spark potential impeachment proceedings? What personal and business secrets buried in the old computer are being weaponized against the Biden family during the 2024 campaign? Are any of them cause for con…

1
Being a Spy Can Be Pretty Stressful. The CIA is Trying to Help. 43:12

9M ago43:12

43:12

The job comes with all sorts of risks and responsibilities plus exposure to a lot of violence and trauma — whether that’s out in a war zone or in the office, where analysts may work on cases involving horrific human rights abuses. All of that can take its toll. CIA Director William Burns has acknowledged the agency needs to do more to “take care” o…

1
Is The Pentagon Really Hiding Crashed Alien Spaceships? 40:25

9M ago40:25

40:25

Sean Kirkpatrick is one of the best guys on earth to answer that question. He set up the Pentagon’s new office tasked with investigating UFO sightings by the US military. But he rarely gives interviews. Until now. You’ll hear what his investigators found out about sightings going back to Roswell, and what he thinks is the biggest UFO conspiracy of …

1
As the Arctic Ice Melts, Could a New Kind of Cold War Be Coming? 30:16

10M ago30:16

30:16

Until recently, the eight nations whose borders creep into the icy Arctic haven’t had much of a reason to fight over this forbidding landscape. But as climate change melts the ice and opens up access to all kinds of precious resources, the United States is preparing for the possibility of conflict. So how will the U.S. defend its interests in a pla…

1
Yes, the United States has a Space Force. Stop Laughing. 38:28

10M ago38:28

38:28

Meet the newest branch of the American military and learn how life as you know it could stop if it fails to do its job. Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privac…

1
The Americans Who Would Be on the Frontline of a War in the Pacific 35:07

11M ago35:07

35:07

In the summer of 2022, the United States military ran a major training exercise to prepare to respond if its ally Taiwan gets invaded by China. Central to the strategy: the tiny American island of Guam, the westernmost part of the United States, where the U.S. has more than doubled defense spending in recent years. But not everyone on Guam is convi…

1
Who Controls America’s Past? 37:24

11M ago37:24

37:24

Revisiting history is never simple. Especially the history of the United States, which is often painful, and, invariably political. At dinner tables, school board meetings, and political protests, Americans disagree not only about how our past should be interpreted, but what actually happened in the first place. From the myth about George Washingto…

1
How to Beat the Russian Army 31:45

11M ago31:45

31:45

Hollywood may have portrayed him as a nerd, but Mike Vickers was the superstar architect of America’s covert war in the 1980s that drove the Soviet army out of Afghanistan. And this alum of the Green Berets and the CIA has some ideas about how to do the same thing in Ukraine today. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Priv…

1
Could Prosecuting the Former President be Bad for American Democracy? 34:45

11M ago34:45

34:45

Some countries have fallen into a toxic cycle of tit-for-tat prosecutions, where every ex-president has to expect they’ll eventually end up behind bars. Could the U.S. be next? Two constitutional experts warn that some of the criminal cases against Donald Trump could cause cycles of retribution that poison our politics. And why our saving grace jus…

1
Is Israel Prepared for this Ground War? 28:28

12M ago28:28

28:28

Experts on urban and underground warfare explain why an aerial campaign alone can’t defeat Hamas, what the shortcomings are of the Israeli Defense Force, and how long, complicated, and tragic this war will be. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.…

1
Turning Bad News into a Great Read 43:15

12M ago43:15

43:15

How do two of America's leading nonfiction writers turn some of the biggest issues affecting us into juicy narratives that change hearts and minds — and maybe even policies? Patrick Radden Keefe on how he rendered the opioid crisis as a dramatic tale of money, power, and human suffering in his book Empire of Pain, and Elizabeth Kolbert on how she i…

1
A General and a Military Historian Say Israel-Hamas War is Most Challenging Conflict Since 1945 31:24

1y ago31:24

31:24

General David Petraeus and historian Andrew Roberts, co-authors of the new book “Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine,” discuss how they believe this war will evolve, how it compares to other conflicts of the last seven and a half decades, and what we can learn from the mistakes made during those wars. See Privacy Policy at https…

1
Can the Next Mass Shooting Be Prevented? 46:18

1y ago46:18

46:18

Another mass shooting is making headlines in the United States. With it comes the familiar feeling of powerlessness. But a rare peek inside the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit reveals that at least some shootings are being prevented, using techniques to identify people headed down the ‘pathway to violence.’ In the absence of gun reform, agents share…

1
How Does the Russian Propaganda Machine Work? 41:23

1y ago41:23

41:23

When Ukrainian soldiers liberated the town of Bucha, Ukraine in March, 2022, news reports showed scenes of bodies lying in the streets. Human Rights Watch documented cases of summary executions. But on Russian state television, the news was presented as “fake,” a staged event. Objective reporting about the war in Ukraine is now against the law in R…

1
You Should Worry About A.I., but Not for the Reason You Think 42:33

1y ago42:33

42:33

New tools like Chat GPT have sparked futuristic fears about intelligent machines wiping people out or, at the very least, taking all our jobs. But there’s a more immediate A.I. threat coming for us, as soon as the next election. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my…

1
The Future of War 39:33

1y ago39:33

39:33

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face,” Mike Tyson famously once said. Vladimir Putin thought he could defeat Ukraine in three days. How did he get it so wrong? And what can we learn from his mistake? Throughout history, according to one of the world’s leading experts, wars have almost never played out as predicted. But if that’s t…

1
The War that Americans Forgot, Iraqis Can’t — and Iran Won 42:18

1y ago42:18

42:18

Twenty years ago, a massive statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down in Baghdad, a day that for many Iraqis signaled hope for the future of the country. But America’s invasion did not come with a coherent plan for what should come next, and those hopes were dashed. What is the legacy of U.S. intervention in the country today? Peter travels to Iraq …

1
1-on-1 with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 1:17:05

1y ago1:17:05

1:17:05

Please note: The views shared in this episode do not necessarily reflect those of Audible or "In the Room with Peter Bergen." RFK, Jr.’s views on vaccines and penchant for questioning official narratives have kept him on the fringes of American politics for years. His blistering critiques of the Biden Administration on everything from the pandemic …

1
How Hackers Stole Half of Americans’ Private Information - and Why 41:18

1y ago41:18

41:18

The wild story of the 'worst corporate data breach ever,' the man who got blamed for it, and the sleuths who figured out who actually did it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

1
Lessons From the Man Who Got bin Laden 45:03

1y ago45:03

45:03

Meet Admiral William McRaven, the Navy SEAL who literally wrote THE book on special operations, and who says the best way to plan the raid for the world’s most wanted man - or do pretty much anything else - is to start by making your bed. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-n…

1
On the Trail and Inside the Mind of Osama bin Laden 45:42

1y ago45:42

45:42

It's impossible to understand the events of 9/11 without understanding Osama bin Laden. Who was he? What was he hoping to achieve with the attack? How did the US track him down? And what can we learn from that story now? Three women - a CIA analyst, an FBI investigator, and a scholar who read 6,000 pages of documents recovered from bin Laden’s comp…

1
China, Critical Minerals, and the National Security Threat in Your iPhone 36:23

1y ago36:23

36:23

We can’t do much without batteries and microchips; they power everything from smartphones to electric cars to defense systems. But the U.S. ceded control of the raw materials required to make them - to its chief rival, China. Is it possible to catch up, especially given America’s more stringent labor and environmental standards? See Privacy Policy …

1
How Did a 60-Year Old American Veteran Wind Up Fighting in Ukraine? 30:14

1y ago30:14

30:14

Malcolm Nance was retired from the U.S. Navy, but the Russian invasion of its neighbor compelled him to dig out his old weapons and equipment, and join up with the International Legion fighting in Ukraine. He explains how the International Legion functions, what it’s like to take a direct hit from a Russian shell, and why he doesn’t believe he and …

1
What if There Were a 9/11 Commission for Covid? 38:45

1y ago38:45

38:45

Actually, there basically is - led by the same guy. They have found that President Trump didn’t cause the botched response (although they label him a “comorbidity”). Neither did partisan politics (although there are some isolated exceptions). And if you think that’s surprising, wait till you hear how prepared we are (not) for the next pandemic. See…

1
How Was Afghanistan Lost to the Taliban - Again? Ep. 2 46:42

1y ago46:42

46:42

In the final chaotic days of the US presence in Afghanistan, a young survivor of a Taliban attack was trying to get to the airport, the top American diplomat was doing his best to make the departure as orderly as humanly possible, and the Afghan national security advisor was fleeing with the president on a helicopter. You will hear from all of them…

1
How Was Afghanistan Lost to the Taliban - Again? Ep. 1 40:18

1+ y ago40:18

40:18

After a 20-year war that cost the United States two trillion dollars and led to nearly 200,000 deaths, the Taliban are back in power - and offering safe haven to Al Qaeda once again. General David H. Petraeus, Trump advisor Lisa Curtis, Afghan ambassador to the US Roya Rahmani and others, bring us "in the room" to explain how this debacle came to p…

1
What Would a Second Trump Presidency Mean for the World? 35:54

1+ y ago35:54

35:54

When he first ran for president, Donald Trump didn’t have any record on foreign policy. Now he does, and that offers more than a hint of how he might lead if he were to win the White House again in 2024. Peter dissects the Trump record with one of the ex-president’s best-known former foreign policy advisors - and critics - John Bolton, who doesn’t …

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Peter Berg Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide