Intelligence & OSINT

Open-source intelligence, espionage, surveillance, and information warfare

123 episodes

#3929: How a $50 Strobe Reshapes Traffic

Trip boards and amber strobes let anyone command deference. The psychology and legality explained.

social-engineeringhardware-engineeringauthoritarianism

#3922: Visible Deterrence: Theater or Tactic?

Does visible armed presence prevent violence or escalate it? An analysis across protests and airports.

security-logisticsmilitary-strategysocial-engineering

#3919: When Militants Want You to Watch Their Training

Hezbollah and Hamas don't hide their military drills from satellites. They broadcast them. Here's why.

military-strategysurveillance-technologyhezbollah

#3909: What to Do When a Stranger Yells at You

A practical protocol for handling aggressive strangers on the street — based on real research.

situational-awarenesssocial-engineeringhuman-factors

#3897: The Mover's Paradox: Social Jiu-Jitsu for Urban Stealth

How to be invisible to security but unapproachable to everyone else using three layers of social engineering.

social-engineeringsituational-awarenessurban-planning

#3896: How to Become Unapproachable While Moving Boxes in Jerusalem

Three escalating layers to stay unapproachable while moving cargo in a city where everyone is curious about your boxes.

social-engineeringosintprivacy

#3893: The Teddy Bear That Shut Down a Daycare

How Israel's 1979 wiretapping law made a camera-stuffed teddy bear legal — and what happens next.

privacysurveillance-technologyisrael

#3860: Qatar's Gift Plane: Air Force One Security Risk?

A foreign government gave the U.S. a Boeing 747 for Air Force One. Is it a generous gift or a security nightmare?

supply-chain-securityaviation-technologynational-security

#3845: Telegram’s Espionage Pipeline: How the IRGC Recruits Israelis

One Israeli spotted an IRGC recruitment channel on Telegram. He reported it. Then nothing.

telecommunicationssocial-engineeringespionage

#3844: Front Companies vs Shell Companies: What's the Real Difference?

Front companies have real employees and offices. Shell companies are just paper. Here's how to tell them apart.

front-companiesespionageisrael

#3843: Tracing the Grey Economy's Hidden Pipes

How journalists trace fraud from Tel Aviv boiler rooms to trafficking networks using public records and patience.

financial-fraudosintsupply-chain-security

#3842: The Moving Scam That Holds Your Belongings Hostage

How a Tel Aviv call center runs interstate moving scams on Americans — and why it's still happening.

logisticssupply-chain-securitysocial-engineering

#3834: How Celebrities Hide Their Phone Numbers

The three-layer system of tech, legal, and social defenses that keeps celebrity phone numbers private.

privacydigital-privacysocial-engineering

#3784: The Caliphate's Paper Trail: How ISIS Built a State

Beyond the violence, ISIS built a functioning bureaucracy with tax forms, ministries, and municipal services. This is how.

military-strategygeopoliticsurban-planning

#3780: How Open-Source Satellites Spot Missile Launches

Thermal satellite data you can access for free can detect missile plumes. Here's what that tells us about classified military capabilities.

satellite-imageryballistic-missilesopen-source-intelligence

#3779: How Consulting Became Spycraft's Perfect Cover

Why intelligence agencies love consulting and import-export as covers—and what it means for legitimate professionals.

espionagefront-companiesiran

#3778: How Ukraine's Trophy Lab Crowdsources Enemy Hardware Analysis

Ukraine's Ministry of Defence publishes full engineering data of captured Russian equipment online. No registration required.

open-source-intelligencedefense-technologymilitary-strategy

#3777: Social Engineering Before Cybersecurity

Ancient Greeks, Cold War spies, and con artists all used social engineering long before Kevin Mitnick.

social-engineeringhuman-intelligenceespionage

#3774: Smuggling Drones Into Iran: The IKEA Approach

How Israel reportedly built a covert drone base inside Iran using flat-pack components and front companies.

iransupply-chainlogistics

#3773: Mossad's Secret Influence Branch: 11-Year Photo Trap

A secret Mossad unit uses AI personas and decade-old photos to undermine Iran from within. One photograph took down a minister.

israeliransocial-engineering

#3771: How Mossad Built a Fake Factory to Pager-Bomb Hezbollah

Mossad didn't just intercept pagers — they manufactured them from scratch, explosives included, through a multi-layer fake company network.

espionagesupply-chain-securitymilitary-strategy

#3768: Testing Premises Before They Fail

How structured techniques and AI frameworks challenge assumptions in high-stakes scenarios before they become failures.

situational-awarenessmilitary-strategynational-security

#3766: How Mossad Stole Iran's Nuclear Archive from a Warehouse

Inside the 2018 Mossad raid that seized Iran's nuclear archive from an air-gapped warehouse in Tehran.

iranespionagedata-integrity

#3763: How Iran Could Hide a Nuclear Stockpile

What if Iran's enriched uranium isn't at Natanz or Fordow — but split across dozens of hidden basements?

irannuclear-proliferationespionage