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SpyTalk, a podcast at the intersection of intelligence, foreign policy,

national security and military operations with Jeff Stein and Jean Miserve.

Hi there, I'm Jeff Stein.

And I'm Jean Miserve. Welcome to another episode of SpyTalk.

Lots going on in the national security and intelligence world as usual this week.

One of the big stories was the report that joint chiefs chairman General Mark Milley was so alarmed about President Trump's mental state

that he reached out to his Chinese counterpart to assure him that everything was under control in Washington.

There's been wide ranging opinion on Milley's action.

I call up SpyTalk's resident expert on Chinese intelligence, Matthew Brazil, to ask him about it.

Both sides of any potential nuclear exchange fear a number of things.

They fear a surprise attack.

They fear that the leader of the other side may have lost their minds

and will do something suicidal or crazy with nuclear weapons.

They fear misunderstandings and miscommunications that could lead to that decision making on one side or the other.

And so I think that General Milley was not being a hawk or a dove. He was being an owl.

That was Matthew Brazil author of Chinese Communist espionage.

That interview is coming up. But first, with the US exit from Afghanistan,

there's been a lot of talk and attention on the Taliban and rightly so.

...