Ukrainian War, American Intelligence
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 10 May 2022
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s not unusual for the U.S. to lend intelligence to another country. It’s a little more unusual for the U.S. to talk about it.
Why is the American military confirming reports that it’s helping Ukraine vanquish Russian targets? Could that candidness lead to an expansion of the war? Or will it be the deciding factor in finishing the conflict?
Guest: Shane Harris, reporter covering intelligence and national security for the Washington Post.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So, Shane, I'm going to enlist you to help solve a mystery. |
| 0:09.9 | Are you ready? |
| 0:10.8 | Oh, yeah. I'm always up for a mystery. |
| 0:14.6 | Shane Harris reports on national security over the Washington Post. |
| 0:18.6 | And the mystery I was hoping he could solve. |
| 0:21.5 | It revolved around this contradictory reporting I read last week. |
| 0:24.9 | First, there was an article in the New York Times. |
| 0:27.0 | It had a simple headline. |
| 0:28.9 | U.S. intelligence is helping Ukraine to kill Russian generals. |
| 0:34.5 | Seems really straightforward, right? |
| 0:36.3 | Right. |
| 0:36.5 | A day later, in the military times, Pentagon denies U.S. intelligence is targeting Russian generals in Ukraine. |
| 0:45.8 | And then my favorite of these headlines is from New York Magazine. |
| 0:52.2 | It says U.S. admits and denies helping Ukraine kill Russian generals. |
| 0:59.1 | So I'm confused. |
| 1:01.5 | Like, who's right here? |
| 1:03.5 | So there are three words that are doing a lot of work in these headlines. |
| 1:07.5 | One is intelligence. |
| 1:09.1 | The other is targeting. |
| 1:13.0 | And the other is helping or help. |
| 1:23.4 | I feel like there's a very complicated, very lawyered chain that this information is going through. |
| 1:25.4 | I mean, what gave you that impression? |
... |
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