The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast
Cognitive Warfare with Frank Hoffman
The terminology we use to describe new phenomena matters. On this week's podcast, defense intellectual Frank Hoffman reviews Chinese, Russian, European, and--to the extent there is any--American writings about 'cognitive warfare.' For the uninitiated--this runs the gamut from traditional tools of …
28:56
Special Edition: Social Media's "Fake Americans" Problem
American social media is filled with high-strung posters, outrage-addicts, and partisan players. It's a perfect avenue for amplifying division and most platforms let anyone play anonymously. So it came as a shock to some this week when X turned on a new geolocation service and the overseas postin…
09:27
Hired Agents Sow Russian Chaos in Europe with Naomi O’Leary of The Irish Times
This week, Naomi O’Leary, European Correspondent for The Irish Times describes Russia’s hybrid warfare across Europe—from severed pigs heads dumped at French mosques to cases of arson in Poland and the United Kingdom. “Russia is recruiting what they call ‘Telegram agents’ over this messaging app t…
34:25
'The X-Effect' with Kaitlin Tosh and Michelle Inez Simon of Sky News
Journalists at Sky News created an elegant experiment to assess whether content on X in the United Kingdom had political bias. From a database of 90,000 posts created by 21,690 accounts collected over two weeks in May of 2025, they were able to observe ". . . a clear imbalance of content promoted o…
37:02
The Red Hand Trial in France with Marion Solletty & Laura Kayali
This week, Politico's Marion Solletty (Editor-at-Large, France) and Laura Kayali (Defense Correspondent) join hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson to discuss the "Red Hands" trial in France, reports of ties to Russian intelligence, and the broader context in which France finds itself as a "hot-spot in…
32:10
China Relies on Local Voices with Poppy McPherson and Karen Lema
This week on the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson speak with Poppy McPherson (Special Correspondent for Southeast Asia) and Karen Lema (Philippines Bureau Chief) of Reuters whose recent reporting showed Chinese government use of a local public relations firm in …
36:01
Special Edition: A Fresh New Hell?
In this special edition of the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, host Mark Jacobson explores how the disinformation lessons of the past echo in the digital age. Drawing on Mark Twain’s reflections on Gutenberg’s printing press, Jacobson traces how revolutions in communication have spread both kno…
09:08
"@Grok Is This True?" with Renée DiResta
This week on the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson speak with Georgetown University's Renée DiResta about trends in technology, social media, and disinformation. They also discuss some of the reporting in this week's newsletter, including the U.S. Army General u…
33:51
Agentic Offensive Information Ops with Erol Yayboke
This week, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson welcome Erol Yayboke of CSIS and FilterLabs.AI for a conversation about the potential of agentic artificial intelligence to contribute to effective and even ethical offensive information operations. They also review some of the top stories in this week'…
30:17Clean
"Paranoid Thinking" with Stephen Clermont
This week, Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson welcome Stephen Clermont, Head of Polling at Change Research, for a discussion of the sustained appeal of conspiracy theories in the United States, today--all stemming from a collapse in public confidence for the major institutions in American public life. Fi…
38:43