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🔍 Global Intelligence Yearly Wrap-Up 2025 | Terrorism, Espionage, Foreign Interference & Hybrid Warfare
This special Year in Review episode of Global Intelligence Weekly Wrap-Up steps back from the weekly headlines to examine the national security and intelligence trends that defined 2025 — and what they tell us about the threat environment heading into 2026.
Over the past year, Neil Bisson — retired CSIS intelligence officer and Director of the Global Intelligence Knowledge Network — analyzed dozens of stories involving terrorism, foreign interference, espionage, insider threats, and hybrid warfare.
Individually, these stories made headlines.
Taken together, they reveal patterns.
This episode revisits the most consequential developments of 2025, including:
The acceleration of extremist violence and the global rise in antisemitism
Persistent foreign interference targeting democratic systems
Espionage and insider-threat cases linked to China
Russian hybrid and grey-zone tactics aimed at critical infrastructure
The episode also looks forward, providing actionable intelligence — the indicators, warning signs, and trends listeners should be watching for in 2026, based on what adversaries have already demonstrated.
🎧 Before you hit play, consider these questions:
❓ Why are terrorist radicalization timelines getting shorter — and why are younger individuals increasingly involved?
❓ How does antisemitism function as an early warning indicator for extremist violence?
❓ Why does modern foreign interference rarely look like classic espionage?
❓ What makes insider threats one of the most difficult intelligence challenges to detect?
❓ How are Russian intelligence services using hybrid and grey-zone tactics to apply pressure without open conflict?
❓ What warning signs should governments, institutions, and citizens watch for in 2026?
These questions — and many more — are examined through open-source reporting, intelligence tradecraft, and real-world national security experience.
If you value serious, independent intelligence analysis that goes beyond headlines, consider supporting the podcast on Buzzsprout.
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 — Intro: Global Intelligence Yearly Wrap-Up
01:47 — Extremist Terrorism & the Acceleration Effect (Global Antisemitism)
06:05 — 2026 Outlook: Terrorism & Early-Warning Indicators
07:45 — Foreign Interference: Influence, Access & Adaptation
11:35 — 2026 Outlook: Interference & Democratic Resilience
13:05 — Espionage & Insider Threats (China Focus)
16:00 — 2026 Outlook: Insider Risk & Strategic Competition
17:30 — Hybrid Warfare & Grey-Zone Operations (Russia)
18:45 — 2026 Outlook: Sabotage, Resilience & Infrastructure
19:10 — Outro
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Producing Global Intelligence Weekly Wrap-Up requires continuous monitoring of open-source reporting, detailed research, and careful analysis to deliver clear, accurate, and independent intelligence insight every week.
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