Chief Executive Officer, IntelCenter
Chief Executive Office of IntelCenter, a private contractor that provides counterterrorism and intelligence support to the military and law enforcement communities
PROFILE
Ben Venzke
Guest
FROM Ben Venzke
To the Point
Terrorism and Cold War Tactics During the Cold War, US intelligence struggled to penetrate the Kremlin, which ran the Soviet Union with an iron hand. Today's intelligence professionals say terrorist groups like al Qaeda pose an even more difficult challenge. True believers won't take bribes and scoff at threats of retaliation. So US military and intelligence agencies want to update another Cold War strategy: deterrence, using the Internet to sow confusion, dissent and distrust. Can language skills and cultural understanding separate moderate Muslims from the extremists? Are western policies the real problem? Is al Qaeda better at high-tech propaganda than the US and its allies?
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To the Point
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
To the Point
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?