
Episode 140
Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation & Political Warfare | Thomas Rid

Episode 140
Thomas Rid
Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation & Political Warfare | Thomas Rid
summary
In Episode 140 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Thomas Rid, Professor of Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies about active measures, the history of disinformation, and political warfare.
We live in the age of organized deception. Spy agencies pour vast resources into hacking, leaking, and forging data, often with the goal of weakening the very foundation of liberal democracy: trust in facts. As a renowned expert on technology and national security, Thomas Rid was one of the first to sound the alarm. More than four months before the 2016 election, he warned that Russian military intelligence was “carefully planning and timing a high-stakes political campaign” to disrupt the democratic process. But as crafty as such so-called active measures have become, they are not new.
The story of modern disinformation begins with the post-Russian Revolution clash between communism and capitalism, which would come to define the Cold War. In this conversation about active measures, Rid reveals startling intelligence and security secrets from materials written in more than ten languages across several nations, and from interviews with current and former operatives. He exposes the disturbing yet colorful history of professional, organized lying, tracks the rise of leaking, and shows how spies began to exploit emerging internet culture many years before WikiLeaks. Finally, he sheds new light on the 2016 election, especially the role of the infamous “troll farm” in St. Petersburg as well as a much more harmful attack that unfolded in the shadows.
During a period of heightened emotions, extreme politics, and dangerous precedents, this conversation will help listeners to understand how we got here and what we can do in order to make it safely through the other side.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week’s episode through the Hidden Forces Supercast Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at http://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Episode Recorded on 05/25/2020
bio
Thomas Rid is Professor of Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. Rid’s latest book, Active Measures, a startling history of disinformation, was published in late April 2020 with Farrar, Straus and Giroux (also in Russian, Japanese, Polish). His most recent book, Rise of the Machines (2016), tells the sweeping story of how cybernetics, a late-1940s theory of machines, came to incite anarchy and war (also in Chinese, Russian, German, Japanese, Turkish). His 2015 article “Attributing Cyber Attacks” was designed to explain, guide, and improve the identification of network breaches (Journal of Strategic Studies 2015). In 2013 he published the widely-read book Cyber War Will Not Take Place. Rid’s Ph.D. thesis, “War and Media Operations: The US Military and the Press from Vietnam to Iraq,” was the first academic analysis of the role of embedded media in the 2003 Iraq War, providing a concise history of US military public affairs management since Vietnam. Rid testified on information security in front of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as well as in the German Bundestag and the UK Parliament. From 2011 to 2016, Rid was a professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. Between 2003 and 2010, he worked at major think tanks in Berlin, Paris, Jerusalem, and Washington, DC. Rid holds a PhD from Humboldt University in Berlin.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Iam quae corporis sunt, ea nec auctoritatem cum animi partibus, comparandam et cognitionem habent faciliorem. Primum in nostrane potestate est, quid meminerimus? Atque his de rebus et splendida est eorum et illustris oratio. Paupertas si malum est, mendicus beatus esse nemo potest, quamvis sit sapiens. Ergo hoc quidem apparet, nos ad agendum esse natos. Dicimus aliquem hilare vivere; Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Immo alio genere;
Efficiens dici potest. Nam ante Aristippus, et ille melius. Atqui haec patefactio quasi rerum opertarum, cum quid quidque sit aperitur, definitio est. Est enim effectrix multarum et magnarum voluptatum. Nam quid possumus facere melius? Verum hoc idem saepe faciamus. Si enim ita est, vide ne facinus facias, cum mori suadeas. Idemque diviserunt naturam hominis in animum et corpus. Neminem videbis ita laudatum, ut artifex callidus comparandarum voluptatum diceretur. Ut in voluptate sit, qui epuletur, in dolore, qui torqueatur.
Quid de Platone aut de Democrito loquar? Ita ne hoc quidem modo paria peccata sunt. An vero displicuit ea, quae tributa est animi virtutibus tanta praestantia? Ut proverbia non nulla veriora sint quam vestra dogmata. Tecum optime, deinde etiam cum mediocri amico. Videamus igitur sententias eorum, tum ad verba redeamus. Animum autem reliquis rebus ita perfecit, ut corpus;
Si quidem, inquit, tollerem, sed relinquo. Ergo adhuc, quantum equidem intellego, causa non videtur fuisse mutandi nominis. Illud dico, ea, quae dicat, praeclare inter se cohaerere. Sed ad haec, nisi molestum est, habeo quae velim. Negabat igitur ullam esse artem, quae ipsa a se proficisceretur; Scripta sane et multa et polita, sed nescio quo pacto auctoritatem oratio non habet. Praetereo multos, in bis doctum hominem et suavem, Hieronymum, quem iam cur Peripateticum appellem nescio. Non autem hoc: igitur ne illud quidem.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Huic mori optimum esse propter desperationem sapientiae, illi propter spem vivere. Odium autem et invidiam facile vitabis. Duo enim genera quae erant, fecit tria.
Hoc dictum in una re latissime patet, ut in omnibus factis re, non teste moveamur. Itaque nostrum est-quod nostrum dico, artis est-ad ea principia, quae accepimus. A quibus propter discendi cupiditatem videmus ultimas terras esse peragratas. Plane idem, inquit, et maxima quidem, qua fieri nulla maior potest.
Est igitur officium eius generis, quod nec in bonis ponatur nec in contrariis. Animum autem reliquis rebus ita perfecit, ut corpus; Non enim, si omnia non sequebatur, idcirco non erat ortus illinc. Dicam, inquam, et quidem discendi causa magis, quam quo te aut Epicurum reprehensum velim. Roges enim Aristonem, bonane ei videantur haec: vacuitas doloris, divitiae, valitudo; Non enim iam stirpis bonum quaeret, sed animalis. Terram, mihi crede, ea lanx et maria deprimet. Quae cum praeponunt, ut sit aliqua rerum selectio, naturam videntur sequi;
Scio enim esse quosdam, qui quavis lingua philosophari possint; Itaque mihi non satis videmini considerare quod iter sit naturae quaeque progressio. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Quae similitudo in genere etiam humano apparet. Eadem fortitudinis ratio reperietur. Quae autem natura suae primae institutionis oblita est? Non enim iam stirpis bonum quaeret, sed animalis.
intelligence report
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc ita separantur, ut disiuncta sint, quo nihil potest esse perversius. Facete M. Ut optime, secundum naturam affectum esse possit. Ab hoc autem quaedam non melius quam veteres, quaedam omnino relicta. Duo Reges: constructio interrete.
Non est enim vitium in oratione solum, sed etiam in moribus. Ergo id est convenienter naturae vivere, a natura discedere. Non risu potius quam oratione eiciendum? Modo etiam paulum ad dexteram de via declinavi, ut ad Pericli sepulcrum accederem. Quae si potest singula consolando levare, universa quo modo sustinebit? At cum de plurimis eadem dicit, tum certe de maximis. Tanta vis admonitionis inest in locis;
Quarum ambarum rerum cum medicinam pollicetur, luxuriae licentiam pollicetur. Nos commodius agimus. Omnia contraria, quos etiam insanos esse vultis. Et certamen honestum et disputatio splendida! omnis est enim de virtutis dignitate contentio. Ad eas enim res ab Epicuro praecepta dantur. Sed quae tandem ista ratio est? Te ipsum, dignissimum maioribus tuis, voluptasne induxit, ut adolescentulus eriperes P.
Cur fortior sit, si illud, quod tute concedis, asperum et vix ferendum putabit? Cur igitur, inquam, res tam dissimiles eodem nomine appellas? Non quam nostram quidem, inquit Pomponius iocans; Prodest, inquit, mihi eo esse animo. Praeteritis, inquit, gaudeo. Id enim volumus, id contendimus, ut officii fructus sit ipsum officium.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ex rebus enim timiditas, non ex vocabulis nascitur. Ergo hoc quidem apparet, nos ad agendum esse natos. Plane idem, inquit, et maxima quidem, qua fieri nulla maior potest. Quae duo sunt, unum facit. Igitur neque stultorum quisquam beatus neque sapientium non beatus.
Hoc Hieronymus summum bonum esse dixit. Quae cum praeponunt, ut sit aliqua rerum selectio, naturam videntur sequi; Si enim ita est, vide ne facinus facias, cum mori suadeas. Hoc dixerit potius Ennius: Nimium boni est, cui nihil est mali. Tu vero, inquam, ducas licet, si sequetur; Nam aliquando posse recte fieri dicunt nulla expectata nec quaesita voluptate. Nam de summo mox, ut dixi, videbimus et ad id explicandum disputationem omnem conferemus. Aliis esse maiora, illud dubium, ad id, quod summum bonum dicitis, ecquaenam possit fieri accessio.
Piso, familiaris noster, et alia multa et hoc loco Stoicos irridebat: Quid enim? Hoc est non modo cor non habere, sed ne palatum quidem. Stoici scilicet. Non modo carum sibi quemque, verum etiam vehementer carum esse? Sed tamen est aliquid, quod nobis non liceat, liceat illis. Et quidem Arcesilas tuus, etsi fuit in disserendo pertinacior, tamen noster fuit; Traditur, inquit, ab Epicuro ratio neglegendi doloris.
Quis enim est, qui non videat haec esse in natura rerum tria? Vos autem cum perspicuis dubia debeatis illustrare, dubiis perspicua conamini tollere. Illa argumenta propria videamus, cur omnia sint paria peccata. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Proclivi currit oratio. Varietates autem iniurasque fortunae facile veteres philosophorum praeceptis instituta vita superabat. Itaque in rebus minime obscuris non multus est apud eos disserendi labor.