The conversation starts in the “messy middle” of warfare: grey zone campaigning, activity that sits between peace and war and is designed to achieve strategic objectives while staying below the legal threshold of armed conflict.

In the latest episode of The Intelligence Spotlight from Intel Focus, Qais Alamdar speaks with Gergana Krasteva about what journalism looks like when the job stays serious, but the economics, risks, and incentives keep shifting.

Hacking is often framed as a threat. In public debate, it appears as a breach, an intrusion, a crime. But, as Baptiste Robert argues, hacking at its core is about understanding systems, how they work, how they fail, and where power hides.

In this Intel Focus Special, the focus was not on hot takes or ideological camps, but on lived reality. Joined by a Venezuelan guest speaking anonymously for safety, the conversation explored why shock, relief, fear, and doubt can coexist simultaneously.

Independent journalism is often discussed in national terms, press freedom here, censorship there. But in the latest episode of Intelligence Spotlight, Gemma Terés i Arilla makes a different point: journalism collapses as a system, not as isolated cases.

In this episode, Qais sat down with Daniel Iriarte, journalist, international analyst, and author of Cognitive Wars, to explore how disinformation has evolved into a new kind of warfare — one fought not for land, but for perception.

The internet most of us know is deceptively small. News sites, shopping platforms, TikTok feeds and Instagram reels form only the surface. Beneath lies a vast hidden ecosystem, places where criminal markets, extremist propaganda and anonymous dissent intersect. This is the world that intelligence researcher Shay Maman has spent his career investigating.

Sohan, who has studied influence operations and artificial intelligence ethics through an OSINT lens, told The Intelligence Spotlight podcast that modern disinformation campaigns are less about persuasion and more about disruption. They thrive on fear, doubt, and polarization—on making people believe that “the other side is more gullible.”

Kornelia’s path into international investigations was shaped by the Arab Spring. As a student in Jordan in 2011, she witnessed mass protests and state responses first-hand. That experience pushed her towards human rights and justice work. Her first role with CIJA focused on documenting atrocities in Syria.

Lynzy’s current work turns to another overlooked cost of war — environmental damage. In both Iraq and Afghanistan, she says, US military bases left toxic legacies: burn pits belching smoke, waste dumped on farmland, rivers contaminated.

“The solution is not just to accept refugees but to restore Afghanistan as a habitable country,” he said. “We must talk about legitimacy. Without it, everything — soft power, diplomacy, economic progress — is cosmetic.”