ThinkJSOU with COL (Ret.) Christopher Costa: Counterintelligence and SOF in the Gray Zone

In March 2023, Mr. Michael Parrott, JSOU Faculty, interviewed Colonel (Retired) Christopher Costa about his recent article in The Hill titled, The new era of counterintelligence must shift focus to the gray zone. COL (Ret.) Costa shares his insights into the paradigm shift from the counterterrorism-era to strategic competition and need for “more aggressive offensive U.S. counterintelligence activities” and collaboration amongst the U.S. intelligence community and Special Operations Forces to develop aggressive, innovative, and proactive counterintelligence responses to China, Russia, Iran, and other foreign intelligence entities (FIE) attempts to exploit vulnerabilities and seams within the U.S., allies, and partner nations’ defenses.
COL (Ret.) Costa recommended reading:

Opinions are those of the presenters and may not necessarily be the views of U.S. Government, Department of Defense, United States Special Operations Command, and the Joint Special Operations University.

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro
4:15 - Question 1
7:09 - Question 2
10:35 - Question 3
16:16 - Question 4
44:16 - Question 5
57:57 - Question 6
1:05:13 - Question 7
1:12:26 - Question 8
1:19:32 - Question 9
1:24:56 - Closing & Outro

Articles/Information Referenced during Interview:

The Hill titled, The new era of counterintelligence must shift focus to the gray zone.

Books Referenced:

Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by General Stanley McChrystal , Tantum Collins , et al. | May 12, 2015

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal Paperback – May 12, 2015 by Ben Macintyre (Author), John le Carré (Afterword)

Informing Statecraft Paperback – June 7, 2002 by Angelo Codevilla (Author)

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The views expressed in this video are entirely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views, policy, or position of the United States Government, Department of Defense, United States Special Operations Command, or Joint Special Operations University.