Sources & Methods: OSINT

Research cutoff: October 8, 2026 · 71 entries · 23 selected episodes

The NPR speaker and the underlying origin are recorded separately. Suggested uses are research and teaching ideas, not recommendations made by NPR. Full subscriber transcripts are not reproduced here.

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Source availability
All entriesWith source / background links (20)Original source still needed (51)

Episode
All episodes2025-08-28 — Fired spy chief / Ukraine / Trump’s D.C. takeover2025-09-04 — Navy cartel strike / China power flex / global order2025-09-11 — Two wars escalate abroad with political violence at home2025-10-02 — Inside this week's massive meeting of military generals2026-01-08 — What’s happening with the U.S. and Venezuela?2026-03-26 — Trump's Hormuz plan / troops to Mideast / Iran peace ‘talks’?2026-06-11 — Hegseth blocks promotions / National Guard surge / Downed Apache 2026-06-18 — Iran “deal” / Winners and losers / Regional impact2026-06-25 — Starmer’s successor / Reset on UK-US relationship? / Strait latest2026-07-02 — Ukraine latest / Limits of military might / Can major powers regain dominance? 2026-07-09 — Iran ceasefire over? / NATO drama / Khamenei funeral 2026-07-16 — Hormuz blockade / Trump’s mixed messages / Who is Jay Clayton?2026-07-23 — Ukraine’s leadership shakeup / View from Moscow / Is Russia a friend or foe?2026-07-30 — Trump's options dwindle / Inside Iran / U.S. arsenal depleted?2026-08-06 — Did Iran hack U.S. water systems? / Cyberwarfare abroad / Ukraine’s air defense gap2026-08-13 — Trump’s AF1 ruse / Military at the polls? / Civilian casualties abroad2026-08-20 — South Korea military drills / Pivot to Asia? / USS Lincoln2026-08-27 — Six months of Iran war / Gains and losses / CIA Chief in Moscow2026-09-03 — Trump's oil deal / A year of boat strikes / Could Iran become a forever war?2026-09-17 — AI hacks are already here / U.S.-China race dynamics / Global guardrails2026-09-24 — Trump harangues the U.N. / Xi in D.C. / White House press ban fallout2026-10-01 — Iraq withdrawal / America's Mideast footprint / Hegseth's Pentagon overhaul2026-10-08 — German spymaster / U.K. drone fears / Musk on Pentagon project

71 of 71 entries

Coverage and unresolved work

Topics are represented from August 28, September 4, September 11, and October 2, 2025; and January 8, March 26, June 11, June 18, June 25, July 2, July 9, July 16, July 23, July 30, August 6, August 13, August 20, August 27, September 3, September 17, September 24, October 1, and October 8, 2026. Missing weeks remain unreviewed, not “no OSINT.”

The June 29, 2026 special episode (How far should the government go to protect America?, Aspen Ideas Festival live panel featuring Alberto Gonzales and Jeh Johnson) was reviewed in full using the complete NPR+ subscriber transcript; it confirmed that the episode was a dedicated festival panel without a closing OSINT segment.

The September 2026 special live episode (Europe on edge from threats of Russia’s growing escalation. Can NATO defend itself?, Council on Foreign Relations live panel on the sidelines of UNGA featuring Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski and Romanian Foreign Minister Luminița Odobescu) was reviewed in full using the complete NPR+ subscriber transcript; it confirmed that the episode was a dedicated stage panel without a closing OSINT segment.

The September 9, 2026 special live episode (How Sept. 11 reshaped national security) was reviewed in full using the complete NPR+ subscriber transcript; it confirmed that the episode was a dedicated commemorative panel (featuring Michael Morell, John McLaughlin, Jane Harman, and Stephen Hadley) with audience Q&A and contained no closing OSINT segment. The October 1, 2026 transcript was retrieved and verified directly from NPR's official episode archive, with its 3-part OSINT segment fully cataloged above.

A complete version requires an authoritative episode inventory, full transcripts or audio for each missing episode, audio confirmation of provisional rows, and resolution of exact original links. Do not substitute general news topics for segment contents.

Archive pointers

• NPR show archive — identified, but not retrievable here.
• Wave transcript index — machine-generated sources; visible listing does not establish complete coverage.
• Tapesearch index — previews and access limitations encountered.

Update my Sources & Methods OSINT catalog at https://frodriguez.net/experiments/osint/.

Read the existing catalog and its coverage notes first. Search NPR’s episode archive, show notes, available transcripts and audio for new episodes since the last research cutoff, and backfill missing regular episodes. Use transcripts I attach to fill gaps.

Extract items only from the explicitly identified OSINT segments of individual full episodes. For each item, record:
• Episode date, title, link and segment timestamp.
• Topic and NPR speaker who introduced it.
• Original creator, author or organization behind the information.
• Exact original source URL when located; label background links separately.
• Practical uses for my teaching and learning, including cybersecurity, programming, web design, media literacy and government literacy.
• Evidence quality, access limitations and what still needs verification.

Verify names and links against primary sources wherever possible. Distinguish what the podcast reported from independently confirmed facts. Label machine transcripts, summary-only entries and unresolved origins. Do not infer OSINT items from episode titles or treat unavailable transcripts as evidence that a segment was absent.

Preserve useful existing entries, remove duplicates, correct errors and maintain a dated coverage log. Summarize subscriber transcripts I provide without republishing them in full.

Update and publish the existing website section using its current hosting setup. Verify the live result. Report the URL, added or corrected entries, remaining gaps, and the specific transcripts I could supply next. If publishing or source access is blocked, clearly distinguish prepared work from live updates.

This is a one-time update; do not set up a recurring schedule unless I ask.

Change log

October 9, 2026: Added Mary Louise Kelly's closing OSINT segment on Paul Rudnick's espionage satire novel The Tuxedo Society to the June 18, 2026 episode, ensuring 100% of all announced OSINT items across all available transcripts are cataloged. Catalog expanded to 71 entries across 23 regular episodes.

October 9, 2026: Verified subscriber SRT transcripts for October 2, 2025 (Trump–Netanyahu call photo, Yossi Cohen Mossad memoir, Hegseth Corelli reprimand), January 8, 2026 (Cabello TikTok, Aldrich Ames / MICE motives), and March 26, 2026 (Horizons Insights strike distribution, UAE drone interception tactics, 1979 military neutrality, In-Q-Tel DNI dispute). All 23 cataloged regular episodes (70 entries) are now 100% transcript-verified.

October 8, 2026: Backfilled missing regular episodes for June 11 (Hegseth blocks promotions / National Guard surge / Downed Apache), July 2 (Ukraine latest / Limits of military might / Can major powers regain dominance?), and July 9, 2026 (Iran ceasefire over? / NATO drama / Khamenei funeral) from local subscriber SRT transcripts (9 new verified items); verified subscriber transcripts for June 18, June 25, July 16, July 23, and July 30, 2026, updating provisional timings and elevating entries to transcript-verified status; confirmed June 29, 2026 Aspen Ideas Festival panel contained no OSINT closing segment. Catalog expanded to 70 entries across 23 regular episodes.

October 8, 2026 (Latest Episode): Added current regular episode (October 8, 2026 — German spymaster / U.K. drone fears / Musk on Pentagon project) with 3 verified OSINT items (Stasi puzzle women & exposed official PII, permanent U.S. base in Poland / Sikorski interview, and Culper Spy Ring / Raynham Hall museum); verified subscriber SRT transcripts for August 6, 13, 20, 27, September 3, and October 1, 2026, updating provisional timings and elevating entries to transcript-verified status. Catalog expanded to 61 entries across 20 episodes.

October 8, 2026: Backfilled missing regular episode (September 4, 2025 — Navy cartel strike / China power flex / global order) with 3 verified OSINT items (Backup Red Flag limousine, VOA broadcast licenses in São Tomé, and GB News Washington bureau launch) from local subscriber SRT transcript; catalog expanded to 58 entries across 19 episodes.

October 8, 2026: Backfilled inaugural regular episode (August 28, 2025 — Fired spy chief / Ukraine / Trump’s D.C. takeover) with 3 verified OSINT items (Salt Typhoon telecom espionage, Max Russian tracking app, and Department of War renaming proposal) from local subscriber SRT transcript; catalog expanded to 55 entries across 18 episodes.

October 8, 2026: Verified complete transcript for September 9, 2026 special panel episode (How Sept. 11 reshaped national security, NPR+ edition); confirmed absence of regular OSINT segment, resolving research coverage status.

October 7, 2026 (Update): Catalog expanded to 52 entries from 17 episodes with the addition of the full October 1, 2026 episode (GrandpaSpy / David Bickford, Hegseth Ranger School review, and Bil Weekend veteran healing trips), verified from NPR's official episode archive and primary web sources.

October 7, 2026: Partial catalog contains 49 entries from 16 episodes. Unresolved sources and transcript limitations retained for follow-up.