Episode #98 Tony Shaffer and Thomas Popik
This week, EMPact Radio has two guests: Tony Shaffer and Thomas Popik.
Tony Shaffer is a highly experienced intelligence officer and a recipient of the Bronze Star with 25 years of field experience. He has held numerous leadership positions, including commander of Operating Base (OB) Alpha (Defense Intelligence) and directing Task Force STRATU.S. IVY – a unit that conducted cutting-edge technology and information operations from the mid 1990s through the turn of the century. He has played key roles in multiple interagency operations that were conducted with the NSA, CIA
and FBI.
Tony has led operations from the tactical level, such as defense source operations to protect REFORGER exercises in the 1980s to strategic level, such as STRATU.S. IVY’s direct support mission for Operation ABLE DANGER in the late 1990s. Before the consolidation of all Department of Defense (DOD) Human Intelligence resources and operations under DIA in 1995, he was the Chief of Army’s controlled HUMINT program – overseeing Army Intelligence and Security Command’s global controlled HUMINT efforts. He was responsible for combining advanced technology with traditional military operations and intelligence collection to maximize the Department of Defense’s ability to detect, monitor and neutralize emerging threats.
Shaffer has appeared on Fox News, CNN, and other major TV and radio programs, and has been interviewed by The New York Times and other publications on pre-9/11 operations focused on Al Qaeda. He has testified before Congress on issues relating to 9/11 intelligence and operational failures. Lt. Col. Shaffer was awarded the Bronze Star for the first of his two combat tours to Afghanistan. He was credited for conducting highly complex operational support for the NSA and for playing a critical role in breaking the back of a Taliban counteroffensive in the fall of 2003. In addition, he was called back to active duty for DESERT STORM/DESERT SHIELD in 1991 to provide special support to Army Intelligence.
Thomas Popik, founder of the Foundation for Resilient Societies, talks about the connection between nuclear safety and protection from electromagnetic pulse.
Mr. Popik holds a BS in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Previously an officer in the US Air Force, Mr. Popik investigated unattended power systems for the Distant Early Warning (DEW) line, a system of 33 radar sites in Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland.
This episode aired live on April 25, 2012.