Unauthorized Disclosure

"Unauthorized Disclosure" returns for a third season.  The first episode features an interview with journalist Dahr Jamail on his report for Truthout.org about how documents, which show the U.S. Navy SEALs planned to use citizens as pawns in war games in the state of Washington in January 2016. The Navy circumvented the process so the public could not object to their plans. It excluded clandestine trainings from regulations requiring environmental impact statements. Plans were made to allow SEALs to deploy for war games in residential areas, state parks, and national parks without any consent from the people. Moreover, the SEALs would treat citizens as potential terrorists or enemies during their war games. In the discussion portion, hosts Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek recap the past few weeks of 2016 and talk about Guantanamo, Obama's State of the Union speech, and U.S. government raids and deportations against refugees from Central America.

In this year-end episode, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by writer Roqayah Chamseddine for a look back at 2015. The discussion focuses on the last GOP presidential debate of the year and how extraordinarily violent and reactionary the rhetoric of GOP candidates has become. Conversation shifts to the rise in Islamophobia over the past months, including the attacks on Muslims—or people who are brown and are attacked for "looking" like they are Muslim. Halfway through the show, conversation shifts to climate change. How does the Paris climate agreement give us false hope about what countries are going to do to stem the effects of climate change? And why isn't there more focus on the terror climate change is going to bring to our world if we do not act now?

On this week's episode, Arun Kundnani, the author of "The Muslims Are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror," joins the show to talk about the implications of Donald Trump's call to ban Muslims. Kundnani describes how the American "War on Terrorism" reinforces hatred toward Muslims and Arabs. He offers an analysis of the Islamic State and how they are drawn to a fight they believe is between the West and Islam. He also assesses failures to counter certain narratives around the Islamic State as well as nationalist perspectives, which are now promoted by Trump.  During the discussion, the show's hosts talk about the infamous Warden Burl Cain resigning from the Angola penitentiary and Rahm Emanuel and police brutality in Chicago.

Journalist Todd Miller joins the show after returning from France, where he attended a major weapons expo called Milipol and witnessed the French security state's crackdown on climate activists during COP21. Miller recalls being chased by French police, who enforced a ban against demonstrations instituted in the wake of the Paris attacks. He describes the detestable scene at the expo just days after the attacks, where companies were eager to use the Paris attacks to sell their products. He also highlights recent reporting at the U.S.-Mexico border on how the U.S. Border Patrol has turned indigenous American land into a war zone. During the discussion part of the show, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola announce a year-end fundraiser to raise money for Season 3 of the "Unauthorized Disclosure" podcast. The hosts also talk about the San Bernardino shooting and how the media swarmed the shooters' home and effectively tampered with the scene. Finally, the hosts share their reviews of Spike Lee's new film, "Chi-Raq."

Writer Roqayah Chamseddine joins the "Unauthorized Disclsoure" podcast as a guest co-host. For 45 minutes, Chamseddine and the show's hosts discuss responses to the Paris attacks and the latest wave of intensifying Islamophobia in the U.S. and other parts of the world. While condemning the fanatical death cult that is the Islamic State, the discussion highlights how the Islamic State desires a West that will react with a backlash against Muslims. The hosts talk about passengers kicked off flights for having brown skin and how the media, including CNN, is fueling fear.

Independent journalist Raven Rakia joins the show to share her reporting on Rikers Island prison in New York, where the city has reformed solitary confinement by establishing Enhanced Supervision Housing Units (ESHUs). They are essentially enhanced solitary confinement units, and Rakia highlights how this system may further entrench the abuses of solitary confinement into the system at Rikers. During the discussion, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about the University of Missouri and how what happened there has inspired protests on campuses across the United States. Both talk about some of the tactics being used and whether these tactics will ultimately help students win power. Finally, Khalek comments on the Center for American Progress' event with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Aviva Stahl, an independent journalist, talks about her story for the Gothamist on an NYPD undercover named "Mel," who infiltrated Brooklyn College. The undercover converted to Islam. She befriended students and even was in some of their bridal showers and wedding parties. Then, later, the students realized "Mel" was the undercover, who helped push two Queens women down the path to building a bomb so the FBI could arrest them. We talk about the operation and the NYPD's reaction to this story, which includes a ludicrous rejection of the idea that Muslims have ever before been subject to "blanket surveillance" by the city's police. During the discussion portion, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola highlight the problems with think pieces suggesting all critics of Hillary Clinton are "Bernie Bros." They also discuss Shaker Aamer's case and read from a prison letter from Chelsea Manning to Gosztola.

The director of Palestine Legal, Dima Khalidi, joins the show to discuss a reporting documenting hundreds of attacks against Palestinian human rights activists in the United States over the past two years. Khalidi addresses the escalation by Israeli advocacy groups against activists on college and university campuses. Khalidi highlights how Israeli consulate officials are spying on students, how students threatened are forced to pay for their own security or cancel events, and what organizations like Palestine Legal are doing to push back against states moving to pass legislation to discourage boycotts and divestment campaigns against Israeli apartheid.  During the discussion part of the show, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about the US airstrike against a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netyanahu's speech at the UN General Assembly, right-wing human rights activist Thor Halvorssen's effort to have a story on him censored, and some of the Clinton emails mentioning WikiLeaks.