This episode seeks to explain what the grey zone is. It includes a warning from General Sir Nick Carter, the head of the UK’s armed forces, and Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, about the danger of ignoring attacks in this murky space, while Lieutenant General Graeme Lamb, a former director of UK special forces, warns: “We’re being boiled like a frog!”

Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes then travels to Salisbury with the widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko to visit the site of one of the most high profile grey zone attacks – the poisoning of another ex-Russian agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia.

Lord Mark Sedwill, a former national security adviser, talks about how he led the UK’s response to nerve agent poisoning and the fake news that followed.

Finally, Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative website Bellingcat, describes how he and his team revealed the true identities of the Russian military intelligence officers named by the UK as prime suspects in the attempted assassination. Russia denies involvement.

Interviews:

General Sir Nick Carter, chief of the defence staff

Ben Wallace, defence secretary

Lord Mark Sedwill, former UK national security adviser, former cabinet secretary

Lieutenant General (retired) Graeme Lamb, former director of UK special forces

Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko

Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative website Bellingcat

Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former commanding officer of the UK’s Joint, Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment

Credits:

Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes

Edited and produced by Chris Scott

Production support from Sophia McBride and Victoria Seabrook

Additional voices provided by Cayetano Delgado

The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

This episode explores a battle between truth and lies that’s threatening democracies around the world. It looks at how information is used as a weapon, not just by hostile foreign states, seeking to divide and weaken rival nations, but also by domestic politicians and other actors.

Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes speaks to the author of a book on the history of disinformation, Professor Thomas Rid , who talks about fake news during the Cold War and warns about the risk of political violence today when people can no longer agree on facts.

It’s a warning that played out on the streets of Washington DC in January when supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol building, spurred on by a false belief that Joe Biden had stolen his way to victory in the 2020 presidential election.

Deborah also visits one of the UK’s best-known fighters of suspected Russian and Chinese fake news, who battles online trolls from his remote cottage in Scotland. And if you think that sounds strange, remember, in the grey zone, the frontline is everywhere!

Interviews:

Thomas Rid, professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University, author of Active Measures – the secret history of disinformation and political warfare

Linas Linkevicius, foreign minister of Lithuania until December 2020

Keir Giles, author of a handbook on Russian information warfare for NATO, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House

Daniel Jones, founder and president of Advance Democracy

Ben Nimmo, head of investigations at Graphika

Ben Wallace, United Kingdom’s defence secretary

Kate Jones, director of Oxford University’s diplomatic studies programme.

Credits:

Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes

Edited and produced by Chris Scott

Production support from Sophia McBride and Victoria Seabrook

Additional voices provided by Cayetano Delgado

The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

This episode looks at the grey zone weapon of hacking information – like private emails or documents – and then leaking it online to try to influence people or damage reputations.

It is a tactic Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, is accused of using to target the US presidential election in 2016 and the French election in 2017.

Moscow has denied involvement.

Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes also talks about how she was impacted in a suspected hack and leak against a British organisation that ran a programme, called the Integrity Initiative, aimed at countering suspected Russian disinformation.

Interviews:

Paul Chichester, director of operations at the National Cyber Security Centre

Chris Donnelly, founder of the Institute for Statecraft

“Hawk”, a Lithuanian man, who volunteers as an “elf” to fight the online “trolls”

Keir Giles, author of a handbook on Russian information warfare for NATO, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House

Thomas Rid, professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University, author of Active Measures – the secret history of disinformation and political warfare

Ben Nimmo, head of investigations at Graphika

Credits:

Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes

Edited and produced by Chris Scott

Additional voice provided by Matt Steele

The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

States, criminals and terrorists all use cyber to attack each other in the grey zone. It puts anyone with a computer in the firing line, but also means that anyone who understands computers has the ability to fight back.

This episode explores a range of cyber threats from espionage up to attacks that cause physical harm, such as by targeting hospitals or electricity supplies.

Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes also speaks to a young computer expert called Marcus Hutchins who helped to stop one of the worst known cyber attacks to hit the UK.

The National Health Service was one of the main victims of the May 2017 WannaCry attack, blamed on North Korea. Pyongyang has denied involvement.

Interviews:

Ciaran Martin, former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre

Paul Chichester, director of operations at the National Cyber Security Centre

Marietje Schaake, international director of policy at Stanford’s Cyber Policy Centre

Harold Thimbleby, professor of computer science at Swansea University

Marcus Hutchins, computer security expert

Credits:

Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes

Edited and produced by Chris Scott

Production support from Sophia McBride and Michael Greenfield

The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

In their first joint interview, the director of the UK spy agency GCHQ and the top general in charge of cyber operations for the military talk about how the UK is using the power of cyber to push back against adversaries with the creation of a whole new National Cyber Force.

Jeremy Fleming and General Sir Patrick Sanders also reveal new details about how the UK used offensive cyber in the fight against Islamic State, attacking the terrorist group’s ability to fly drones, use their mobile phones and spread online propaganda.

We also hear from a woman who was once described as the UK’s best offensive cyber spy.

Sally Walker has since left GCHQ and says she is choosing to speak out – now she’s once again a member of the public – to help generate a wider debate about the cyber grey zone.

Interviews:

Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ

General Sir Patrick Sanders, commander of Strategic Command

Sally Walker, cyber expert

Tobias Elwood, Conservative MP, chair of the defence select committee and former foreign officer and defence minister

Credits:

Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes

Edited and produced by Chris Scott

Production support from Michael Greenfield

The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

On 3 January 2020, the United States killed Iran’s top spy master, Major General Qasem Soleimani, in a drone strike in Iraq.

There was nothing grey or ambiguous about the assassination, but this episode explores the escalating grey zone hostilities between Iran and the United States in the preceding years and how they almost ignited a real war.

Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes explores in particular how Iran allegedly uses proxy forces in the grey zone, under the threshold of war, to try to level the playing field when competing with a super power.

Interviews:

General David Petraeus, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency

John Raine, Senior Adviser for Geopolitical Due Diligence, International Institute for Strategic Studies

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Conservative MP and former UK defence minister. She now serves as energy minister

Fabian Picardo, Chief Minister of Gibraltar

Anonymous Iraqi MP

Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English Literature and Orientalism, University of Tehran

Major General Amos Yadlin, a former chief of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate

Credits:

Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes

Edited and produced by Chris Scott

Production support from Michael Greenfield

The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris

This episode explores a global battle of values between China and leading democracies over issues like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang.

It’s being fought with an array of covert weapons, from cyber attacks and information operations to economic coercion and even something called “lawfare”.

Allegations of such behaviour are made and denied by both sides, which of course is to be expected - in the grey zone.

Guests:

Tom Tugendhat, Conservative MP, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee

Matthew Turpin, visiting fellow, Hoover Institution

Charlie Parton, former British diplomat, senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute

Dr Shi Yinhong, Director of the Academic Committee of the School of International Studies and US Research Center of Renmin University in Beijing

Nathan Law, pro-democracy activist from Hong Kong

Julie Marionneau, research fellow, Policy Exchange

Freddy Lim, Taiwanese politician, lead singer of heavy-metal band Chthonic

Alexander Downer, former Australian foreign minister

Puma Shen, assistant professor at National Taipei University

Chinese embassy in London – via email statement

Credits:

Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes

Edited and produced by Chris Scott

Production support from Michael Greenfield

The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris