Signals, Sabotage, and the Invisible War: A Guide to Electronic Warfare

Modern warfare is fought as much in the electromagnetic spectrum and in supply chains as it is on physical battlefields. These eight episodes trace the tradecraft, technology, and doctrine of the invisible war — from the engineering of a pager bomb to the mathematics of GPS spoofing to the aircraft that can see everything in the sky at once.

Supply Chain as a Weapon

• Hardwired for Havoc: Inside Mossad’s Pager Operation dissected one of the most audacious supply chain attacks in intelligence history. The 2024 Hezbollah pager operation required years of preparation: establishing a front company, manufacturing devices with concealed explosives, and successfully placing thousands of them with a target organization. The episode examined the operational security, the supply chain infiltration techniques, and what the attack revealed about the vulnerability of any organization that relies on hardware it didn’t manufacture.

Sustained Covert Campaigns

• The Invisible Front: Mossad’s Sabotage of Iran covered the longer arc of Israeli intelligence operations against Iran’s nuclear and weapons programs. The episode examined the pattern of assassinations, facility sabotage, and cyberattacks (including Stuxnet) that constitute an undeclared war conducted below the threshold of open conflict. The hosts analyzed the strategic logic of such campaigns and their effectiveness as a substitute for kinetic military action.

Space and AI Intelligence

• Israel’s Space Surprises: AI on Steroids and Laser Comms explored the intersection of space-based intelligence assets, AI-powered analysis, and military operations. Reconnaissance satellites generate far more imagery than human analysts can process; AI systems that can identify targets, detect changes, and flag anomalies are now essential components of the intelligence pipeline. The episode covered Israel’s satellite capabilities and the AI systems that make them operationally useful at scale.

The GPS Threat

• Navigating the Chaos: The Rise of GPS Spoofing in Aviation examined a threat that most airline passengers are completely unaware of. GPS spoofing — broadcasting false signals that deceive receivers into reporting incorrect positions — has become routine in conflict zones and near certain state actors. The episode explained the physics of how spoofing works, documented real-world aviation incidents, and examined what pilots and airlines are doing (and not doing) to protect against it.

Hardening Against Electromagnetic Attack

• Hardening the State: The Engineering of EMP Resistance covered the engineering challenge of building systems that survive electromagnetic pulse attacks. Whether from a nuclear detonation at altitude or a purpose-built EMP weapon, the electromagnetic surge that destroys unshielded electronics represents a potential civilizational threat. The episode explained the Faraday cage principle, military hardening standards (MIL-STD-461), and why civilian infrastructure remains almost entirely unprotected despite the known threat.

The Command of the Air

• Eye in the Sky: How the AWACS Commands the Air examined the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System — one of the most consequential aircraft in the US Air Force. The AWACS doesn’t fly air superiority missions or drop bombs; it watches everything. Its rotating radar dome can track hundreds of aircraft simultaneously at ranges far beyond ground-based radar, and its onboard command staff coordinates the entire air battle. The episode covered the aircraft’s technical systems, its operational history from the Cold War to Gulf conflicts, and its role in NATO air defense.

Information Security in Conflict

• The Invisible Front: OPSEC and INFOSEC in Modern War examined how operational security practices have evolved in an era of smartphones, social media, and pervasive digital surveillance. Careless digital hygiene in a conflict zone isn’t just embarrassing — it gets people killed. The episode covered the tradecraft of operational security, how signals intelligence exploits digital emissions, and the tension between modern soldiers’ desire for connectivity and the security requirements that prohibit it.

The AI Behind the Curtain

• The Invisible AI: Decades of Innovation Before ChatGPT provided essential historical context: AI has been doing serious intelligence and military work for decades before ChatGPT made it visible to the public. Signal processing, anomaly detection, pattern recognition, and predictive targeting systems have been embedded in military and intelligence infrastructure since the 1990s. The episode traced this hidden history and explained why the current AI moment is an acceleration of something that was already well underway.

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Electronic warfare and intelligence operations represent some of the most technically sophisticated — and politically consequential — applications of the technologies that MWP has been exploring. These episodes connect the abstract world of signals and software to the concrete world of state conflict and strategic competition.