The Power Vertical Podcast by Brian Whitmore
Sep 25, 2026 · 1 hr 2 min · 11 segments
On the Power Vertical Podcast this week, host Brian Whitmore hosts an all-start lineup of guests to break it all down: Michael Carpenter, who served as the U.S. National Security Council's Senior…
Michael CarpenterGuest
Max BergmannGuest
Brian WhitmoreHost
So this latest round of speculation was triggered by the Polish president, Donald Tusk, who told parliament last week that the intelligence that Russia was planning something was, quote, highly consistent and unfortunately persuasive.
The Lithuanian foreign minister, the Dutch prime minister, and the French president all endorsed and concurred with Tusk's warnings.
French President Emmanuel Macron even called an emergency meeting in Paris that included party leaders and 2027 presidential candidates and ordered officials to protect critical infrastructure from hybrid attacks.
This all, of course, follows U.S. intelligence assessment warning that Russia was planning to test NATO's resolve and a high-profile visit to Moscow by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Mike, these warnings seem to be consistent across multiple Western intelligence services.
What I'm trying to wrap my head around is what could Russia have in store that it isn't already doing? There have been 100 attributed Russian attacks in Europe this year alone.
Do you think we're talking about an escalation we've already been seeing or something qualitatively different?
I think, Brian, we're on the cusp of an escalation of Russia's unconventional warfare that is going to have very significant ramifications.
Although in this case, you know, what we've been predicting has been happening.
But I think the problem is complacency, that we risk assuming that Russia's next strike is just going to be another drone that hits an apartment building somewhere in Romania or maybe Moldova or or maybe Poland, but at the end of the day, is that qualitatively different from what's been happening? That's the question.
Well, you know, I think, as we discussed before on your show, I think Ratcliffe's trip to Moscow was likely precipitated by some sort of very credible and specific intelligence about a strike on likely some type of European critical infrastructure project likely in the Baltic region.
But that doesn't exclude that there could also be plans by the Russians to strike in France or in the UK or in other parts of Europe.
And so I think Europe is gearing up for what could be a mass casualty event, right? Because, you know, one of the explosive drones at the Leipzig airport, you know, some of them were on the runway, but one of them collided with an aircraft on approach to the runway and the pilot landed safely and that's great.
So this latest round of speculation was triggered by the Polish president, Donald Tusk, who told parliament last week that the intelligence that Russia was planning something was, quote, highly consistent and unfortunately persuasive.
The Lithuanian foreign minister, the Dutch prime minister, and the French president all endorsed and concurred with Tusk's warnings.
French President Emmanuel Macron even called an emergency meeting in Paris that included party leaders and 2027 presidential candidates and ordered officials to protect critical infrastructure from hybrid attacks.
This all, of course, follows U.S. intelligence assessment warning that Russia was planning to test NATO's resolve and a high-profile visit to Moscow by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Mike, these warnings seem to be consistent across multiple Western intelligence services.
What I'm trying to wrap my head around is what could Russia have in store that it isn't already doing? There have been 100 attributed Russian attacks in Europe this year alone.
Do you think we're talking about an escalation we've already been seeing or something qualitatively different?
I think, Brian, we're on the cusp of an escalation of Russia's unconventional warfare that is going to have very significant ramifications.
Although in this case, you know, what we've been predicting has been happening.
But I think the problem is complacency, that we risk assuming that Russia's next strike is just going to be another drone that hits an apartment building somewhere in Romania or maybe Moldova or or maybe Poland, but at the end of the day, is that qualitatively different from what's been happening? That's the question.
Well, you know, I think, as we discussed before on your show, I think Ratcliffe's trip to Moscow was likely precipitated by some sort of very credible and specific intelligence about a strike on likely some type of European critical infrastructure project likely in the Baltic region.
But that doesn't exclude that there could also be plans by the Russians to strike in France or in the UK or in other parts of Europe.
And so I think Europe is gearing up for what could be a mass casualty event, right? Because, you know, one of the explosive drones at the Leipzig airport, you know, some of them were on the runway, but one of them collided with an aircraft on approach to the runway and the pilot landed safely and that's great.
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