In this February 18, 2026, podcast discussion with Adam Kinzinger entitled “Former CIA Ops Chief on Ukraine, Munich, and the U.S. Europe Shift,” ISSE’s Founder and Governing Board Chair Ed Bogan talks about a range of topics including what he saw and heard at the 2026 Munich Security Conference, the current trajectory for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and of course, ISSE.

On December 30, 2025, The Recursive’s Teodora Atanasova published a late 2025 interview with ISSE’s Founder and Governing Board Chair Ed Bogan, discussing all facets of emergency powers abuses, and as well the strategy and goals of ISSE. From the article’s introduction:

States of emergency are no longer exceptional. Between 1985 and 2014, at least 137 countries experienced at least one declared state of emergency. Some follow clear and immediate crises — war, pandemics, natural disasters, with about 90% of constitutions worldwide including explicit provisions for states of emergency. Others arise from far more ambiguous threats.

“Emergency powers are meant to be temporary and targeted,” explains Ed Bogan, a former CIA officer with more than two decades of overseas experience. “But more and more, they’re being used to consolidate authority, suppress dissent, and weaken democratic accountability. The warning lights are blinking red right now.”

Bogan is the founder and board chair of the newly launched Institute for the Study of States of Exception (ISSE), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to tracking, analyzing, and exposing the misuse of emergency powers worldwide.

The concept of a “state of exception” refers to moments when normal legal protections are suspended in the name of crisis management. While such measures are embedded in constitutions across the globe, Bogan argues that the real danger lies not in their existence, but in their normalization.

On October 31, 2025, ISSE’s Governing Board Chair Ed Bogan appeared on Michael Weiss’s “Foreign Office” podcast series, in an episode entitled “Former CIA Officer Ed Bogan on War, Ukraine, and the Limits of American Values - States of Exception.” During that episode, Ed talked extensively about the ongoing war in Ukraine, but also talked about ISSE’s purpose and plans now that the nonprofit is up and running.

The prolonged use of emergency powers can turn exception into a habitual way of governing, weakening democracy.

The word “crisis” has become part of governments’ everyday vocabulary. Pandemics, wars, terrorism, mass migration or natural disasters justify urgent measures.
In those moments, states resort to so-called emergency powers, which allow them to act quickly in the face of the unexpected. The problem begins when that exception ceases to be temporary and becomes a habitual mode of governance.

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The prolonged use of emergency powers can turn exception into a habitual way of governing, weakening democracy.

The word “crisis” has become part of governments’ everyday vocabulary. Pandemics, wars, terrorism, mass migration or natural disasters justify urgent measures.
In those moments, states resort to so-called emergency powers, which allow them to act quickly in the face of the unexpected. The problem begins when that exception ceases to be temporary and becomes a habitual mode of governance.

Greetings! It is with deep humility and a strong sense of purpose that I formally welcome you to the Institute for the Study of States of Exception (ISSE). ISSE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing scholarship and dialogue on the misuse and abuse of states of exception worldwide–scenarios when laws or even entire constitutions are suspended under purported emergency circumstances, but in reality are intentionally framed improperly to enable democratic backsliding.