SpyCast
657 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 days ago - ★★★★ - 1.3K ratingsTOP SECRET
Personal Attention, SpyCast Listeners
Known to be the podcast real spies listen to -(STOP)- eavesdrop on conversations with high level sources from around the world -(STOP)- spychiefs molehunters defectors covert operators analysts cyberwarriors and researchers debriefed by SPY Historian Hammond -(STOP) stories secrets tradecraft and technology discussed -(STOP)- HUMINT SIGINT OSINT IMINT GEOINT and more -(STOP)- rumored to be professional education internal communication and public information -(STOP)- entire back catalog available online for free -(STOP)- please investigate this claim with all possible haste -(STOP)- SPY Historian Hammond said to have a Scottish accent -(STOP)- is this a countermeasure or a hearts-and-minds campaign?
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Episodes
“My Life Looking at Spies & the Media” – with Paul Lashmar
May 31, 2022 11:00 - 1 hourSummary Paul Lashmar (Twitter, Website) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss investigative journalism and intelligence. He is a former UK Reporter of the Year. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The similarities and differences between spooks and journalists The role Watergate played for his generation of journalists Intelligence overseers as “Ostriches,” “Cheerleaders,” “Lemon-suckers,” or “Guardians” Bellingcat, Spycatcher and the “Zinoviev Letter” Reflections The long shadow o...
“Amazon to Darien, Atlantic to Pacific” – Intelligence in Colombia with former Head of its Navy Admiral Hernando Wills
May 24, 2022 11:00 - 1 hourSummary Admiral Hernando Wills Velez (Twitter) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss intelligence in Colombia. He is the former professional head of the Colombian Navy. What You’ll Learn Intelligence What it is like to be the head of an entire Navy Intelligence from the point of view of a senior military officer The unique set of challenges Colombia faces – insurgents, terrorists, paramilitaries, drug-cartels, etc. The role intelligence played in the daring Operation Jacque Refle...
“Peter Earnest Memorial: Spook, CIA Spokesman, Spy Museum Director – [from the vault]
May 17, 2022 11:00 - 54 minutesSummary Peter Earnest spent 35 years in the CIA as a case officer and retired as its chief spokesman. He was the founding Executive Director of the International Spy Museum. What You’ll Learn Intelligence Losing a friend in the line of duty vs. betrayal by a colleague Using affability to your advantage Thoughts on the shift from classic espionage to counterterrorism for the CIA The relationship between the CIA, the press and the public Reflections The origins of the International Spy...
“America's Most Damaging Russian Spy, FBI Agent Robert Hanssen" – with Lis Wiehl
May 10, 2022 11:00 - 54 minutesSummary Lis Wiehl (Twitter, Website) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the FBI Agent Robert Hanssen. His espionage for the Russians was described as the “worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.” What You’ll Learn Intelligence The many contradictions of this fragmented personality The criminal sworn FBI Agent The sexual fetishist in Opus Dei The anti-communist Soviet spy Hanssen’s impact on the FBI and American Intelligence How the Hanssen case effected the FBI-CIA relat...
“CIA Case Officer, Cyber Entrepreneur, Burning Man Volunteer” – with Mike Susong (Part 2 of 2)
May 03, 2022 11:00 - 40 minutesSummary Mike Susong (Website; LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss CIA, cyber and corporate intelligence. He won the Intelligence Star for Heroism in the Field. What You’ll Learn Intelligence Applying aspects of Mike’s training to the private sector using “competitive intelligence” Mike’s role co-founding a pioneering company in the field of Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) The role of technology in enabling and constraining espionage What drew Mike to an annual free-th...
“CIA Case Officer, Cyber Entrepreneur, Burning Man Volunteer” – with Mike Susong (Part 1 of 2)
April 26, 2022 11:00 - 48 minutesSummary Mike Susong (Website; LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss CIA, cyber and corporate intelligence. He won the Intelligence Star for Heroism in the Field. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The outgrowth of “intelligence” from a nation-state activity to a corporate activity Recruiting and running agents as a CIA case officer His shift from tactical intelligence to strategic intelligence His journey from a curious kid with a short-wave radio to an intel professional Re...
“El Chapo, the Sinaloa Cartel & Intelligence” – with Trial Reporter Noah Hurowitz
April 19, 2022 11:00 - 58 minutesSummary Noah Hurowitz (Twitter; LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss infamous drug kingpin El Chapo. A weak link in his cybersecurity set-up would help bring him down. What You’ll Learn Intelligence El Chapo’s internal surveillance operation The cartel’s use of cryptography to keep communications covert How cybersecurity enabled then brought down El Chapo The role of the infamous DFS – a corrupt and now disbanded intelligence agency Reflections Technology – early adop...
"ISIS Leader al-Mawla: Caliph. Scholar. Canary. Snitch." – with Daniel Milton, West Point CTC Director (Part 2 of 2)
April 12, 2022 11:00 - 39 minutesSummary Daniel Milton (Website; Twitter) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the former Caliph of the Islamic State. Al Mawla was killed in a U.S. raid in February 2022. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The origin of the term “Canary Caliph” The mythology of Islamic State and the reality Battlefield intelligence and understanding an enemy The Combating Terrorism Center being on the radar of terrorists Reflections The presentation of “self” The relationship between organizational...
"ISIS Leader al-Mawla: Caliph. Scholar. Canary. Snitch." – with Daniel Milton, West Point CTC Director (Part 1 of 2)
April 05, 2022 11:00 - 48 minutesSummary Daniel Milton (Website; Twitter) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss Tactical Interrogation Reports of the former Caliph of the Islamic State. Al-Mawla was killed in a U.S. raid in February 2022. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The ideological feud between Islamic State and Al Qaeda Islamic State's retreat from a quasi-state centered to a shadowy insurgency Battlefield intelligence such as “exploitable material” and “interrogation reports” The role of the Combating Terro...
"The IRA, The Troubles & Intelligence" – with Eleanor Williams and Thomas Leahy
March 29, 2022 11:00 - 1 hourSummary Thomas Leahy (Website; LinkedIn) and Eleanor Williams (Website; Twitter) join Andrew to discuss the intelligence war during “the Troubles.” Thomas lives in Cardiff and Eleanor lives in Belfast. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The Troubles through the lens of intelligence Some key intelligence players in the Northern Ireland conflict How the IRA and the British Army adapted organizationally The role intelligence played in the end of the conflict Reflections The fluid nature of m...
“The Nuclear Doomsday Machine” – with Sean Maloney on Cold War Emergency Plans
March 22, 2022 11:00 - 1 hourSummary Sean Maloney (Website) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the secret history of emergency war plans and the nuclear doomsday machine. He was the first Canadian civilian historian to go into combat since WWII. What You’ll Learn Intelligence Top secret emergency war plans for WWIII The role of human intelligence operations in nuclear doomsday planning Some key terms you need to understand the nuclear issue The policy of “massive retaliation” versus “flexible response” Ref...
"So, I Design Board Games for the CIA..." - with Volko Ruhnke
March 15, 2022 11:00 - 1 hourSummary Volko Ruhnke (Website; Twitter) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his life and career in the CIA as an analyst and designer of board games. He is a former World Board Game Champion. What You’ll Learn Intelligence Designing board games to teach CIA analysts Moonlighting as an award-winning board game designer while working at CIA Similarities and differences between intelligence analysis and board-games The difference between role-play games and board-games in training n...
"From the CIA to Strategic Cyber" - with Hans Holmer
March 08, 2022 12:00 - 1 hourSummary Hans Holmer (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his time as a CIA operations officer and his transition to a cyber strategist. He served on every continent except South America and won a CIA Intelligence Star. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The advantages for a case officer growing up in two cultures and speaking multiple languages before joining the IC The tech person trained to be a case officer vs. a case officer trained to be a tech person debate That no amou...
"Black Ops: The Life of a Legendary CIA Shadow Warrior" - with Ric Prado
February 28, 2022 12:00 - 1 hourSummary Enrique “Ric” Prado (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his new memoir “Black Ops.” One of the most renowned CIA officers of his generation tells his story. Book You can buy Ric’s book, Black Ops, and support the International Spy Museum’s mission here. What You’ll Learn Intelligence His time as CIA Counterterrorist Chief of Operations which included 9/11 His career battling communist insurgents and Islamic terrorists on multiple continents His experience livin...
“The National Intelligence University” – with its President Scott Cameron
February 22, 2022 12:00 - 1 hourSummary J. Scott Cameron (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the National Intelligence University (NIU). He is the President of this unique “skiffed” institution. What You’ll Learn Intelligence o The NIU – what it is, what it does, and what it does differently. o NIU’s position within the American intelligence ecosystem o How NIU “banks knowledge” without compromising intelligence o What it is like to be a student in a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmentalized Information...
“Keeping Secrets/Disclosing Secrets” – with Spy Chief turned DG of Australia’s National Archives David Fricker
February 15, 2022 12:00 - 1 hourSummary David Fricker (Website; LinkedIn) had the No.2 job at Australia’s security and intelligence agency ASIO. He sat down with Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the relationship between this role and his most recent one as Director-General of the National Archives of Australia. What You’ll Learn… Intelligence o ASIO, the Australian intelligence landscape and the region o His role as CIO and then Deputy-Director General of ASIO o The role major allies & partners play including the U...
“Russia Upside Down” – with Creator of The Americans Joe Weisberg
February 08, 2022 12:00 - 1 hourSummary Joe Weisberg (Twitter) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his new book on Russia. Joe is the creator of award-winning TV drama The Americans and a former CIA officer. What You’ll Learn Intelligence o His past experience as a hardliner who loved to hate the “evil empire” o His thoughts on a trip through the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the twilight of the Cold War, especially experiencing it as an American Jew o His interpretation of the KGB and Vladimir Putin o His...
“NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence & Security” – with David Cattler
February 01, 2022 12:00 - 1 hourSummary David Cattler (Twitter; LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss how intelligence functions at NATO. He is the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security. What You’ll Learn o What it is like to be the leader of intelligence and security across the largest peacetime alliance in history? o How does intelligence come together at NATO – who are the key-players, institutions, and stakeholders? o What are some of the main challenges facing the Alliance i...
“The Predator Drone Program & the Robotic Revolution” – with Alec Bierbauer and Mark Cooter
January 25, 2022 18:27 - 1 hour"The Wright Brothers of the U.S. Drone Warfare Program." That is how some people have referred to this week's guests, Alec Bierbauer and Mark Cooter. Andrew sat down with them to dig into drones and their intelligence implications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“How Spies Think” – 10 Lessons in Intelligence with Sir David Omand [FROM THE ARCHIVE]
January 18, 2022 12:00 - 1 hourThis was the most popular episode of 2020. Apparently, people are interested in the views of former GCHQ Director, Joint Intelligence Committee Chair, and first UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator on, well - how spies think. I am sure David – now a Visiting Professor at Kings College, London – has a few thoughts on the subject. Hear Andrew debrief this week’s guest on the insights derived from a career spent at the summit of British intelligence. 1 Book, 2 Glaswegians, 10 Lessons in Inte...
“Al Qaeda, DOD & the 9/11 Commission” – with Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, Undersecretary for Arms Control & International Security
January 11, 2022 12:00 - 55 minutesAlexis Albion – star of our 500th episode anniversary special – is a very good friend of the current Undersecretary for Arms Control & International Security, Bonnie Jenkins. Way back when, they were both on the 9/11 Commission Report – while Alexis’ focus was on the CIA and counterterrorism before the attacks, Bonnie’s was on the DOD and counterterrorism – tiny subjects, I know. In this week’s episode, hear two old friends reminisce, reflect, and put the world to rights. Move over Saturn, ge...
“Snake-Eaters, Detachment A, CIA” – A Conversation with James Stejskal
January 04, 2022 12:00 - 52 minutesSpook. Warrior. Author. This week’s guest is one helluva interesting guy. He was in a clandestine Special Forces unit in Berlin during the Cold War, “stay behinds” who would sabotage, subvert and generally wreak havoc should World War III break out. He was badly wounded after driving over a land-mine in Somalia in 1992, almost losing his entire leg and suffering a serious head injury. In a subsequent life, James was a CIA officer in Africa when the US embassies were blown up in Kenya and Tanz...
“American Traitor” – with ex-Delta Force Author Brad Taylor
December 28, 2021 12:00 - 51 minutesProject Prometheus. In the words of ex-Delta Force author Brad Taylor, “Super Double Daddy Bad Classified.” If you’re looking to find a podcast that helps break down the complexities of Chinese foreign policy through the vehicle of a page-turner written by a NYT Bestselling Author, you’ve arrived at the right doorstep my friend. Brad does serious research. He is also funny, down-to-earth, and super-duper interesting. Por ejemplo, on his first date with his now wife, he told her he was going t...
The Journey of Two Extraordinary Women in Intel. & Security” – with Lisa Kaplan (Alethea, CEO) and Avril Eklund (GitHub, CSO)
December 22, 2021 21:22 - 1 hourI was really good at buying drugs, which is how I got recruited into narcotics. Apparently, I make a really good crackhead.” “Frankly, fact-checking doesn’t matter in today’s world.” Intrigued? You should be. Avril and Lisa are absolutely fascinating! Avril built an intelligence team for the Attorney General’s Office in Pennsylvania, from scratch. Her unit collected strategic intel on narcotics trends and went on to predict the methamphetamine trend before it even hit the Keystone State. Lisa...
“Special Operations & Intelligence” – A Conversation with the President of SOF’s “Think-Do Tank”
December 14, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourPost 9/11, special operations and intelligence worked together side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder and hand-in-glove (or any other heavily-hyphenated term you care to mention that connotates BFFness). What will happen with the relationship now, though, and in American history how have these two important components of national security related to each other? Enter the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU), located in Tampa, Florida, and more particularly their President Isaiah “Ike” Wilso...
My Global Career as a Female FBI Agent” – with Kathy Stearman
December 07, 2021 17:04 - 1 hourBeijing. New Delhi. Kathmandu. “Hang on, I thought the title said FBI, not CIA?” Well, it did. Kathy Stearman was an FBI Legat who lived and worked in all of those capital cities. “Well, I’ve heard of the Ambassador and the Station Chief, but not the Legat?” Well, that’s why you need to listen to this week’s SpyCast! Kathy Stearman is a retired FBI Special Agent and author of It’s Not About the Gun: Lessons From my Global Career as a Female FBI Agent (I know the title sounds like Lance Armstr...
“The Birth of American Propaganda” – A Conversation on Manipulating the Masses with John Hamilton
November 30, 2021 13:41 - 58 minutesThe Committee on Public Information (CPI) is the first and only Ministry of Propaganda the United States has ever had. It started one week after the United States entered World War I in April of 1917; in fact, there wasn't even conscription for some weeks, but the Committee on Public Information was created right away. Why? To explore this question, and to learn more about the CPI, Andrew sat down with journalist, professor and Vietnam veteran Jack Hamilton (yes, actually sat down, like face-...
“The Recruiter: Part 2 of 2” – Modern Spycraft with Doug London (Part 2)
November 23, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourDoug London is thoughtful and reflective – but he doesn’t pull his punches and he candidly shares his analysis of the contemporary intelligence landscape. In this second part, Doug reflects on the path taken after 9/11, the CIA at the crossroads, and why human intelligence (HUMINT) will remain central to the vast and increasingly technologically sophisticated world of intelligence. Also, hear about a superstar counterintelligence operative Doug is currently running – although there is also a ...
“The Recruiter: Part 1 of 2” – Modern SpyCraft with Doug London
November 16, 2021 12:09 - 59 minutesThis week’s guest believes that espionage is about the “human soul…[it’s] a very intimate profession…the relationship between a case officer and an agent and the need to really have…a profound insight window into their life and their souls.” Doug London may be accused of many things, but you can’t say he’s shallow. His book, The Recruiter, is based on a 34 year career and can be purchased from our online independent bookstore. Next week we’ll hear more about Doug’s career, his views on CIA at...
“The Happy Traitor” – A Conversation on George Blake with Biographer Simon Kuper
November 09, 2021 21:17 - 53 minutesHe was a Soviet agent who was “turned” by Karl Marx after reading Das Kapital – which led him to give up the important operations, a host of MI6 agents and a treasure trove of secret intelligence… George Blake was a courier in the Dutch resistance, an MI6 intelligence officer, a language student at Cambridge, a “Vice-Consul” in South Korea, a prisoner in North Korea, and a hero returning to Britain in 1953. He would escape from a British prison after getting caught and would live out the rest...
“Soviet Defectors: Revelations of Renegade Intelligence Officers” - with World Leading Expert Kevin Riehle
November 09, 2021 21:10 - 1 hourHe has worked as a counterintelligence analyst at the FBI and the DIA. He speaks Russian. He was personally supervised by Robert Hanssen. He has an obsession with Soviet Defectors… “Freedom has many difficulties,” said JFK in his Berlin Speech, “and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.” What was it like to leave that type of system, though, to come from behind the Iron Curtain and cross the East-West physical and ideological divide? Kevin Rie...
“So, I’m a Spy & I’d like to Write a Book…”
November 02, 2021 12:45 - 1 hourNada Bakos is a former CIA analyst and Chief Targeting Officer, Mark Fallon was an NCIS Special Agent and Director of the Criminal Investigative Task Force at Guantanamo, Frank Snepp is a former chief analyst of North Vietnamese Strategy for the CIA during the Vietnam War. Mark Zaid - one of the nation’s top national security lawyers - joins Andrew to help break the issue down. This week’s guests discuss their motivations, frustrations, victories and defeats in publishing, “The Targeter: My ...
Introducing Shadow of Truth Podcast
October 28, 2021 23:05 - 8 minutesDescription: It’s one of the most haunting murder cases you’ll ever hear about, and it takes place in a small town in Israel. Tair Rada was only 13-years-old when her body was found inside a locked bathroom stall. She was viciously murdered during a school day, and yet no one saw or heard a thing. The police arrested the janitor, Roman Zadorov, and he eventually confessed, but this was far from being the end of it. Based on the hit true-crime series from Netflix, the podcast "Shadow of Truth"...
World Series Special: Espionage & Baseball – A Conversation with Marc Polymeropoulos
October 26, 2021 11:00 - 58 minutesFrom the SpyCast Field of Dreams: to coincide with the first game of the 117th World Series, a special episode on the links – yes, there are many – between espionage and America’s Pastime with baseball fanatic and ex-spook (it’s a baseball special, not Halloween, so no pun intended) Marc Polymeropoulos. Baseball fans, welcome to espionage; espionage fans, welcome to baseball; fans of both – welcome to our very own Fall Classic. #baseball #worldseries Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...
“First Casualty” – Inside the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11
October 19, 2021 11:00 - 2 hoursOn October 17, 2001, Team Alpha were dropped into the mountains of northern Afghanistan. Two of the eight appear in this week’s episode alongside the author of a new book telling the story of the first Americans behind enemy lines after 9/11 – and what a story it is. Justin Sapp was a Green Beret detailed to CIA, he would go on to be a commander in the Asymmetric Warfare Group, and is currently Senior Military Advisor to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. David Tyson was a polyglot forme...
*15th ANNIVERSARY/500th EPISODE SPECIAL* - “The CIA and the 9/11 Commission Report” – A Conversation with Alexis Albion
October 12, 2021 16:02 - 1 hourThis is a big one, a very big one: our 500th episode & 15th anniversary We have come a long way since we began back in 2006 – it’s quite fitting then, that in this week’s episode I speak to our very first historian and curator, Alexis Albion, who is currently the Curator for Special Projects here at the Spy Museum Alexis actually left us way back when to be on the 9/11 Commission Report, where she was the central researcher on the CIA and US counterterrorism policy before 9/11. Hang on, did y...
Cyberattacks, Espionage & Ransomware – “Inside Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC)”
October 05, 2021 11:00 - 1 hourFrom your Visa card to your Outlook account, and from the gas you pump into your Ford to your Windows operating system, a cyber struggle is taking place all around us. In this episode Andrew spoke to founder of Microsoft’s threat hunting intelligence center John Lambert, which tracks the world’s most dangerous cybercriminals and state-affiliated hackers, and the head of the Digital Security Unit Cristin Goodwin, who helps provide security support to governments and works closely with John’s t...
“Leningrad, Molehunts, and BS Detection” - A Conversation with Christopher Burgess
September 28, 2021 11:00 - 46 minutesHe is the Horatio Alger of the CIA. His first job was punching paper. He went on to be a Station Chief. He worked for every directorate. He lived in several continents. He was in the Soviet Union for six years. He was caught up in the molehunt for Robert Hanssen. He survived to tell his tale. Christopher is genial, hearty and now lives in the other Washington (the rainy state on the West Coast, not the rainy town in Northern England) in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, where he writ...
“Leningrad, Molehunts, and Life After the CIA” - A Conversation with Christopher Burgess
September 28, 2021 11:00 - 48 minutesHe is the Horatio Alger of the CIA. His first job was punching paper. He went on to be a Station Chief. He worked for every directorate. He lived in several continents. He was in the Soviet Union for six years. He was caught up in the molehunt for Robert Hanssen. He survived to tell his tale. Christopher is genial, hearty and now lives in the other Washington (the rainy state on the West Coast, not the rainy town in Northern England) in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, where he writes ...
“One of CIA’s Most Decorated Field Officers” – A Conversation with Marc Polymeropoulos
September 21, 2021 11:00 - 54 minutesWhat do you get if you cross a Greek Orthodox guy from Athens and a Jewish girl from Long Island; and then mix in two Ivy League degrees and a 26-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency? If you haven’t worked out that this refers to Marc, given that he is mentioned in the episode title, you can probably forget ever having a career in intelligence. Mark is brimming with vitality, chock full of stories, and can talk baseball and wings as well as the finer points of Algerian politics or U...
Curator’s Corner: Osama bin Laden with Peter Bergen
September 14, 2021 11:00 - 1 hourAs the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approached Peter Bergen sought to reevaluate the man responsible for precipitating America’s long wars with al-Qaeda and its descendants. Bergen produced the first television interview with bin Laden in 1997. He has had years to reflect on and study the man. In his new book The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden he captures all the dimensions of his life: family man, zealot, battlefield commander, terrorist leader, and fugitive. Join International Spy Museum H...
“I was a Presidential Daily Briefer on 9/11” – Kristin Wood & Scooter Libby, With Special Guest Phil Mudd, Director of Gulf Affairs at the NSC
September 11, 2021 11:00 - 1 hourKristin Wood was at CIA HQ on the morning of 9/11. Phil Mudd was at the National Security Council. Kristin was a PDB briefer for the VP’s National Security Advisor. Phil was Director for Gulf Affairs. They would go on to work counterterrorism together. Kristen has a Wheaton Terrier. Phil has a farm. For the rest, it’s best if you hear Kristin and Phil. “… knowing that every day, you had to deliver relevant information to the nation's leaders, it is a feeling of enormous responsibility that a...
“I was a Presidential Daily Briefer on 9/11” – Mike Morell & President Bush
September 11, 2021 11:00 - 57 minutesMike Morell was with President Bush on the morning of 9/11. He saw the President several times that day. Ten years later he was with President Obama for the bin Laden raid. He was former Acting and Deputy Director of the CIA. He comes from Ohio. For the rest, it’s best if you hear Mike. “I believe that when we get to the end of the trail, we’re going to find al Qaeda, and we’re going to find an Osama bin Laden. I told him that I was so confident in that judgment that I would bet my children’...
“I was a Presidential Daily Briefer on 9/11” – Dave Terry & Vice President Cheney
September 11, 2021 11:00 - 1 hourDave Terry was with Vice President Cheney on the morning of 9/11. He started work as a PDB briefer the same day as Mike. He went on to be Chief of the PDB. He started out working on grain production at the CIA in 1979. He comes from Kansas. For the rest, it’s best if you hear Dave. “And I think for any intelligence officer, what you're doing is often overwhelming, whether you're in front of the President, or a vice president, or the asset that you're trying to debrief, or your colleagues…And...
“Afghanistan, the Mujahedeen, Al Qaeda” – My Time at CIA & State with Diana Bolsinger
September 08, 2021 10:15 - 1 hourIt was the 1980’s. “I don't think they'll ever have the fun I had that year, at 23 years old, going to the White House and the NSC, briefing cabinet members…I mean, you name it. It was just incredible!” Three years into her CIA career, Diana Bolsinger found herself on point as the sole person working on the Afghanistan account in her department. Thereafter, she was Acting Deputy to the Ambassador to the Afghan Resistance (“mujahedeen”), a political officer in Islamabad, an analyst at the Coun...
CYBER AUGUST: “National Cryptologic Museum” – With Vince Houghton
August 31, 2021 11:00 - 1 hourTurning the tide in the Pacific at the Battle of Midway, establishing secure communications on the beaches during D-Day, staving off nuclear Armageddon – what did cryptology ever have to do with anything, right? To discuss these big themes – and to celebrate our partnership on the exhibition “Codes, Ciphers and Mysteries” – we brought back you know who, Executive Director of the National Cryptologic Museum (NCM) and former SpyCast host, Vince Houghton (Retd). Through the end of September 2021...
CYBER AUGUST: “So, You Want to Be a Codebreaker?” – Elonka Dunin and Klaus Schmeh
August 24, 2021 11:00 - 1 hourCodes. Ciphers. Mysteries. This week’s guests are fascinated by codebreaking and cryptography: as well they should be! The Voynich Manuscript, the Dorabella Letter, The Beale Papers, the Zodiac Cipher, Kryptos – so much history, intrigue, and speculation. Andrew sat down with Elonka Dunin, code-breaker extraordinaire, and Klaus Schmeh, a world leading expert on the history of cryptography, to discuss the cat-and-mouse game between code-makers and code-breakers across the ages from ancient cun...
CYBER AUGUST SERIES: “So, You Want to Be a Codebreaker?” – Elonka Dunin and Klaus Schmeh
August 24, 2021 11:00 - 1 hourCodes. Ciphers. Mysteries. This week’s guests are fascinated by codebreaking and cryptography: as well they should be! The Voynich Manuscript, the Dorabella Letter, The Beale Papers, the Zodiac Cipher, Kryptos – so much history, intrigue, and speculation. Andrew sat down with Elonka Dunin, code-breaker extraordinaire, and Klaus Schmeh, a world leading expert on the history of cryptography, to discuss the cat-and-mouse game between code-makers and code-breakers across the ages from ancient cu...
CYBER AUGUST: “Snowden & Surveillance” – Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Barton Gellman
August 17, 2021 11:00 - 1 hourIs Edward Snowden a traitor a hero? Does the surveillance state threaten freedom or secure it? Andrew sat down with investigative reporter Barton Gellman, author of Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State, and part of the team that won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the National Security Agency and Edward Snowden, to discuss these issues and more. Bart has a serious resume: The Atlantic, The Washington Post, LA Times Book Prize, Emmy Awards ...
CYBER AUGUST SERIES: “Snowden & Surveillance” – Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Barton Gellman
August 17, 2021 11:00 - 57 minutesIs Edward Snowden a traitor a hero? Does the surveillance state threaten freedom or secure it? Andrew sat down with investigative reporter Barton Gellman, author of Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State, and part of the team that won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the National Security Agency and Edward Snowden, to discuss these issues and more. Bart has a serious resume: The Atlantic, The Washington Post, LA Times Book Prize, Emmy Awards...