SpyCast

A House Divided: The CIA, State, and a Coup in South Vietnam

It's a dark moment in American history that leads to a lot of what-ifs. By the spring of 1963, eight years into the Vietnam War, two opposing factions across the CIA and

25 Years After 9/11: The CIA's First Moments Behind Enemy Lines in Afghanistan

Retired Colonel Justin Sapp was a Green Beret detailed to the CIA after the September 11th terrorist attacks. He was part of Team Alpha, the first eight Americans to drop

Japanese Surveillance, Enslavement, and Experimentation in Wartime China

Graphic content warning: Not recommended for younger listeners. This episode contains material that may be triggering to some audiences, including violence and harm, medi

Peter Ortiz: The WWII Marine Who Foreshadowed Modern-Day Special Forces

In 2017, journalist Katie Sanders discovered an episode of a radio program called This Is Your Life. It was a scratchy recording from 1949, and she heard the voice of 2nd

What It Takes to Run the CIA's Southeast Asia Department

You might find Meredith Cavan playing music in an Irish pub. But long before her first album dropped, she clocked more than 20 years at the CIA. One of her jobs there was

Cuba's Spies, Defectors, and the Ex-FBI Agent Who Met Them All

For decades, Cuban intelligence has been seen as a force that punches above its weight. Shaped during the Cold War through cooperation with the Soviet Union, its intellig

Smears, Fakes & Phantoms: Cold War Britain's Secret Propaganda Department

In Cold War Britain, a secret propaganda department saw its list of targets and tactics widen. Personnel inside the Information Research Department went beyond forgeries,

Murder in Mexico City: The Assassination of Leon Trotsky

For those of you who have visited the International Spy Museum, you may be familiar with one of our most prized artifacts, the ice ax used to assassinate Leon Trotsky in

The Triumphs and Failures of France's Foreign Intel Service

The DGSE, or Directorate General for External Security, is France's foreign intelligence service. It's found inside the Ministry of Defense but reports to the president.

Inside China's Cyber Espionage Business

Ahana Datta Fasel became the British government’s first ethical hacker in 2014, testing vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks that hackers could potentially ex

The Navy Spy who Sold Secrets for $377 a Year

You may have heard of the long-running TV show NCIS, based on the real work of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. But you may never have heard of a unit inside it,

Closer than Cuba: the Able Archer Nuclear Crisis of 1983

It's November of 1983, the closest the world came to nuclear war, some may argue even closer than the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Yet the Able Archer 1983 exercise inci

Putin’s Paramilitary 2.0

Since its emergence in 2014, the Wagner Group operated as the Kremlin's shadow army, deploying mercenaries across Africa and the Middle East. It gave Vladimir Putin plaus

Tricked and Extradited: Inside the First FBI Operation to Lure a Chinese Spy to the US

The FBI won’t discuss exactly how Chinese spy Xu Yanjun came to the attention of special agents. Xu was handling a GE Aviation engineer in Ohio who specialized in composi

The Flip That Broke the Cali Cartel

Now that drug cartels can be labeled foreign terrorist organizations, how do you dismantle one? As part of his 26 years at the Drug Enforcement Administration, retired Sp

The Weather Report that Changed History

"If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone." This is the end of the announcement Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight David Eisenhower had prepar

From Cartels to Terrorists, the CIA, FBI, and White House: The Vast Career of Karen Schaefer

Karen Schaefer retired from the CIA in 2019, after 26 years of service. She started out in Latin America and ended with a stint at the FBI. In between, she earned numerou

From Ivory Tower to Iron Curtain: The Academics Who Reshaped the CIA

In 1947, a new civilian intelligence agency was established: the CIA. But a series of intelligence failures undermined its credibility. The White House and Congress were

The Civil War Spies and Saboteurs Across the Canadian Border

It’s 1864, and against the backdrop of the US Civil War- a war the Confederacy is losing- a group of spies and saboteurs have set up a base in Montreal, Canada. Today we

How Far the US Went to Rescue Hostage Bowe Bergdahl

In 2009, Bowe Bergdahl walked away from his Army post in eastern Afghanistan, only to be abducted and held hostage until 2014. He was captured by the Taliban and then han