Los mejores podcasts de Spycast (2025)

1
A Family of Spies and a Bloodline of Secrets 34:04

1d ago34:04

34:04

No other American has a family history quite like Christine Kuehn. Through years of doing painstaking interviews, hunting down letters, and pouring through FBI records, Christine learned that her German-born aunt had a fling with Nazi politician Joseph Goebbels. When he found out she was half-Jewish, Goebbels sent the family to Hawaii to spy. After…

1
From the SpyCast Vault: The Lumumba Plot and The Station Chief's Story 30:35

9d ago30:35

30:35

In our last episode, author Stuart Reid peeled back the curtain on 'The Lumumba Plot,' the CIA’s plan to assassinate Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically-elected Prime Minister of the Congo. Station Chief Larry Devlin was central to the CIA’s 1960 assassination plot. He never had to carry it out, but Lumumba was later killed in another plot th…

1
The Lumumba Plot: Cold War in the Congo 34:47

16d ago34:47

34:47

The Congo was just gaining its independence from Belgium in 1960 when its first democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, faced an existential crisis: mutiny in his new army, followed by an unwelcome intervention by Belgian forces. Lumumba had hoped the U.S. would help, but when Washington turned its back, Lumumba turned to Moscow. And so beg…

1
Russian Sabotage Operations and NATO’s Complex Alliance 29:58

23d ago29:58

29:58

Russian drones and warplanes have been increasingly breaching the airspace of NATO countries. Admiral Joachim Rühle, (ret.) is the former Chief of Staff of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, the headquarters of Command Operations - including defense, deterrence, and training to Ukrainians - in Belgium. He talked about Moscow’s incursion…

1
Opening the Foreign Influence Toolkit 32:42

30d ago32:42

32:42

Jessica Brandt knows a lot about influence. She was the director of the Foreign Malign Influence Center, which served as intermediary between the U.S. intelligence community and the public. It alerted private citizens and the public to disinformation operations orchestrated by adversaries overseas. Jessica explains how the toolkit has gotten larger…

1
From the SpyCast Vault: An Assassination in Mexico 30:46

1M ago30:46

30:46

Keith Melton is a historian who’s been an advisor to the US Intelligence Community for decades. An avid collector and board member at The International Spy Museum, Keith has donated thousands of artifacts, and one of the most historically important is the axe used to assassinate Leon Trotsky. Keith found the weapon after decades of searching. In 20…

1
The Dark Web Broker 35:42

2M ago35:42

35:42

Vinny Troia is at home on the Dark Web. The veteran hacker has developed relationships with cyberactors who have quietly stolen sensitive data from the far corners of the world. Vinny sells that data to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, like the CIA. His book, Grey Area: Dark Web Data Collection and the Future of OSINT, is out this October…

1
To Catch a Drug Cartel 28:33

2M ago28:33

28:33

Keith Bulfin was a banker, not a spy. But then came a special client–a supposed coffee importer who was actually a banker for Mexican and Colombian drug cartels. Soon, U.S. authorities were knocking on Keith’s door. He ended up behind bars in a maximum security prison. While in prison, Bulfin ended up befriending leaders of drug cartels and eventua…

1
Retracing the Hunt for Bin Laden 35:50

2M ago35:50

35:50

This Thursday marks the 24th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, which spawned a decade-long search for the man behind them – Osama Bin Laden. Ed Bogan was the Chief of Operations for the CIA Counterterrorism Center’s Pakistan / Afghanistan Department. He takes us into agency headquarters, where he oversaw the raid on Bin Laden’s c…

1
An Assassination in Athens and a CIA Officer’s Legacy 31:47

2M ago31:47

31:47

It’s been 50 years since the assassination of the CIA’s former Station Chief in Athens, Richard Welch. At the time, he was the agency’s highest level officer killed in the line of duty. A Greek, Marxist terrorist group called 17 November claimed responsibility for his death, but that was just the beginning. Former senior operations officer Ralph Ma…

1
From the SpyCast Vault: Escaping Tehran with The CIA Pt. 2 29:04

3M ago29:04

29:04

We return to November, 1979 when radical Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took dozens of Americans hostage. Mark and Cora Lijek were two American officials stuck in Tehran, and in 2008 they shared their story with the late Peter Earnest, the founding director of the International Spy Museum. And this time they were joined by ret…

1
From the SpyCast Vault: Escaping Tehran with The CIA 30:41

3M ago30:41

30:41

We'll go back in time to November, 1979 when radical Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took dozens of Americans hostage. Six US officials managed to find refuge with Canadian embassy staff, and 11 weeks later, the CIA led a daring operation to sneak them out of Iran disguised as a Hollywood film crew. Mark and Cora Lijek were two…

1
Catching an Iranian-American Missile Broker 35:38

3M ago35:38

35:38

Reza Olangian, a dual US-Iranian citizen, left behind his life in Silicon Valley to spy for Iran in the capital. And by the time DEA special agent Jeffrey James Higgins found out about him in 2011, Olangian was trying to acquire hundreds of surface-to-air missiles. That kicked off an elaborate, multi-country sting operation… and a 25-year prison se…

1
Lethal Dissent: Iran’s Spy Games in Turkey 29:56

3M ago29:56

29:56

Washington and Tehran have a long and complicated history, with tensions that rise, fall and then rise again. Just this summer, we watched the U.S. and Israel strike Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. This month, SpyCast is bringing you a series of special episodes on Iran, looking back and forward, to unveil the country’s intelligence priorities, capa…

1
Agent 202: New Secrets Emerge on an American Who Spied for Cuba 30:32

4M ago30:32

30:32

Codenamed "Agent 202," Kendall Myers went undetected as a spy for Cuba for nearly 30 years. He worked at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, secretly spying for Cuba out of an earnest love for the island, its people, and their leader Fidel Castro. Myers was caught in 2009, after he retired. State Department Security Specialist and for…

1
Agent of Chaos: The Austrian Fugitive Running Russia’s Global Spy Networks 31:24

4M ago31:24

31:24

Today he’s one of the most wanted men in the world, but before Jan Marsalek fled to Russia, he was the COO of payment-processing firm Wirecard. Officials and investigators say Marsalek used the company to finance Moscow’s covert operations and spy networks in Africa and Europe. In 2020, nearly €2 billion vanished from Wirecard, along with Marsalek.…

1
From Intel Officer to White House Adviser: A Chat with The Museum’s Executive Director 33:03

4M ago33:03

33:03

This week we spoke with the International Spy Museum's Executive Director, Colonel Chris Costa. His decades-long career in the intelligence community spanned multiple continents, running sensitive operations in Panama, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, where he earned two Bronze stars for his human intelligence contributions. Later, Costa advised Navy…

1
“America’s Gatekeeper”: A Conversation with DCSA’s Director David Cattler 29:00

4M ago29:00

29:00

Born out of a major Chinese cyberattack that stole personal information from millions of federal government employees, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency calls itself ‘America’s Gatekeeper.’ Now five years into its existence, it’s responsible for overseeing most of the security clearances for government personnel and contractors. D…

1
Russia's Fake Identity Assembly Line in Brazil 31:44

4M ago31:44

31:44

When a Russian spy was arrested in Brazil in 2022, authorities were shocked to discover that he seemed to have a real birth certificate and authentic citizenship documents. The incident sparked a multi-year investigation that uncovered a network of Russian operatives living and working in Brazil – Their false identities supported by genuine documen…

1
Breaking the Silence: Coming Out in the CIA 32:42

5M ago32:42

32:42

Emerging alongside Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare in the 1950s was the Lavender Scare: Widespread panic and paranoia over the inclusion of gay personnel in the federal government. Their perceived dangers led to the terminations and forced resignations of thousands. Fast forward to 1988 – Tracey Ballard, who worked at the CIA, headed in to take a polyg…

1
A Conversation with House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman 32:56

5M ago32:56

32:56

What should the US Intelligence Community prioritize domestically and overseas, and how should the work be done? We sat down with Congressman Rick Crawford, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to learn his perspective on these questions. The conversation emphasized the growing threat of China’s influence in the West, t…

1
Ghost Stories: The Hunt for Russian Spies in the US 31:15

5M ago31:15

31:15

In the early 2000s, the FBI uncovered a team of Russian operatives who had been living double lives in the United States. They were posing as professors, journalists, financial planners, real estate and travel agents, all while sending information back to Moscow. Now, 15 years after they were arrested, Alan Kohler, the former Assistant Director of …

1
The Secret Navy and Their Hunt for a Nazi Sub 33:06

5M ago33:06

33:06

How do you catch an enemy’s submarine … and then make it vanish? That’s what the U.S. Navy’s elusive Tenth Fleet planned, as it tracked down Germany’s U-505 submarine. The mission came right before the Allies ran ashore on the beaches of Normandy in World War II. Historian Alexander Rose draws on long classified documents and intercepted transmissi…

1
How Are Shifting Priorities Impacting National Security in America? 27:18

6M ago27:18

27:18

Most Americans would agree that the United States should be protected, but from whom … and how? Dr. Donell Harvin, the former Chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence for the District of Columbia, says the U.S. is taking its eye off the ball - focusing its large domestic intelligence apparatus in a direction that is politically expedient, but no…

1
Sharing Intelligence: Challenges between US and Ukraine 31:56

6M ago31:56

31:56

After Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. rushed to create a secret center that set targets for the Ukrainians to destroy. But the counteroffensive of 2023 failed to achieve its goals. So, what went wrong? New York Times reporter Adam Entous spent more than a year reporting on this story. He joins SpyCast host Sasha Ingber to talk abo…

1
Stories From the President's Daily Brief 23:34

6M ago23:34

23:34

Conflict has been escalating between two nuclear powers–India and Pakistan. It started in April, after India blamed Pakistan for supporting militants who carried out a massacre in Kashmir. President Trump offered to help defuse the tensions.Throughout history, India and Pakistan’s hostility has been documented in the President's Daily Brief, a high…

1
The Minions: Putin's Expendable Spies 30:36

6M ago30:36

30:36

They were a spy cell like no other — operating from quiet British suburbs, hailing from Bulgaria, and working on behalf of Russia. Their handler dubbed them “The Minions,” and their plots stretched across Europe and spanned honeytraps, abductions, and murder. At the time of this recording, six have been convicted and await sentencing. To parse out …

1
Escalation: Tracking the US-Ukraine Relationship 38:43

7M ago38:43

38:43

The United States and Ukraine have had a long, complicated history that has been defined by just as much partnership and collaboration as hesitation and disagreement. This dynamic is laid bare in the 7-part podcast series ‘Escalation,’ produced by our partners at Goat Rodeo, with the national security publication Lawfare. In April 2025, The Interna…

1
Where the ‘West V. Russia’ Plot Begins 31:17

7M ago31:17

31:17

Why does Vladimir Putin often say that the West is conspiring to weaken Russia? Historian James Crossland traces this narrative back to a British intelligence officer and a failed assassination attempt on Vladimir Lenin in 1918. The story is featured in his new book, Rogue Agent, from Secret Plots to Psychological Warfare, the Untold Story of Rober…

1
DOGE Layoffs and the Counterintelligence Threats They Pose 31:22

7M ago31:22

31:22

Government employees were dismissed with startling swiftness and sweeping in the midst of the Trump administration's relentless pursuit to pare down the federal workforce. The sheer number of fired personnel and the manner in which US officials let them go have led to concerns that disillusioned former employees may share what they know with foreig…

1
Taiwan: China’s Testing Ground for Intelligence Operations 29:11

7M ago29:11

29:11

It's no secret that China has recently stepped up political and military pressure on the democratically governed island of Taiwan. But then, there are the Chinese Communist Party's covert efforts: Recruiting from the inside, gathering intelligence, and exerting influence. Executive Director of the Global Taiwan Institute Russell Hsiao breaks down B…

1
Introducing Targeted 33:15

7M ago33:15

33:15

Targeted uncovers harrowing stories of people who have been singled out and systematically dismantled—whether for political reasons, personal vendettas, or simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Each episode deep dives into the tactics used against someone, the devastating consequences, and the remarkable lessons they’ve learned in …

1
Understanding Chinese Espionage Through 900 Cases 29:43

8M ago29:43

29:43

Nicholas Eftimiades’ 34 year career in government spanned the CIA, State Department and the Defense Intelligence Agency. He's published three books that examine the structure, methodology and operations of China's intelligence services. This, he says, led a Chinese communist newspaper to declare him an enemy of the state in the ‘90s. Now, Nick is r…

1
Remembering The CIA’s Mind Games 31:44

8M ago31:44

31:44

Sidney Gottlieb was one of the CIA’s star chemists during the Cold War. As head of MKUltra, he ran a brazen—and deadly—program aimed at mind control. Gottlieb and fellow scientists tried to keep the work secret by destroying files, but historian John Lisle has new details from the six boxes that remained untouched. He shares insights and reflection…

1
From Covert to Overt: Valerie Plame on political retaliation 30:58

8M ago30:58

30:58

Valerie Plame’s clandestine life made headlines in 2003 after her CIA cover was leaked to the press. Her husband, an ambassador, had gone to Niger to investigate whether yellowcake uranium had been transferred to Iraq to make weapons of mass destruction. He publicly challenged the Bush administration on what we now know was false intelligence. Vale…

1
Eyes on The Ground: The National Resistance Front in Afghanistan 29:25

8M ago29:25

29:25

After the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan, the National Resistance Front rose up to defy them. We spoke with their leader Ahmad Massoud, who has overseen hundreds of military and intelligence-gathering operations. He’s following the footsteps of his father, who led his own resistance group, the Northern Alliance, until members of Al Qaeda …

1
From NFL to Espionage: The Story of Ernest Cuneo 25:33

8M ago25:33

25:33

He was an American spy before an American spy agency existed. NFL player Ernest Cuneo, a little known first generation Italian American, worked with British intelligence to convince the United States to join World War II, and helped lay the groundwork for modern day espionage. Thomas Maier traces Cuneo’s extraordinary life in his new book, The Invi…

1
Debriefing from the Ukrainian Front 27:54

9M ago27:54

27:54

A fourth year of war in Ukraine begins. But for Lt. Col. Kyrylo Berkal, who’s been fighting since Russia first invaded in 2014, the battle for his country has raged much longer. Now, he’s second in command of the elite Third Assault Brigade, which has played a major role in critical battles against Russia and continues to develop new technologies t…

1
How did Harriet Tubman operate as a spy? 30:33

9M ago30:33

30:33

She’s known for helping to free people through the Underground Railroad, but Harriet Tubman was also a spy during the Civil War. And with the intelligence she collected, the Maryland native became the first woman to lead men into battle on gunboats down the Combahee River in South Carolina. The Combahee River Raid destroyed several vital Confederat…

1
What's next for Kim Jong Un? 30:52

9M ago30:52

30:52

North Korea is growing more dangerous, but no U.S. administration has been able to crack the code on its leader Kim Jong Un. Now, there’s even less incentive for Kim to negotiate because of the support he’s getting from Russia. So what will Kim do next, and where is he vulnerable? Jung H. Pak, a former CIA analyst who served as the country’s top di…

1
Campus Cloak-and-Dagger: Spies Targeting American Universities 27:47

9M ago27:47

27:47

For decades, colleges and universities have been a destination for espionage. Especially in recent years, the use of international students and faculty as spies on American campuses has been particularly daunting. Why do intelligence services, both foreign and domestic, target colleges and universities? And what is there to gain on these campuses? …

1
Agent Zo: The woman who defied the Nazis and Communists 28:52

10M ago28:52

28:52

Agent Zo was the only female Polish resistance agent to reach London as a courier during WWII and the only female member of Poland's fabled 'Silent Unseen' paratroopers. Yet despite having researched Poland's wartime resistance movement, many of us have never heard of her. Why? If you liked this episode, check out these links: Agent Zo: The Extraor…

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How will President Trump handle intelligence in his second term? 30:47

10M ago30:47

30:47

Now that President Trump has been inaugurated, what can we expect for the intelligence community? On his first full day in his first term, he visited the CIA to voice support. But he has also displayed deep skepticism and accused spy agencies of undermining him. Beth Sanner is a highly decorated, retired career intelligence officer who briefed Trum…

1
How do you fool Russian Intelligence? 28:13

10M ago28:13

28:13

Former intelligence officer Bryan Stern describes the tradecraft he used on Russian intelligence and military services to rescue an American imprisoned in Russian-occupied Ukraine. If you liked this episode check out these links to more hostage rescue stories: SpyCast - James Foley: Journalist, ISIS Hostage, Son – with His Mother Diane Foley Operac…

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Introducing the New Host: Sasha Ingber 20:19

11M ago20:19

20:19

Introducing the new host of SpyCast, Sasha Ingber! In this week’s episode, Sasha joined Erin in a conversation about her career and the future of the International Spy Museum’s flagship podcast. Now entering it’s 19th year, SpyCast will relaunch on January 14th with brand new episodes, featuring exciting spy stories and the latest intelligence from…

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From the Vault: “The 75th Anniversary of the CIA” – with former Director Robert Gates 1:03:55

11M ago1:03:55

1:03:55

Summary Robert Gates (Website; Website) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to reflect on the 75th Anniversary of the CIA. He served 8 U.S. presidents. What You’ll Learn Intelligence His reflections on the CIA at 75 How the CIA’s story intersected with his own His take on the organization’s strengths and weaknesses The complex intl. environment the CI…

1
“An Imperial History of the CIA” – with Hugh Wilford 54:58

11M ago54:58

54:58

Summary Hugh Wilford joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss his new book. Hugh is a professor, author, and leading CIA historian. What You’ll Learn Intelligence Imperial influences on American intelligence Key figures in CIA history “Wild” Bill Donovan & British influence Groton School’s impact on CIA leaders Reflections Inherited history Challengin…

1
“The Battlefield Tour Guide” with Bob Shaw 49:54

11M ago49:54

49:54

Summary Robert Shaw joins Andrew to discuss his experience working as an accredited Battlefield tour guide. Bob’s career in the British Army spanned over 25 years. What You’ll Learn Intelligence Becoming a battlefield tour guide IEDD and Intelligence Work in Northern Ireland Hypothetical WWIII scenarios Special Forces, TECHINT, & the Bin Laden Raid…

1
“Two Decades at the International Spy Museum” – with Anna Slafer 53:03

12M ago53:03

53:03

Summary Anna Slafer (LinkedIn, Website) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss the history of the International Spy Museum. Anna was one of SPY’s first employees when the museum opened in 2002. What You’ll Learn Intelligence Building the International Spy Museum Milton Maltz: the visionary behind SPY The role of historians and curators Creating exhi…

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Leadership & The United States Pacific Command with Ret. Lieutenant General Anthony Crutchfield 57:14

12M ago57:14

57:14

Summary Lieutenant General Anthony Crutchfield (Ret.) (LinkedIn, Wikipedia) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss his time as the Deputy Commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command. PACOM covers 52% of the globe. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The role of intelligence in military operations Ethical dilemmas in command decisions Reflections on t…

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