Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs
S10 Ep42: A Spy’s Guide to Cold War Berlin with James Stejskal
In today’s episode, former Special Forces Detachment A operator James Stejskal shares his extraordinary insights into Berlin's role as the epicenter of Cold War espionage. From his personal experiences in the city to the strategic importance of intelligence operations, James explains how Berlin beca...
S10 Ep41: Able Archer: The Nuclear War Game That Almost Ended the World with Brian J. Morra
In the fall of 1983, NATO's annual nuclear war exercise, Able Archer 83, brought the United States and the Soviet Union closer to catastrophe than almost anyone in Washington understood at the time. Brian J. Morra—decorated former Air Force intelligence officer, aerospace executive, and author of th...
S10 Ep40: What Hollywood Gets Wrong About the CIA with John Sipher & Jerry O’Shea
John Sipher and Jerry O'Shea, former senior CIA officers and co-founders of Spycraft Entertainment, return to the show for a conversation with Matt and Chris about what Hollywood gets wrong about espionage—and what they're trying to do about it. They dig into the tropes that break the spell (the lon...
S10 Ep39: Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks with Sean Wiswesser
Sean Wiswesser spent three decades in the U.S. intelligence community, much of it running operations against Russia for the CIA. His new book, Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks , dissects of how the FSB, SVR, and GRU actually do their work: dead drops, signal sites, surveillance detection routes...
S10 Ep38: Inside the New Apostolic Reformation: Faith, Power, and American Politics with Pastor Louis Florio
Pastor Louis Florio—Lutheran pastor, former military intelligence officer, and police chaplain in Virginia—joins Chris to explain the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR): what it actually is, where it came from, and why it matters beyond the pews.