Episodes

  • Ciphers, Disguise, and Invisible Ink: Tools of the Trade with Pete Langman & Nadine Akkerman

    Ciphers, Disguise, and Invisible Ink: Tools of the Trade with Pete Langman & Nadine Akkerman
    Sep 24 2024
    Summary Pete Langman and Nadine Akkerman join Andrew to discuss espionage in Elizabethan England. Pete and Nadine are authors of the new book Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration. What You’ll Learn Intelligence Spymasters of the Elizabethan era Techniques in forgeries, invisible inks, and seal-making The impact of spies on important historical events like the Spanish Armada The connections between espionage and religious tension Reflections Creativity & Innovation The risks and dangers of early espionage And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “Spies are involved with bribery. They cheat and they lie, so it’s immoral, and often there are things that are just illegal in other instances, such as forgery of documents. Other people would get their ears clipped or their noses slit if they forged documents.If you are a spy, you are being asked to do that on the job. So it's a dangerous game and the lines are very thin.” – Nadine Akkerman. Resources SURFACE SKIM *Spotlight Resource* Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration, N. Akkerman & P. Langman (Yale University Press, 2024) *SpyCasts* The British Monarchy and Secret Intelligence with Rory Cormac and Richard Aldrich (2024) Espionage and the Two Queens with Kent Tiernan (2023) The Information Battlespace – Foreign Denial and Deception with Bill Parquette (2022) So, You Want to Be a Codebreaker? with Elonka Dunin and Klaus Schmeh (2021) DEEPER DIVE Primary Sources Natural magick, Smithsonian Digital Library (1658) Page of Ciphers Used by Mary Queen of Scots, UK National Archives (1586) Letter from Mary, Queen of Scots in Sheffield Castle to Elizabeth I, British Library (1582) Mary, Queen of Scots to Sir William Cecil, UK National Archives (1570) De Furtivis Literarum notis (1563) *Wildcard Resource* Use this invisible ink recipe from the UK National Archives to send your own secret messages. You may recognize this heat method from one of Erin’s favorite movies, National Treasure (2004), where a secret message is revealed on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • The Future of OSINT and the Intelligence Community with Jason Barrett

    The Future of OSINT and the Intelligence Community with Jason Barrett
    Sep 17 2024
    Summary Jason Barrett (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss the integration of open-source intelligence into the American Intelligence Community. Jason is the first-ever OSINT Executive. What You’ll Learn Intelligence Historical examples of OSINT The evolution of Open Source Intelligence The challenges and unique opportunities OSINT presents The future of OSINT within the Intelligence Community Reflections Trust and transparency Efficiency in intelligence gathering And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “We're living in an age when credibility and trust is really important to build. This is an opportunity for the IC to really build that trust, I think in important ways. So, it's an area I think you will see more of us being more transparent in our work.” – Jason Barrett. Resources SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* U.S. Army Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) with Dennis Eger & Shawn Nilius (2024) Cybersecurity in The White House with Camille Stewart Gloster (2024) David Petraeus on Ukraine & Intelligence with the former CIA Director & 4* General (2023) Irregular Warfare & Intelligence with IWC Director Dennis Walters (2023) DEEPER DIVE Books OSINT Techniques: Resources for Uncovering Online Information, M. Bazzell (2023) Deep Dive: Exploring the Real-world Value of Open Source Intelligence, R. L. Baker (Wiley, 2023) Open Source Intelligence Methods and Tools: A Practical Guide to Online Intelligence, N. A. Hassan & R. Hijazi (Apress, 2018) Primary Sources The IC OSINT Strategy 2024-2026 (2024) DoS Open Source Intelligence Strategy (2024) Ethical Frameworks in Open-Source Intelligence (2022) Open-Source Intelligence, Department of the Army (2012) Department of Defense OSINT Instruction (2010) *Wildcard Resource* You’ve probably practiced OSINT techniques many times before – Think, Facebook stalking your old college friends to see what they’re up to. Many video games also involve the usage of open-source collection techniques: Return of the Obra Dinn (2018) is one such critically acclaimed video game. The game, set on an early 19th-century ship, challenges its player to solve the mystery of what happened to the crew onboard by piecing together scraps of information from journal entries and related documents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • The Spycatcher Affair & MI5: The Scandal that Shook Britain with Tim Tate

    The Spycatcher Affair & MI5: The Scandal that Shook Britain with Tim Tate
    Sep 10 2024
    Summary Tim Tate (Website) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss the Spycatcher Affair. Tim is a best-selling author and award-winning filmmaker. What You’ll Learn Intelligence Peter Wright: His background and motives The contents of Spycatcher including the exposure of alleged soviet moles The UK’s efforts to keep their secrets secret The lasting effects of the Spycatcher Affair Reflections Personal secrecy vs. public security Censorship and free speech And much, much more … Quotes of the Week "[Wright] found truly acres of paperwork from old files which had been disregarded and hadn't been properly followed up on and leads that hadn't been properly followed. And when he pulled at them, those threads of evidence, and when he chased it down, what he found, as often as not, was genuine reason to suspect that the penetration, the widespread penetration, was real and serious.” – Tim Tate . Resources SURFACE SKIM *Spotlight Resource* To Catch a Spy: How the Spycatcher Affair brought MI5 in from the Cold, Tim Tate (Icon Books, 2024) *SpyCasts* The Counterintelligence Chief with FBI Assistant Director Alan Kohler (2023) St. Ermin’s Hotel, London – The History of a Legendary Spy Site with Stephen Duffy (2023) The Information Battlespace – Foreign Denial and Deception with Bill Parquette (2022) Dealing with Russia – A Conversation with Counterintelligence Legend Jim Olson (2022) DEEPER DIVE Books To Catch a Spy: The Art of Counterintelligence, J. Olson (Georgetown University Press, 2021) Traitors Among Us: Inside the Spy Catcher's World, S. A. Herrington (Harvest Books, 2000) The Spycatcher Affair, C. Pincher (St. Martin’s Press, 1988) Spycatcher, P. Wright (Heinemann, 1987) Primary Sources Peter Wright Case (Part 1) (1987) Peter Wright Case (Part 2) (1987) Retired Spy Claims Cover Up in British Service (1984) The Hollis Affair (1981) The “Zinoviev” Letter Investigation (1924) The Zimmermann Telegram (1917) *Wildcard Resource* Areopagitica (1644) by John Milton Illegally published in the UK in protest to the Licensing Order of 1643, this polemic has since become one of the most influential documents defending the right to free speech and free publication. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 16 mins
  • The Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate with Rachel Noble

    The Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate with Rachel Noble
    Sep 3 2024
    Summary Rachel Noble joins Andrew to discuss her role as Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate. Rachel is the first woman to hold this position. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The Australian Signals Directorate: Its purpose and mission The true story of the Pine Gap spy facility Leadership in Intelligence The SIGINT origins of the Five Eyes alliance Reflections The value of team The importance of work-life balance And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “Women lead differently. We talk differently, we engage in different ways. And I've had to learn to own that about myself and not be tempted to try to be like the guys, compete with them on their own terms, or to adopt male behaviors in order to be heard … [Doing that] doesn't really help other women who might come after me.” – Rachel Noble. Resources SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* Codebreaking and Codemaking Down Under with John Blaxland and Clare Birgin (2024) Australian National Day Special: Intelligence Down Under with John Blaxland (2024) SPY CHIEFS: Director-General of Security Mike Burgess - ASIO, Australia & America (2022) Keeping Secrets/Disclosing Secrets with Spy Chief turned DG of Australia’s National Archives David Fricker (2022) *Beginner Resources* What is SIGINT? YouTube (2020) [2 min. video] Who we are, Australian Signals Directorate (2020) [Short article] Our Agencies, National Intelligence Community of Australia (n.d.) [Overview of each agency in the Australian IC] DEEPER DIVE Primary Sources REDSPICE Blueprint (2022) Report of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security (1977) Australian Treaty Series: Five Power Defence Agreements (1971) Australian Treaty Series: Agreement between the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Government of the United States of America relating to the Establishment of a Joint Defence Space Research Facility (1966) Policy file containing Cabinet approval of establishment of Joint Intelligence Organisation and participation of New Zealand Government (1946) ASD Role and effectiveness of Signals Intelligence in World War II (1945) *Wildcard Resource* Rachel mentioned in this podcast episode that one of her favorite treats when coming to the States are Snickerdoodles – A delectable sugar cookie showered in cinnamon-sugar topping. In the cookie world, snickerdoodles are a more recent invention with their first written mention being in an 1889 cookbook. Learn more about the history of cookies here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Lethal Action - Understanding Poison with Neil Bradbury

    Lethal Action - Understanding Poison with Neil Bradbury
    Aug 27 2024
    Summary Neil Bradbury (Website, LinkedIn) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss the deadly history of poison and espionage. Neil is an author and biochemist. What You’ll Learn Intelligence How different poisons affect the human body The usage of poisons as a covert assassination method The deaths of defectors Alexander Litvinenko and Georgi Markov The Soviet Union’s Lab X and the production and research of poisons on the state level Reflections The double edge of creativity The necessity for research and experimentation And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “In order to counteract lots of the poisons, you have to know how they work, and you have to be able to develop your own. So, yes, undoubtedly, Western governments are just as actively involved in creating these chemicals and also the antidotes to them.” – Dr. Neil Bradbury. Resources SURFACE SKIM *Spotlight Resource* A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them, Neil Bradbury (St. Martin’s Press, 2022) *SpyCasts* The Murder of an IRA Spy with Henry Hemming (2024) I Helped Solve the Final Zodiac Killer Cipher with David Oranchak (2024) The North Korean Defector with Former DPRK Agent Kim, Hyun Woo (2023) Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East vs. West with Calder Walton (2023) DEEPER DIVE Books Poison: The History of Potions, Powders and Murderous Practitioners, B. Hubbard (Welbeck Publishing, 2020) Poison: A History: An Account of the Deadly Art and its Most Infamous Practitioners, J. Davis (Chartwell Books, 2018) The KGB's Poison Factory: From Lenin to Litvinenko, B. Volodarsky (Zenith Press, 2010) Primary Sources Press Release on the Poisoning of Alexei Navalny (2020) Update on the Use of Nerve Agent in Salisbury, UK (2018) The Litvinenko Inquiry (2016) Situation Report on Piesteritz (1953) Analysis of Madame Lefarge’s Arsenic Trial (1840) *Wildcard Resource* This week’s companion song can only be Waterloo Sunset (1967) by The Kinks. Heralded as one of the most beautiful songs of the swingin’ sixties, “Waterloo Sunset” is appropriately incorporated into the title of Neil’s chapter on the assassination of Georgi Markov, which took place on London’s Waterloo Bridge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • The JFK Assassination – a Debate with Jefferson Morley and Mark Zaid (Part 2)

    The JFK Assassination – a Debate with Jefferson Morley and Mark Zaid (Part 2)
    Aug 20 2024
    Summary Jefferson Morley and Mark Zaid join Andrew in a debate over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Mark and Jeff are longtime friends and colleagues with very different viewpoints of what truly happened on November 22nd, 1963. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The lasting questions surrounding the Kennedy assassination Lee Harvey Oswald’s intelligence connections The Warren Commission and the JFK Assassination Records The strangest theories Mark and Jeff have heard, and the most plausible explanations of who killed President Kennedy Reflections Public distrust and the search for truth Reactions and responses to tragedy And much, much more … Quotes of the Week  ”That's why I think they probably have something to hide. Because it doesn't make sense otherwise … If they had access to that kind of straightforward story, we would get that.” – Jefferson Morley. Resources SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* The Skinny on American Intelligence & the Law with D.C. “Super Lawyer” Mark Zaid (2024) Rise of Devils: The Origins of Modern Terrorism with James Crossland (2024) Havana Syndrome – A Panel featuring Nicky Woolf, Marc Polymeropoulos, and Mark Zaid (2023) The Past 75 Years with Historian of the CIA Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (2022) *Beginner Resources* Lee Harvey Oswald, Britannica (2024) [Short biography] JFK Files: What we're learning from newly released Kennedy assassination records, CBS News, YouTube (2022) [6 min. video] Kennedy Assassination Timeline, The Sixth Floor Museum (n.d.) [Timeline of events] DEEPER DIVE Books The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government, D. Talbot (Harper Perennial, 2016) JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters, J. W. Douglass (Touchstone, 2010) Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA, J. Morley (University Press of Kansas, 2008) Primary Sources President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act (1992) Select Committee on Assassinations Report (1978) Warren Commission Report (1964) LBJ Address to Congress (1963) Interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald (1963) JFK Autopsy Report (1963) The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection *Wildcard Resource* Test how you would do in Kennedy’s shoes by playing 13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 – A two-player board game that tests your quick-thinking strategy and conflict resolution skills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • The JFK Assassination – a Debate with Jefferson Morley and Mark Zaid (Part 1)

    The JFK Assassination – a Debate with Jefferson Morley and Mark Zaid (Part 1)
    Aug 13 2024
    Summary Jefferson Morley and Mark Zaid join Andrew in a debate over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Mark and Jeff are longtime friends and colleagues with very different viewpoints of what truly happened on November 22nd, 1963. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The lasting questions surrounding the Kennedy assassination Lee Harvey Oswald’s intelligence connections The Warren Commission and the JFK Assassination Records The strangest theories Mark and Jeff have heard, and the most plausible explanations of who killed President Kennedy Reflections Public distrust and the search for truth Reactions and responses to tragedy And much, much more … Quotes of the Week  ”That's why I think they probably have something to hide. Because it doesn't make sense otherwise … If they had access to that kind of straightforward story, we would get that.” – Jefferson Morley. Resources SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* The Skinny on American Intelligence & the Law with D.C. “Super Lawyer” Mark Zaid (2024) Rise of Devils: The Origins of Modern Terrorism with James Crossland (2024) Havana Syndrome – A Panel featuring Nicky Woolf, Marc Polymeropoulos, and Mark Zaid (2023) The Past 75 Years with Historian of the CIA Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (2022) *Beginner Resources* Lee Harvey Oswald, Britannica (2024) [Short biography] JFK Files: What we're learning from newly released Kennedy assassination records, CBS News, YouTube (2022) [6 min. video] Kennedy Assassination Timeline, The Sixth Floor Museum (n.d.) [Timeline of events] DEEPER DIVE Books The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government, D. Talbot (Harper Perennial, 2016) JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters, J. W. Douglass (Touchstone, 2010) Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA, J. Morley (University Press of Kansas, 2008) Primary Sources President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act (1992) Select Committee on Assassinations Report (1978) Warren Commission Report (1964) LBJ Address to Congress (1963) Interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald (1963) JFK Autopsy Report (1963) The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection *Wildcard Resource* Test how you would do in Kennedy’s shoes by playing 13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 – A two-player board game that tests your quick-thinking strategy and conflict resolution skills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • The Murder of an IRA Spy with Henry Hemming

    The Murder of an IRA Spy with Henry Hemming
    Aug 6 2024
    Summary Henry Hemming (X, Website) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss the case of Frank Hegarty, a British spy operating within the IRA. Henry is a bestselling espionage author. What You’ll Learn Intelligence Espionage and the role of MI5 within the Troubles The story of Frank Hegarty, a British spy working in Derry Freddie Scappaticci, or Stakeknife, and Operation Kenova The moral implications of spying Reflections Sacrifice, risk, and trust The nuances of conflict And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “This is where it becomes, morally, much more complex. What’s difficult … is that most of the handlers who were faced with these decisions didn't have adequate training. They didn't know what the law said. They didn't know exactly what the limits were to what they could and could not do … And suddenly, as we're beginning to find out, mistakes were made.” – Henry Hemming. Resources SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* Irish Garda Intelligence Chief with Assistant Commissioner Michael McElgunn (2023) Espionage and the Two Queens with Kent Tiernan (2023) The IRA, The Troubles & Intelligence with Eleanor Williams and Thomas Leahy (2022) *Beginner Resources* Why is Ireland Divided? History Matters, YouTube (2022) [3 min. video] What You Need to Know About The Troubles, Imperial War Museum (n.d.) [Short article] A Brief History of Ireland, T. Lambert, Local Histories (n.d.) [Short article] DEEPER DIVE Books Stakeknife's Dirty War: The Inside Story of Scappaticci, the IRA’s Nutting Squad, and the British Spooks who Ran the War, R. O’Rawe (Merrion Press, 2023) The Intelligence War against the IRA, T. Leahy (Cambridge University Press, 2020) Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, P. Radden Keefe (Anchor, 2020) Primary Sources Operation Kenova Interim Report (2024) Report of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry (2010) The Good Friday Agreement (1998) The Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985) IRA Green Book (1977) Guerrilla Warfare Handbook for IRA Volunteers (1956) *Wildcard Resource* Much of the events mentioned in this week’s episode take place in Derry, or Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Check out one of Erin’s favorite TV shows, Derry Girls – It tells the story of a young group of friends growing up in Derry during the Troubles. The town loved the show so much, they erected a mural to immortalize the five fictional friends that represented so many of their own upbringings in Derry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 8 mins