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SpyCast

SpyCast, the official podcast of the International Spy Museum, is a journey into the shadows of international espionage. Each week, host Sasha Ingber brings you the latest insights and intriguing tales from spies, secret agents, and covert communicators, with a focus on how this secret world reaches us all in our everyday lives. Tune in to discover the critical role intelligence has played throughout history and today. Brought to you from Airwave, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum.  The Spy Museum does not endorse, approve, or support the opinions stated by guest speakers. Statements made by speakers do not represent the position or opinion of the International Spy Museum.

Episodes

High Risk, High Reward: An Interview with IARPA Dep. Director Dr. Stacey Dixon

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Dr. Stacey Dixon, the Deputy Director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. Drs. Houghton and Dixon discuss some of the advanced scientific and technological research that will transform intelligence far into the 21st Century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 13, 201643 minEp. 240

Pearl Harbor at 75: An Interview with Steve Twomey

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Twomey to discuss his new book about the attacks of December 7, 1941, Countdown to Pearl Harbor: The Twelve Days to the Attack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 06, 20161 hr 28 minEp. 239

CIA’s Man in Havana: An Interview with Canadian Diplomat John Graham

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with former Canadian diplomat John Graham to discuss his role as the eyes and ears of Western intelligence following the Cuban Missile Crisis. This story, as well as many others, are told in Graham’s memoir, Whose Man in Havana: Adventures from the Far Side of Diplomacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 29, 201651 minEp. 238

Author Debriefing – 100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative's Survival Guide

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down (remotely) with former SEAL Team 6 member Clint Emerson to discuss his new book, 100 Deadly Skills: Survival Edition, a follow-up to his national bestseller 100 Deadly Skills. Buy 100 Deadly Skills from the Spy Museum Store Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 22, 201645 minEp. 237

Able Archer 83: An Interview with Nate Jones

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Nate Jones, the Director of the Freedom of Information Act Project for the National Security Archive, and the author of the new book Able Archer 83: The Secret History of the NATO Exercise That Almost Triggered Nuclear War. Get the book: http://www.spymuseumstore.org/able-archer-83.html#.WIdjWrYrJTY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 15, 201657 minEp. 236

From the Vault: Election Spectacular, Part III - Why Mark Felt became Deep Throat

Intelligence officers and investigative journalists both depend on clandestine sources to divulge secrets. But why do people betray a trust? Peter interviews veteran journalist Max Holland about his new book, Leak, which probes the mind and motivations of one of the most famous clandestine sources in American history: Deep Throat. Hear why Mark Felt, the Deputy Director of the FBI, betrayed President Nixon by leaking to the Washington Post and Time about Watergate. Were Felt’s motives patriotic ...

Nov 08, 201640 minEp. 235

From the Vault: Election Spectacular, Part II - An Interview with Ken Vogel of POLITICO

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Ken Vogel, Chief Investigative Reporter for POLITICO and author of the article, “The Koch Intelligence Agency.” Houghton and Vogel (who tracks the confluence of money, politics, and influence for POLITICO) discuss the use of use surveillance, propaganda, disinformation, deception, and even covert action in modern political campaigns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 08, 201639 minEp. 234

From the Vault: Election Spectacular, Part I - An Interview with NBC Chief Political Correspondent Chuck Todd

SPY Historian Dr. Vince Houghton sat down with NBC News Political Director and Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd to discuss the growing role of intelligence tradecraft in American election politics. Todd, the host of MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown, explains how political campaigns – on both sides of the aisle – use surveillance, propaganda, disinformation, deception, and covert action to give their candidates a political edge. This interview was recorded on July 29, 2014. https://www.youtube...

Nov 08, 201633 minEp. 233

Stalin’s Englishman: An Interview with Andrew Lownie

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with author and literary agent Andrew Lownie, who has been researching Guy Burgess and the Cambridge 5 for over three decades. The culmination of this research is Lownie’s book, Stalin's Englishman: Guy Burgess, the Cold War, and the Cambridge Spy Ring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 01, 201638 minEp. 232

Rise of the Machines: An Interview with Dr. Thomas Rid

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Thomas Rid, professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, and the author of Rise of the Machines. The book tells the sweeping story of how cybernetics, a late-1940s theory of machines, came to incite anarchy and war half a century later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 25, 201650 minEp. 231

Countering Radicalism and Extremism: An Interview with Dr. Lorenzo Vidino and Jesse Morton

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Dr. Lorenzo Vidino and Jesse Morton from the Program on Extremism at the George Washington University’s Center for Cyber & Homeland Security. Dr. Vidino, and expert on Islamism in Europe and North America, is the Program’s Director, and Morton, a reformed, former extremist who was once a prominent radicalizer in the West, is a research fellow who sees this work as an opportunity to repair some of the damage caused by his radicalization. Learn more about...

Oct 18, 201655 minEp. 230

Author Debriefing - True Believer: Stalin’s Last American Spy

At a live event at the International Spy Museum, SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with journalist Kati Marton to discuss Soviet spy Noel Field, the subject of Marton’s new book True Believer: Stalin’s Last American Spy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 11, 20161 hr 4 minEp. 229

From MI to UPI: An Interview with Newsweek’s Jeff Stein

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Jeff Stein, who covers the spy agencies and foreign policy for Newsweek in Washington. An Army Intelligence case officer in Vietnam, Stein is an investigative reporter of long standing, specializing in intelligence, defense and foreign policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 04, 201659 minEp. 228

15 Years Later, Part 3: An Interview with Mark Zaid and Bradley Moss

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with national security attorneys Mark Zaid and Brad Moss to discuss the impact of the attacks of 9/11 on the US Constitution, and the continuing legal legacy of that fateful day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 27, 20162 hr 36 minEp. 227

15 Years Later, Part 2: An Interview with Ambassador Cofer Black

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Cofer Black, the former Director of CIA’s Counterterrorism Center (CTC), to discuss the role of the CTC before, during, and after the attacks on September 11, 2001. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 20, 20161 hr 8 minEp. 226

15 Years Later, Part 1: An Interview with Dr. Barbara Sude

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with former CIA analyst Barbara Sude to discuss the intelligence analysis leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Dr. Sude was one of a team of analysts at CIA who focused on Al Qaeda and bin Laden starting in the 1990s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 13, 20161 hr 1 minEp. 225

Securing Cyberspace: An Interview with Charlie Mitchell

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Charlie Mitchell, editor and co-founder of Inside Cybersecurity, and the author of Hacked: The Inside Story of America's Struggle to Secure Cyberspace. Houghton and Mitchell discuss the ongoing congressional debates over cybersecurity, the landmark framework of cybersecurity standards crafted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the policy ramifications of major hacking events. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a...

Sep 06, 201655 minEp. 224

When COIN Works: An Interview with Tom Ordeman

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with antiterrorism advisor and risk management specialist Tom Ordeman to discuss the little-know case of the Dhofar Rebellion. Often called the “Secret War” (because so few people have heard of it), the Dhofar Rebellion is an example of COIN Theory implemented to perfection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 30, 201640 minEp. 223

The Corrupted State: An interview with Ilya Zaslavskiy

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Ilya Zaslavskiy, who was falsely accused of espionage by Russian security services (the FSB). Unwilling to sit back and allow others to be victimized by a corrupt system, Ilya now dedicates his time to exposing those at the heart of the Russian kleptocracy. See his petition here: https://www.change.org/p/chancellor-chris-patten-oxford-university-and-other-academic-entities-review-cooperation-with-putin-s-oligarchs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

Aug 23, 201656 minEp. 222

GPS Declassified: An Interview with Richard Easton

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Richard Easton, author of GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones, to discuss the development of GPS and its role in the military, intelligence, and civilian domains. Easton’s father, Roger, led the Space Applications Branch of the Naval Research Laboratory from the Vanguard Satellite era to the early days of GPS development. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 16, 201652 minEp. 221

Blurred Lines: An Interview with Georgetown International Law Professor Rosa Brooks

Blurred Lines: An Interview with Georgetown International Law Professor Rosa Brooks SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Rosa Brooks, professor of national security law, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, and author of the new book How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 09, 201657 minEp. 220

Author Debriefing: NSA’s Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Stephen Budiansky, the author of seventeen books about military history, intelligence and espionage, science, the natural world, and other subjects, to discuss the history of the NSA and his new book, NSA’s Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 02, 20161 hr 9 minEp. 219

A Lifetime in Intelligence: An Interview with ex-CIA Officer Stephen Slick

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with former CIA officer Steve Slick, who spent more than three decades at the Agency as a case officer, chief of station, and senior executive. He is now the inaugural Director of the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas, Austin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 26, 201656 minEp. 218

Goat Staring and Other Oddities: An Interview with Jon Ronson

SPY Historian Vince Houghton traveled to Politicon in Pasadena, CA and sat down (before a live audience) with Jon Ronson, author of The Men Who Stare at Goats, and all-around interesting person. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 19, 201659 minEp. 217

The Secret History of WWII: An Interview with Sir Max Hastings

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with prolific author Sir Max Hastings, whose 20+ books have set the standard for historical writing over the last 40 years. Dr. Houghton and Sir Max discuss the fascinating topic of Hastings’ new book, The Secret War: Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939-1945, arguably the best single-volume history of the secret side of the War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 12, 201649 minEp. 216

Intel at Leyte: An Interview with John Prados

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Dr. John Prados, author of the new book Storm Over Leyte: The Philippine Invasion and the Destruction of the Japanese Navy. Drs. Houghton and Prados discuss the role of intelligence in the Pacific War and, specifically, how it impacted the Battle of Leyte Gulf – the largest naval battle in world history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 05, 201644 minEp. 215

Author Debriefing: Executing the Rosenbergs: Death and Diplomacy in a Cold War World

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Dr. Lori Clune, Associate Professor of History at California State University, Fresno, to discuss her new book on how the Rosenberg spy case affected American relations with the rest of the world. A completely new way of looking at this milestone in spy history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 28, 201642 minEp. 214

Combating Extremism: An Interview with Dr. Tara Maller

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Dr. Tara Maller, the Spokesperson and a Senior Policy Advisor for the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), to discuss the growing threat – and responses to – online extremism. To learn more about the CEP, go to http://www.counterextremism.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 21, 201650 minEp. 213

The Missing Man: An Interview with the NYT’s Barry Meier

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Barry Meier of the New York Times to discuss the story of Bob Levinson, former FBI agent and CIA contract worker, who disappeared in Iran in 2007. Meier’s book, Missing Man: The American Spy Who Vanished in Iran, drew on years of interviews and never-before-disclosed CIA files to weave together a riveting narrative of the ex-agent's journey to Iran and the hunt to rescue him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 14, 201647 minEp. 212