SPY Historian Dr. Vince Houghton sat down with Cuban-exile-turned-CIA-officer Felix Rodriguez to discuss his extraordinary intelligence career. As a teenager, Rodriguez joined the effort to overthrow (and kill) Fidel Castro. After that mission failed, he trained and led the team that hunted – and captured – the guerilla Che Guevara in Bolivia. By the late 1960s, he took his counterinsurgency experience and applied it in covert operations against America’s enemies in Vietnam. This, and much more.
Aug 11, 2015•39 min•Ep. 167
While getting into his car on the evening of February 16, 1978, the chief of the CIA's Moscow station was handed an envelope by an unknown Russian. Its contents stunned the Americans: details of top secret Soviet research and development in military technology that was totally unknown to the United States. From David Hoffman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Dead Hand, comes the riveting story of the CIA's most valuable spy in the Soviet Union and an evocative portrait of the agency's Mo...
Jul 16, 2015•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 166
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Joe Wippl, the Director of Graduate Studies and Professor of the Practice of International Relations, Boston University Pardee School of Global Studies. Wippl is also a former CIA officer, who spent a 30 year career as an operations officer in the National Clandestine Service – at the time (as it is again) the Directorate of Operations. Houghton and Wippl discuss his time serving overseas as an operations officer and operations manager in Bonn, West Ger...
Jun 30, 2015•39 min•Ep. 165
For three nerve-wracking years, Naveed Jamali spied on the United States for the Russians – or so the Russians believed. Hear Naveed bring his unbelievable, yet true, story to life. By trading thumb drives of sensitive technical data for envelopes of cash, he pretended to sell out his own country across noisy restaurant tables and in quiet parking lots. Although he had no formal espionage training, with the help of an initially reluctant FBI duo he ended up at the center of a highly successful c...
Jun 26, 2015•50 min•Ep. 164
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down (remotely) with biographer Phyllis Birnbaum to discuss her newest book, based on the life of Kawashima Yoshiko, who supported the puppet Manchu state established by the Japanese in 1932--one reason she was executed for treason after Japan's 1945 defeat. The truth of Yoshiko's life is still a source of contention between China and Japan: some believe she was exploited by powerful men, others claim she relished her role as political provocateur. China holds he...
Jun 16, 2015•28 min•Ep. 163
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Dr. Gen Lester to discuss her new book, When Should State Secrets Stay Secret. Lester’s book examines the oversight mechanisms that have developed within all three branches of government, how they interact, and what types of historical pivot points have driven change among them. She suggests ways to improve oversight mechanisms based on her expert analysis. The book also includes a fascinating chapter on the inner workings of the CIA to which a number o...
May 19, 2015•55 min•Ep. 162
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Representative Will Hurd, a Republican from Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, to discuss his unique background as a former CIA officer who is now a Member of the US House of Representatives. After spending most of a decade working in Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan, Rep. Hurd brought his experiences and lessons-learned to the Halls of Congress, where he serves on key committees, including Homeland Security and Oversight and Government Reform.
May 12, 2015•36 min•Ep. 161
More than sixty years after their execution in June 1953 for conspiring to steal atomic secrets for the Soviet Union, debate still rages about the Rosenbergs. Mike Meeropol, the son of Julius and Ethel, has spent his life in pursuit of the real story behind his parents’ secret lives, their trials, their convictions for espionage, and ultimately their executions. Sam Roberts, journalist for The New York Times, is the author of The Brother, a book written with exclusive access to David Greenglass,...
Apr 30, 2015•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 160
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Kelsey Davenport, the Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, where she provides research and analysis on the nuclear and missile programs in Iran, North Korea, India, and Pakistan and on nuclear security issues. Vince and Kelsey discuss the complexity of the arms control process, the role of intelligence in verifying the status of nuclear weapon states, and the hope for a future without the danger of nuclear proliferation.
Apr 28, 2015•47 min•Ep. 159
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with historian and author Alex Rose, whose book Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring, is the source material for AMC Network’s series TURN. Drs. Houghton and Rose (who is a writer and co-producer of TURN) discuss history on TV, and the plotline of the second season of the hit series. They also take time to focus on the real history of the period, what is history and what is “Hollywood”, the Culper spy ring, and the importance of intellig...
Apr 14, 2015•41 min•Ep. 158
Former SPY Historian Mark Stout sat down with Marine Maj. Gen. (ret.) Mike Ennis to discuss human intelligence (HUMINT) within the Defense Department and the CIA. In 1998, Ennis commanded the Joint Intelligence Center of the United States Pacific Command, was later named Director of Marine Corps Intelligence Command in 2000, and was the Director of HUMINT for the DIA. In 2006, he was named Deputy Director of Community HUMINT of the Central Intelligence Agency’s National Clandestine Service, his ...
Mar 31, 2015•38 min•Ep. 157
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down (remotely) with Australian author Stephen Dando-Collins to discuss his new book, Operation Chowhound. Beginning with a crazy plan hatched by a suspect prince, and an even crazier reliance on the word of the Nazis, Operation Chowhound was devised. Between May 1 and May 8, 1945, 2,268 military units flown by the USAAF, dropped food to 3.5 million starving Dutch civilians in German-occupied Holland. Dando-Collins takes the reader into the rooms where Operation ...
Mar 19, 2015•36 min•Ep. 156
The history of American intelligence in the Revolution and Civil War has been extensively covered by both professional and amateur historians. But what about the time in between the wars? SPY historian Vince Houghton sat down with retired career CIA operations officer and historian Ken Daigler to discuss American espionage during the earliest period of United States history. Who were the first foreign agents sent to collect HUMINT? Can we look at the Lewis and Clark expedition as an intelligence...
Feb 17, 2015•31 min•Ep. 155
For more than forty years, the United States has played an indispensable role helping the Chinese government build a booming economy, develop its scientific and military capabilities, and take its place on the world stage, in the belief that China’s rise will bring us cooperation, diplomacy, and free trade. But what if the "China Dream" is to replace us, just as America replaced the British Empire, without firing a shot? Mike Pillsbury, a fluent Mandarin speaker who has served in senior national...
Feb 03, 2015•44 min•Ep. 154
What do Aldrich Ames, Robert Hanssen, and Ana Montes have in common? Two things: they all spied against the United States, and they all had Plato Cacheris as their lawyer. SPY Historian Vince Houghton and Executive Director Peter Earnest sat down with the legendary defense attorney to discuss many of his most (in)famous clients – including Ames, Hanssen, Montes – who stole some of America’s most guarded secrets.
Jan 27, 2015•30 min•Ep. 153
Through exhaustive use of declassified documents, previously unavailable investigative materials, and wide-ranging interviews, Malcolm Byrne explores what made the Iran-Contra scandal possible and meticulously relates how it unfolded—including clarifying minor myths about cakes, keys, bibles, diversion memos, and shredding parties. Byrne, the Deputy Director and Research Director at the National Security Archive, demonstrates that the affair could not have occurred without awareness and approval...
Jan 13, 2015•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 152
Guest host Dr. Chris Moran of Warwick University (UK) sat down with his colleague, Dr. Trevor McCrisken, for a SpyCast on the role of drones in modern surveillance, warfighting, and counterterrorism. McCrisken, whose biography can be found here, discusses the weaponization of drones, the targeted killing program of the Bush and Obama administrations, the perception in the West that the drone war is “costless”, and the possibility of what he calls the “perpetual war” against global terrorism.
Dec 16, 2014•40 min•Ep. 151
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with historian Doug Selvage to discuss the archives of the East German Ministry of State Security, the Stasi. Dr. Selvage, Project Director in the Office of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records in Berlin, has published widely on the CSCE process, Polish-German relations under communism, and the history of the Soviet bloc. He and Houghton focus on the history of the Stasi, its role in the Cold War struggle between East and West, the devious disinfor...
Dec 02, 2014•41 min•Ep. 150
SPY Historian Vince Houghton continues his conversation with historian Gregg Herken, focusing on his previous four books on US nuclear policy. Brotherhood of the Bomb, Cardinal Choices, Counsels of War, and The Winning Weapon redefined the ways historians and policymakers have viewed nuclear weapons. Houghton – who himself is a historian of nuclear weapons and intelligence – and Herken discuss the challenges faced by American policymakers and intelligence professionals in dealing with the world’...
Nov 25, 2014•33 min•Ep. 148
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with historian Gregg Herken to discuss his new book The Georgetown Set: Friends and Rivals in Cold War Washington. Herken, the professor emeritus of modern American diplomatic history at the University of California, gives a behind-the-scenes history of postwar Washington – the close-knit group of journalists, spies, and government officials who planned and waged the Cold War over cocktails and dinner.
Nov 25, 2014•28 min•Ep. 149
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Mike Tassey and Rich Perkins, creators of the Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform, a state-of-the-art cyber drone. Mike and Rich built their unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in their garage using off-the-shelf electronics, and with the intention of proving that a drone could be used to launch a cyber-attack. With only an Internet connection, a hacker sitting on a beach anywhere in the world could use their UAV to intercept cell phone conversations, steal...
Nov 17, 2014•29 min•Ep. 147
Half of the world’s population has seen a James Bond movie. The historical and cultural impact of this franchise’s 23 (and counting) films is unrivaled by anything else in contemporary pop culture. SPY Historian Vince Houghton is joined by British journalist Sinclair McKay, who is the author of the seminal book on Bond’s cultural impact, The Man With the Golden Touch. They discuss Sean, George, Roger, Timothy, Pierce, and Daniel, and the legacy of Ian Fleming’s secret agent who has now saved the...
Nov 12, 2014•31 min•Ep. 145
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with British author and journalist Sinclair McKay for a two-part SpyCast. In Part 1, Vince and Sinclair discuss the role played by the codebreakers at Bletchley Park in the Allied victory in the Second World War. The author of three books and numerous articles on the topic, McKay provides compelling historical insight into a subject that you only think you really know.
Nov 12, 2014•31 min•Ep. 146
Jack Devine is one of the legendary spymasters of our time. He was in Chile when Allende fell; he ran Charlie Wilson’s war in Afghanistan; he had too much to do with Iran-Contra for his own taste, though he tried to stop it; he caught Pablo Escobar in Colombia; and he tried to warn George Tenet that there was a bullet coming from Iraq with his name on it. His new book, Good Hunting, is Devine’s guide to the art of spycraft and his belief in the CIA’s vital importance as a tool of American statec...
Nov 11, 2014•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 143
Moe Berg—the major league baseball player, OSS operative and legendary linguist—was one of the most remarkable secret agents ever deployed by the US. Whether authorized by the government as an atomic spy or choosing to surreptitiously film Tokyo of his own volition, Berg relished and accomplished his espionage missions, yet he died penniless and with little acclaim. Nicholas Dawidoff brought Moe Berg’s achievements to light in his best-selling 1994 book The Catcher Was a Spy. In honor of the Pen...
Nov 11, 2014•1 hr•Ep. 144
Leading up to the US entry into WWII, Germany set up a sophisticated and productive espionage ring, which effectively utilized well-placed German Americans in the States. They were able to infiltrate key military and industrial facilities, and succeeded in obtaining critical information, including plans for the exceptionally accurate and very secret Norden bombsite device. When naturalized American William Sebold visited his native Germany in 1939, German intelligence officers saw him as a prime...
Nov 10, 2014•50 min•Ep. 142
Baseball has been played in the United States since the mid-19th Century, and from the very beginning teams were trying to gain a competitive edge against their rivals. In many cases, this involved stealing signs – the messages passed from coaches to players or from catchers to pitchers. In essence, this is a signals intelligence operation: one team is encrypting its messages, while the other is attempting to intercept these messages, decrypt them, and use the resulting intelligence to their adv...
Oct 28, 2014•27 min•Ep. 141
Join SPY Historian Vince Houghton as he continues his conversation with Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister of CNN. Both men share their expertise on ISIS and the threat of Islamic Jihadism, and Tim, who has traveled to Ukraine on four different occasions this year alone, provides his insight into the current conflict between Ukrainian separatists, the Ukrainian government, and Russia. This interview was conducted September 8, 2014
Sep 11, 2014•31 min•Ep. 140
SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister of CNN to discuss their new book Agent Storm: My Life Inside Al Qaeda and the CIA. The book, which they co-wrote with terrorist-turned-double-agent Morten Storm, traces an improbable journey of conversion, radicalization, reassessment, and redemption. Join Vince, Paul, and Tim as they reflect upon a story that is so incredible it would be completely unbelievable – if it wasn’t completely true. This interview was conducted...
Sep 11, 2014•25 min•Ep. 139
Nathan Hale and Benedict Arnold may be the most famous spies of the American Revolution, but they were hardly alone. George Washington’s use of spy networks and wider intelligence efforts were critical to the fight for independence. In Spies, Patriots, and Traitors, former CIA officer Kenneth Daigler closely examines American intelligence activities during the era of the Revolutionary War from 1765 to 1783. Daigler will explain how America’s founders learned and practiced their intelligence role...
Sep 04, 2014•55 min•Ep. 138
