Today Justin sits down with repeat guest Tim Tate. Tim has worked as a documentary filmmaker and an investigative journalist for more than 40 years, and in that time has published 19 books and produced 80 documentaries. Some of the topics he's covered in the past include China's slave labor gulags, the worst child murderer in British history, and the orphans left behind after the Vietnam War. Today he discusses the topic of his latest book. It's the story of Peter Wright, MI5 seni...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 172
This week's guest is Dr. Lewis Sage-Passant. Lewis is a former British military intelligence officer and holds a PhD in Intelligence Studies. He's currently the global head of intelligence for one of Europe's most valuable companies, where he helps the firm navigate geopolitical, security, and industrial espionage risks. He also teaches courses in intelligence studies as an adjunct professor at Sciences Po Paris. His work has appeared in many publications and media organizations, ...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 11 min
This week, Justin welcomes back Patrick K. O'Donnell. Patrick is a combat historian who has covered the war in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, where he was armed and participated in the battle alongside the U.S. Marines. He's an expert on special operations units and irregular warfare. He's published 13 books so far on combat history, covering stories from the American Revolution, World War II, The Global War on Terror and more. He's also the author of The Brenner Assignment , which ...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 170
Today Justin talks with Norman Ohler. Norman is a best selling novelist, a journalist, and a screenwriter. He's written three novels, which comprise the City Trilogy , and while working in the West Bank in 2004, he interviewed Yasser Arafat in what turned out to be the final interview of his life before he passed away in November of that year. He's also the author of the non fiction book Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany , published in English in 2016. In this episode he discusses his new...
Oct 14, 2024•44 min•Ep. 169
This week Justin sits down with Craig Unger. Craig is a journalist and the author of eight books. He's a graduate of Harvard University, where he worked as an editor for The Harvard Crimson . He's written articles which have appeared in The Washington Post , The Guardian , The New Yorker , The New York Times , Esquire , and other publications. He also served as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair , where he covered national security and foreign affairs for more than 15 years. He&apos...
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 168
This week Justin talks with Caleb Daniels. Caleb is a lifelong fan of the James Bond films and novels, as well as a firearms enthusiast from Kansas City, Missouri. For seven years, he worked in the firearms industry. In 2020, he started the website and social media pages titled Commando Bond, which are a passion project of his to bridge the gap between pop culture and the world of firearms by analyzing how to live like James Bond from his daily carry to his wardrobe and lifestyle.Todya he discus...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 167
Today Justin sits down with Vladimir McMillin. Vlad was born in Moscow and worked for 20 years for the TASS Russian news agency as a sports reporter. He immigrated to the United States in 1990 and has lived here since then. At a very young age, Vlad realized that there was something different about his family, because they were the only family named McMillin in all of Russia. Vlad's father was James McMillan, a former U.S. Army NCO stationed at the American Embassy in Moscow in the late 194...
Sep 23, 2024•58 min•Ep. 166
Today Justin talks with Dr. Paul McGarr. Paul is a researcher, lecturer, and author who has focused particularly on security and intelligence interventions by the U.S. and U.K. governments into the global south. He's published more than two dozen articles in professional journals over the past 15 years and teaches several courses on intelligence and diplomacy at King's College London. He is also a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Asiatic Society. He's here to d...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 165
Today's guest is Jacek Waliszewski. Jacek is an Army Special Forces warrant officer. During his career, he has served primarily with 10th Group and has deployed 18 times on three different continents to date and trained more than 2, 500 soldiers worldwide in special operations tactics and strategies. He's also published two novels. He's here to discuss his newest book, the true memoirs of an OSS agent on the ground in Southern Europe in 1944, working with local partisans in the fi...
Sep 09, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 164
In this solo episode, Justin discusses how the world's intelligence agencies have captured foreign case officers, spies, and even their own defectors alive after they've already escaped to other countries. Killing a target in another country is difficult enough, especially when they are enjoying the security of the host nation that welcomed them in, but it's often even more difficult than that to get them back alive. Different methods have been used over the years, and despite all...
Sep 02, 2024•42 min•Ep. 163
Justin's guest today is Dr. Mark Stout, who has held many positions, both inside and outside the U.S. intelligence community. He's worked as an intelligence analyst for the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research for the CIA, and was a civilian employee for the U.S. Army at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. He was also the historian for the International Spy Museum from 2010 until 2013, and was the director of the Master's in Arts Program for Global Security...
Aug 26, 2024•57 min•Ep. 162
Today Justin talks with Constance Huff. She retired from the U.S. Army as a Chief Warrant Officer IV. Connie spent more than 24 years in Army Intelligence, holding three occupational specialties, Interrogator, CI Special Agent, and Case Officer. She spent the majority of her career in counterintelligence, where she specialized in counterespionage investigations and operations. Connie was a senior instructor for the U.S. Army's Advanced Foreign Counterintelligence Training course, which was ...
Aug 19, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 161
Today Justin is joined by Zach Dorfman. Zach is a national security reporter whose work has appeared in Politico , The Atlantic , The Wall Street Journal , The Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. He received his Bachelor's degree from Skidmore College and a Master's degree in International Relations and Affairs from the University of Chicago. Zach is a former senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. He's also the host of the Spy Valley...
Aug 12, 2024•50 min•Ep. 160
Today, Justin sits down with William Boik. Bill served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve for more than 30 years before retiring in 2005 at the rank of colonel. Over the course of his military career, he served in various positions in the armor branch and in military intelligence in South Korea, Germany and the U.S. From 2001 to 2018, Bill was a senior civilian at the Defense POW MIA Office, later known as the Defense POW MIA Accounting Agency, first as the Director of Global Affairs and then as ...
Aug 05, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 159
Today Justin is joined by Christian Hansen. Christian is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and now lives in New York City, where he has worked as a photojournalist since 2007. His work has previously appeared in The New York Times . In 2013, he began to follow a thread of a story about the unexpected death of a writer pursuing his own story in West Virginia in 1991. That turned into a decade-long quest that connects the intelligence community, military, Reagan administration, private cor...
Jul 29, 2024•52 min•Ep. 158
Today Justin sits down with Luis Munar Duran. Luis received his law degree from the University of Valencia in Spain and was a practicing attorney for nearly 20 years beginning in 1998. He's also a certified pilot and served as a reserve officer in the Spanish Air Force. Luis also has extensive training and experience in security and human rights issues. In 2012, After traveling to Aleppo, Syria to build a refugee camp and help train guerrilla fighters there, Luis was recruited by the Spanis...
Jul 22, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 157
This week Justin talks with Dan Lawton. Dan received his bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and graduated with his Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center in 1986 and has been practicing and a practicing attorney in San Diego, California for many years. He's also taught at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law since 2001 and has written articles and short fiction, which have appeared in numerous publications. Today Dan tells the story of Kevin Barry Artt, a ...
Jul 15, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 156
Today just talks to Jan Stocklassa. Jan is an author and journalist focusing on large scale affairs in international politics. He served as a diplomat for Sweden in the Czech Republic from 1997 until 2003, and later helped found a newspaper paper in Prague. Jan spent more than a decade researching the 1986 murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, a case which is now officially closed but which still deserves a lot of attention and perhaps to be reopened and reinvestigated. Connect with Jan: ...
Jul 08, 2024•53 min•Ep. 155
Today, Justin talks with returning guest James Stejskal. James enlisted in the U. S. Army in 1973 and served for more than 20 years, including with the now famous Special Forces Detachment A in Berlin in the 1970s and 80s, among many other assignments. He was severely wounded in Somalia in 1992 and medically retired from the Army in 1996, after which he joined the CIA as a case officer, where he spent nearly another 15 years. Now fully retired from government service, James has written several n...
Jul 01, 2024•50 min•Ep. 154
Today Justin chats with Rose Mary Sheldon. This is her third time on the podcast. Rose Mary taught history as a professor at Virginia Military Institute for more than 25 years, and is a world renowned expert on intelligence activities in the ancient world. She earned her PhD from the University of Michigan in 1987 and has published several books and many articles over the years, as well as serving as an editor for the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence in Small Wars an...
Jun 24, 2024•44 min•Ep. 153
Justin talks with retired FBI special agent Raymond J. Batvinis. Ray served in the FBI from 1972 until 1997, working in counterterrorism and counterintelligence, including on the investigations into Ronald Pelton and the Walker spy ring. Shortly after 9/11, he returned to teach the basic counterintelligence course at the FBI Academy at Quantico. Since retiring, Ray has worked as a historian and author. He's published articles on intelligence history in scholarly journals and on his website,...
Jun 17, 2024•57 min•Ep. 152
Today Justin chats with Charles Lachman. Since 1998, Charles has been the executive producer of the nationally syndicated news magazine Inside Edition. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, History Channel, Lifetime, C SPAN, and other local and national media. He's also the author of four non fiction books and one crime novel. Today he discusses the story of an almost impossible mission for the U. S. Navy to locate, disable, and capture a mostly intact U Boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean an...
Jun 10, 2024•58 min•Ep. 151
Today Justin sits down with Dr. Luca Trenta. Luca is an associate professor in international relations at Swansea University in Wales, and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Higher Education Academy. He's written extensively on the subjects of covert action and assassination as tools of foreign policy. He is the host of the Out of the Shadows podcast with eight episodes available now, and he has appeared on four episodes of the Secret Wars Uncovered series on the History...
Jun 03, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 150
This weak Justin chats with Peter Butt. Peter is an author and award -winning documentary filmmaker. He is the founder of Blackwattle Films and his work has appeared on BBC, National Geographic, The History Channel and elsewhere. Peter has focused particularly on the Cold War, the nuclear arms race and espionage activities, particularly in Australia. Today he discusses his work investigating Frank Nugan and Michael John Hand, founders of the Nugan Hand Bank. Their small financial institution qui...
May 27, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 149
This week Justin is joined by Ronald Drabkin. Ron earned his Bachelor's Degree from Duke University and his Master's from UC Berkeley. Since then, he's worked in the tech industry, first with Intel Corporation and later as an entrepreneur and investor. He's also written peer reviewed articles on espionage history in Japan. Today he discusses his first book, published earlier this year, titled Beverly Hills Spy . It's the story of Frederick Rutland, a veteran pilot and av...
May 20, 2024•44 min•Ep. 148
Today, Justin talks with Joe Kent. Joe spent 20 years in the United States Army, serving in the Ranger Regiment, Army Special Forces, and later other elite units within Joint Special Operations Command, before retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer III. His time in the service included 11 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. It was during one of those deployments that he first met Shannon Smith, the woman he would later marry. Shannon was a trailblazer within the special operations community who ex...
May 13, 2024•38 min•Ep. 147
This week Justin talks with Patrick K. O'Donnell. Patrick is a combat historian who has covered the war in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, where he was armed and participated in the battle alongside U. S. Marines. He is an expert on special operations units and irregular warfare. He's published 13 books so far on combat history, covering stories from the American Revolution, World War II. The Global War on Terror and more. He's also the author of the Brenner Assignment, related to episode...
May 06, 2024•53 min•Ep. 146
This week, Justin speaks with Bill Mills. Bill holds a B.A. in History from Framingham State University and has written four nonfiction books about espionage during the First World War. Along the way, he has amassed a significant private collection of original documents, photos, and artifacts related to espionage during that war. Today he shares story of Germany's highly-coordinated and highly-effective sabotage campaign against the United States during World War I. Ships, warehouses, and f...
Apr 29, 2024•54 min•Ep. 145
This week Justin interviews Vince Houghton and Eric Driggs. Vince grew up in Miami, Florida, and is a veteran of the U. S. Army, where he served in The Balkans. He went on to receive a master's degree and PhD in Diplomatic and Military History from the University of Maryland. He spent more than six years as the historian and curator for the International Spy Museum in Washington, D. C., and is now the director of the National Cryptologic Museum, located on the National Security Agency campu...
Apr 22, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 144
Today just chats with Nick van der Bijl. Nick served for 24 years as a regular in the British Army in military intelligence, security, and later as an infantry officer in the Territorial Army. He saw active service in Northern Ireland, Belize, and with the 3 Commando Brigade during the Falklands Conflict. Since leaving the service, Nick has published 23 books on military history, covering several different conflicts and eras. This week he discusses his experiences during the Falklands war betwee...
Apr 15, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 143
