Enter the secretive world of spies, espionage, and covert operations.
Hosted by former CIA analyst turned spy novelist, David McCloskey, and veteran security correspondent, Gordon Corera, this podcast unravels real-life spy stories, intelligence secrets, and the hidden power struggles shaping global events.
From Cold War espionage to modern-day intelligence agencies like the CIA, MI6, and Mossad, explore the world of double agents, classified missions, and the shadowy figures who operate in them. Whether you're a true crime addict, a thriller fan, or fascinated by spy stories, this is the show for you.
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Delve into the extraordinary life of William "Wild Bill" Donovan, the architect behind the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and precursor to the CIA. The episode traces his journey from a working-class Irish American and decorated World War I hero to a key figure in American intelligence, highlighting his early legal career, clashes with J. Edgar Hoover, and pivotal missions abroad. It uncovers how British intelligence, particularly through figures like Ian Fleming, influenced Donovan's vision for a centralized US intelligence agency amidst the chaotic backdrop of World War II.
Delving into the tragic 2009 Camp Chapman attack, this episode reveals how Al-Qaeda manipulated a double agent, Balawi, to infiltrate a CIA base in Afghanistan. It explores the intricate deception plan, Balawi's internal conflict, the critical decision to bypass security, and the catastrophic explosion that killed seven CIA officers and their Jordanian counterpart. The hosts also reflect on the profound, lasting impact of this tragedy on the intelligence community and the lessons learned.
Jennifer Matthews was one of the most capable and formidable CIA analysts working in the Counter Terrorism Centre during the War on Terror. She was also underestimated by her male colleagues who doubted she had what it took to run one of the most dangerous stations in Afghanistan. When Matthews took the post of CIA station chief at Camp Chapman, she knew the risks she faced. But, what she didn’t know was that Al Qaeda were training a double agent who sought to bring the War on Terror to her fron...
Forget what you think you know about reality. The Rest Is Science is a mind-bending new show from Goalhanger that tears down familiar ideas… time, randomness, beauty, it will reveal just how bizarre the world truly is. Join Professor Hannah Fry and science creator Michael Stevens (aka Vsauce) twice a week to explore big, small and surprising questions as they deep dive into theories, concepts, objects and thoughts and take us on a journey into the unexpected. If you love digging into details tha...
In the years following 9/11, the US launched the War on Terror to root out the most dangerous Al Qaeda operatives across the Middle East. Their determination to avenge those who lost their lives in the 2001 attacks was unrelenting, and they were willing to go to any lengths to win, even if that meant putting their trust into a jihadist turned Jordanian agent. In this episode, David and Gordon continue their series on the 2009 Camp Chapman attacks, detailing why the CIA and Jordanian GID felt com...
On 30 December 2009, an Al Qaeda terrorist detonated a bomb inside a CIA station in Afghanistan. This is the story of how a quiet doctor from Jordan became responsible for one of the deadliest days in CIA history. Listen as David and Gordon chart the rise of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi from a doctor working in a Palestinian refugee camp to one of Al Qaeda’s most prolific online voices. ------------------- Make someone a Declassified Club Member this Christmas – go deeper into the world of e...
In 2017, former CIA officer Kevin Mallory was drowning in debt when a message landed in his LinkedIn inbox. A Chinese “headhunter” said he had consulting work. Mallory - fluent in Mandarin, seasoned in intelligence, and once trusted with some of America’s most sensitive secrets - replied. In this episode, David and Gordon unpack how Chinese intelligence services used think-tank cover, tailored taskings, and a custom encrypted smartphone to reel Mallory in. From FedEx scans of classified document...
Earlier this month, MI5 issued a stark warning to Westminster: a “covert and calculated” Chinese espionage campaign was targeting parliament - and doing so at an industrial scale. Not with trench-coats and dead drops, but with something far more mundane: LinkedIn messages. This week, Gordon and David look at two high-profile cases of alleged Chinese-backed spying in Britain. Those in the frame always denied the allegations - and two of them, Chris Cash and Christopher Berry, were found not guilt...
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full series* Vladimir Putin is on the cusp of becoming Russia's all-powerful leader, but how did a humble boy from St Petersburg reach such elite heights? Listen as David and Gordon are once again joined by one of the world's leading experts on Russian organised crime, Mark Galeotti, to conclude their series on the rise of Putin. ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets to see David and Gordon live o...
Could this have been the day when Putin fell from power? In June 2023, Prigozhin marched on Moscow, threatening to bring Putin’s authoritarian regime to its knees. In their final episode on the dramatic rise and fall of Yevgeny Prigozhin, David and Gordon take us back to the coup that almost toppled Putin and how the autocratic leader carried out the ultimate revenge. ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets HERE to see David and Gordon live on stage at London’s Sou...
It’s 2022 and Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine. But, for Putin, all is not going to plan. Enter: Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group. Listen as David and Gordon tell the story of the disastrous first few months of the war in Ukraine and how Prigozhin’s force of cannibals and sex offenders were fed to the trenches in a desperate attempt to stay in Putin’s orbit. ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets HERE to see David and Gordon live on stage at London’s ...
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full series* Vladimir Putin has left Soviet East Germany and is now back in St Petersburg, dipping his toe in the world of organised crime. Listen as David and Gordon are once again joined by one of the world's leading experts on Russian organised crime, Mark Galeotti, to explore the rise of Russia's authoritarian overlord. ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets to see David and Gordon live on sta...
From St Petersburg to the Central African Republic, Yevgeny Prigozhin and the infamous Wagner Group are extending their grip across the Global South and leaving death and destruction in their wake. In this episode, David and Gordon explore how the Wagner Group became embedded in the African military landscape and how their influence pervades to this day. ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets HERE to see David and Gordon live on stage at London’s Southbank Centre ...
Prigozhin is now one of America’s most wanted but his star is only just on the rise. Realising Putin’s need for greater geopolitical power and influence, the Russian oligarch forms the Wagner Group, with the help of a neo-Nazi soldier. Listen as David and Gordon chart the growth of one of the world’s most infamous mercenary groups as Prigozhin embeds himself in the Middle East, helping President Assad of Syria take on the CIA. ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your ticket...
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full series* How did Vladimir Putin rise from a nobody in St Petersburg to the most powerful man in Russia? Did he always crave the power of public office? Or was this relentless determination beaten into him by the KGB? Listen as David and Gordon are joined by one of the world's foremost experts on Russian organised crime, author and podcaster, Mark Galeotti, to discuss the rise of Putin and his unorthodox time in the KGB. ------...
How did Donald Trump win the 2016 US election? Was Russian interference really behind his unlikely success? And how does one man rock the electoral system of the world’s most powerful nation? In the second instalment of their series on Yevgeny Prigozhin, David and Gordon delve into the murky story of how the Internet Research Agency interfered in the 2016 election and changed the course of history. ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets HERE to see David and Gor...
From Putin’s chef to Putin’s butcher, this is the story of Prigozhin. A man on the brink of oligarchical power who flew a little too close to the sun… Listen as David and Gordon begin a new series on the ill-fated life of the head of the infamous Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets HERE to see David and Gordon live on stage at London’s Southbank Centre on 31 January. ------------------- Try Attio for free at https://www.attio.co...
THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets HERE on Friday 7th November at 12pm GMT. In the latter half of the twentieth century, the CIA and its German counterpart, the BND, were listening to the encrypted messages of at least 62 countries around the world. This intelligence was then passed to allies and used to win wars, depose leaders and influence the world order. From sharing secrets with British forces fighting in The Falklands War to monitoring Iran’s mullahs during the 1979 hostag...
Over the past seventy-five years, the United States has developed an insatiable appetite for global surveillance. The stories exposed by Edward Snowden in 2013 were only the tip of the mountain: the CIA had been spying on the world for decades. For more than half a century, a Swiss‑based firm called Crypto AG built encryption machines and sold them to governments around the world. But what its customers didn’t know was that the firm was secretly owned and controlled by the CIA. This is a story o...
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full series* Were the Cubans plotting to kill John F. Kennedy? Did Castro have it out for his American adversary? Or did they simply not have the resources to take on the US establishment? Listen as David and Gordon conclude their exclusive mini-series on who was truly behind the assassination of JFK. ------------------- Join The Declassified Club: Start your free trial at therestisclassified.com - go deeper into the world o...
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. While Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested as the lone gunman , the political context - the intense anger of Cuban exiles, the deep resentment from parts of the CIA, and the agency's secret relationship with the mob - immediately fuels doubt. Join Gordon and David as they explain why the case is absolutely not closed in the minds of most Americans. We discuss Oswald's own extraordinary character, the subsequent Warren C...
"It's personal now ." The CIA's failure at the Bay of Pigs does not end the fight with Cuba; instead, the heat's actually going to get turned up. The Kennedy brothers are now even more committed to defeating Castro. Join Gordon and David as they detail the ongoing assassination attempts on Castro. This is the tense calm before a new, much larger crisis is about to engulf the Kennedy administration. ------------------- Join The Declassified Club: Start your free trial at therestisclassified.com...
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full series* Was the assassination of John F. Kennedy a Mafia plot? Or is this just another bonkers conspiracy theory? Listen as David and Gordon are joined by former White House Communications Director and host of The Rest Is Politics: US, Anthony Scaramucci, to discuss his theory on how the Mob killed JFK. ------------------- Join The Declassified Club: Start your free trial at therestisclassified.com - go deeper into the world...
"We not only look like imperialists, we look like stupid ineffectual imperialists, which is worst of all." That was the assessment of one of Kennedy's aides following the swift collapse of the Bay of Pigs invasion. The landings fall apart almost immediately: the beaches are laced with coral, winches are rusty and loud, and an exploding ship, the Rio Escondido , detonates the brigade's primary supplies and ammunition. Join Gordon and David as they detail the "last stand" of Brigade 2506. We explo...
Upload notice - 20th Oct: Is episode 3 sounding the same as episode 2 on your device? There has been a technical error (since rectified). Please go back to episode 2, clear your downloads, and listen again for the updated version. "Hell, Mr. President, we are involved." That was Admiral Burke's desperate plea to John F. Kennedy as the Bay of Pigs operation was underway. In the days before the April 17th invasion, the CIA's cover story begins to unravel and Castro is aware the invasion is coming....
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full series* Who really killed John F. Kennedy in Dallas on 22 November 1963? Did the CIA have a vendetta against the 35th President of the United States after their failure against Castro in Cuba? Or was Lee Harvey Oswald just a lone gunman with a need for "justice"? Listen as David and Gordon begin a 3-part exclusive mini-series for Declassified Club members on the conspiracy theories surrounding who killed JFK. ------------------- Jo...
Re-upload notice - Oct 20th: This podcast was previously uploaded with a later episode's audio/video, meaning those who listened to it upon release wrongly heard episode 3 instead of episode 2. This has since been rectified and replaced with the correct file. Please clear your downloads to hear the correct version of episode 2. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. "I think about it as little as possible ." That was President John F. Kennedy's revealing answer when asked about the impending "d...
“I think that Senator Kennedy's policies and recommendations for the handling of the Castro regime are probably the most dangerously irresponsible recommendations that he's made during the course of this campaign.” That was Richard Nixon, in the final presidential debate of 1960, targeting John F. Kennedy's stance on Cuba. Fidel Castro has seized power, transforming Cuba, a former “playground” for American mobsters and corporations, into a nationalist state opposing the US. The Eisenhower admini...
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full interview* This week Gordon and David are joined by Kent Walker, Google's President of Global Affairs, to discuss the Aurora cyber attacks, his thoughts on the future of Artificial Intelligence, and what it was like to grow up in Silicon Valley before it became the world's technology hub. ------------------- Join The Declassified Club: Start your free trial at therestisclassified.com - go deeper into the world of espionage...
When we left the team at Google's headquarters, they were deep inside their "war room," planning the counter-strike against the sophisticated adversary they now knew was coming from China. Their mission: to kick the hackers out permanently. But with the attackers deep inside the corporate network, this required a drastic, company-wide action. Join Gordon and David as they explain why Google - a company that had previously agreed to local censorship in China - made the shocking decision to use th...
