This week, Juston sits down with Thomas Maier. Thomas is an author and award-winning investigative journalist, having worked at NewDay since 1984. He has also written several historical books, including When Lions Roar about the Churchills and the Kennedys, and Masters of Sex , which was produced as a series on Showtime for four years. His latest book, Mafia Spies, details the inside story the inside story of the relationship between several senior figures in organized crime in the early 1960s a...
Oct 10, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep 65•Transcript available on Metacast This week Justin sits down with Kathy Hogue, daughter of World War II OSS agent Doc Hogue. Her father's service includes one of the most important and least understood missions of WWII--the mining of the uranium that built the atomic bomb. Kathy herself is also very accomplished, having worked for the Department of Defense for over a decade, enrolled at the US Navy Postgraduate School, and worked for a private firm doing research for the Pentagon. She brings a uniquely educated inside persp...
Oct 03, 2022•2 hr 42 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin sits down with author and historian Giles Milton. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society in London, Giles has written 11 nonfiction books and three novels. Today, they focus on his book Russian Roulette to tell the story of the British MI6 spies who stopped Lenin from spreading the communism on a truly global scale after the Bolshevik Revolution. Connect with Giles: gilesmilton.com IG: @gilesmilton Twitter: @GilesMilton1 Check out Russian Roulette here . https://www.amazon.co...
Sep 26, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep 63•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin chats with Dr. Paul. O'Hara. Paul is an associate professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, teaching a wide range of compelling history courses. Paul and Justin discuss the Pinkerton Detective Agency, the most famous and most notorious detective agency in us history. From its origins to its scandals, near downfalls, and recent activities, The Pinkertons have helped shape American history from antebellum to the modern day. Much of what's covered today take pl...
Sep 19, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Ep 62•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin sits down with trial lawyer Michael Pullara. Michael has faced formidable foes in the court room, from the US Department of Defense to criminals with connections to the Italian mob. But today, Michael and Justin discuss the case of CIA case officer Freddie Woodruff, who was shot and killed on assignment in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Michael knew Freddie's family and began investigating his implausible situation on their behalf, but soon became determined to unc...
Sep 12, 2022•2 hr 36 min•Ep 61•Transcript available on Metacast Spycraft 101 is back! In this episode, Justin sits down with former smoke jumper and Continental Air Services employee, Toby Scott. They dive in to all things smoke jumping and discuss his work in Southeast Asia during the secret war in Laos. Toby was also involved in Operation Cold Feet in the Arctic Circle, among many other daring missions and and global events. He was close friends fellow smoke jumper, Continental Air Services employee, and eventual CIA case officer Jerry Daniels. Justin and ...
Sep 05, 2022•2 hr 43 min•Ep 60•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin releases a quick public service announcement to let listeners know of a short upcoming hiatus. Connect with Spycraft 101: Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms , here . spycraft101.com IG: @spycraft101 Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com Patreon: Spycraft 101 Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One , here . Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here . Support the show...
Aug 22, 2022•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin talks with author Henry Schlesinger on the topic of a notorious espionage strategy: the honey traps. Honey traps utilized seduction, from male or female spies, to glean information, create scandal, or acquire money. They've been used in intelligence for centuries--perhaps even millennia. Henry shares several stories of some of the mist influential espionage seductions in history, from femme fatales to purposeful scandals designed to distract the public. Connect with Henry:...
Aug 15, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep 59•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Justin describes espionage activity in the decades-long race to the stars between the United States and the Soviet Union. The two superpowers devoted significant time, resources, and manpower to outshining each other in technological advancement in aerospace. So much occurred in this time period that it would be impossible to cover it all in one episode, so Justin highlights particularly riveting stories, anecdotes, and events that have piqued the interest of curious minds. He h...
Aug 08, 2022•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin chats with investigative editor, veteran reporter, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and author Michael Sallah. Michael tells the story of William Morgan, an ex-paratrooper who went to Cuba in 1957 to help revolution efforts against then-dictator Fulgencio Batista. Morgan worked alongside the likes of Che Guevara, leading an entire guerilla himself. When the revolution ended and Castro's rule turned authoritarian, Morgan teamed up with Olga Rodriguez to try to liberate the c...
Aug 01, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Ep 57•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Justin sits down with legendary CIA case officer and author Robert Baer. Robert served all over the world between the late 1970s and late 1990s, spending much of his time in the middle east. He has written several nonfiction books about his experiences, including See No Evil, the book that inspired the 2005 film Syriana , for which he helped write the screenplay. George Clooney's character Robert Barnes is directly inspired by Robert himself. Robert's latest book, The Fourth Man...
Jul 25, 2022•48 min•Ep 56•Transcript available on Metacast In this special episode of Spycraft 101, Justin answers questions listeners have submitted on Instagram. Tune in to hear stories of espionage in New Zealand, highly-successful operations, weapons and gadgets (including the fake scrotum concealment device), and more. If you submitted a question that wasn't answered, look out for our next Q & A episode. Connect with Spycraft 101: Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms , here . spycraft101.com IG: @spycraft101 Shop: spycraft-1...
Jul 18, 2022•43 min•Ep 55•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin returns with retired CIA paramilitary operations officer, Felix Rodriguez. Felix took part in many of the pivotal events of the Cold War from covert action against Fidel Castro in Cuba to operations in the Vietnam War and Laos to supporting to the Contras in Nicaragua. Today, Felix shares Che Guevara's failures as well as stories of Felix's time spent in Vietnam and Nicaragua. He also gives details on his own testimony before Congress, as well as an unlikely friendshi...
Jul 11, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Ep 54•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Justin sits down with retired CIA paramilitary operations officer, Felix Rodriguez. Felix took part in many of the pivotal events of the Cold War from covert action against Fidel Castro in Cuba to operations in the Vietnam War and Laos to supporting to the Contras in Nicaragua. Most famously, he was one of two Cubans that took part in the hunt for Che Guevara in Bolivia. Today, Felix shares his journey to the CIA, what it was like growing up in Cuba as the likes of Guevara and C...
Jul 04, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin sits down with journalist Chris Carola. Chris spent many years following the story of Jack Wilpers, one of the last surviving men on a team of World War II soldiers that captured Hideki Tojo, prime minister of Japan during WWII and a convicted war criminal. Jack was difficult to get ahold of, but Chris never backed down. Hear about Jack's interesting upbringing, his journey to counterintelligence, and key details of the events that led to Tojo's capture--and Jack&apos...
Jun 27, 2022•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Justin sits down with Terry McIntosh. Terry enlisted in the army at age 17, and joined special forces at age 18. He soon became one of the youngest men to wear a green beret in Vietnam. Terry was involved in the infamous Green Beret Affair, in which a Vietnamese double agent was identified and killed by his special forces team. Terry shares his journey to special forces, his experiences in the war, including serving on a special forces A-team and earning a combat badge. Connect with Terry...
Jun 20, 2022•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Justin chats with writer, academic, and engineer George Bearfield. George is the grandson of Jaroslav Bublík, one of the last men to parachute into Bohemia and Moravia (now Czechoslovakia) in World War II. Jaroslav and his cousin Josef conducted espionage operations in the region while it was occupied by Nazi Germany until Josef was famously killed in Prague soon after assassinating German SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. George dives into the details of their dangerous parachute missions, t...
Jun 13, 2022•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin chats with Enrique "Ric" Prado, a retired case officer and Paramilitary operative of the CIA. Ric is also the author of his memoir, Black Ops. Ric dives into his career, from fleeing the Peter Pan Project and his home country of Cuba to serving in Nicaragua with the Contras, including past guest Mike Lima AKA Luis Moreno. Soon after his time in Latin America and a few years in the Phillippines, Ric was contracted by the CIA to form the very task force that eventually ...
Jun 06, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin sits down with John Capello, former Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and air attache and founder and president of the Halyard Mission Foundation. The mission itself involved rescuing over 500 US airmen from occupied Serbia in WWII with the help of Serbian nationals. John shares his own experiences as an air attache in Israel and Serbia. Each country posed difference challenges and attitudes due to differences in the progress of their relationships with the US. Then, John dives into...
May 30, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Justin reflects on the one-year anniversary of the Spycraft 101 Podcast. He details the history of Spycraft 101 from book ideas to the Instagram account finally the podcast, and gives shoutouts to those who have helped him along the way. Tune in for this special anniversary retrospective from your favorite espionage enthusiast. Previous episodes mentioned this week: Episode 01 - The Life and Lies of Fritz Joubert Duquesne with Andrew Blasco ( here ) Episode 02 - The Reality of L...
May 23, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week Justin chats with author and former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor Jim Hawes. Jim served in Vietnam and worked with the CIA in the Congo to counter the spread of communist ideals and anti-western rebel activities. Today, Jim tells his story and shares details of his experiences, from becoming a SEAL and early in the life of the program to his role in the Gulf of Tonkin incident and finally locating Che Guevara, among several intelligence feats. Connect with Jim: Check out his book, Cold ...
May 16, 2022•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week Justin sits down with author and Historian Dr. Kate Vigurs. Kate shares the story of the women hired by Britain's Special Operations Executive, a mysterious organization that operated during World War II to conduct sabotage, reconnaissance, and espionage missions in occupied Europe. These brave women had to prove themselves as strong and worthy of dangerous work to compete with their male colleagues. From members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force to women who were heard spea...
May 09, 2022•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin sits down with author, professor, historian and former intelligence analyst for the state department and the CIA, Dr. Mark Stout. Today, Mark shares his research on a mysterious early US intelligence entity known as the Pond. The Pond was a secret organization operating between 1942 and 1955, though its existence wasn't formally acknowledged by the US government until 2001. Headed by John V. Grombach, the Pond's unique espionage style was markedly different from the O...
May 02, 2022•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Justin sits down with business expert, university instructor, and author Mark Pruett. Mark dives into the world of Russia's stamp men--counterintelligence heroes hailed for their victories and honored for their work by having their faces immortalized on national postage. Mark tells the true stories of the heinous acts these Cheka (secret police) committed, covers their unfortunate endings, and asks why Putin chose to reinvigorate Chekist nationalism through postal propoganda. Connect...
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Justin chats with Janet Ray. Janet lost her father, Pete Ray, when his plane was shot down by Cuban defenses in the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, an effort to retake Cuba from Castro. Met with lies and secrecy from the US government, Janet spent years finding answers on what happened to father as well as other men who didn't come home--including fighting to have their remains returned from Cuba. Justin hopes her story can shed light on how espionage and covert operations affect famili...
Apr 18, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tune back in for part two of Justin's interview with former diplomat and former non-commission officer in the United States Marine Corps, Shane Partlow. In this installment, Shane gets into the nitty gritty of Ukraine's 2014 Maidan Revolution, following the Euromaidan protests against former president Viktor Yanukovych. He discusses efforts to stay hidden at protests and rallies as well as what happened when the Yanukovych regime suddenly fell and Russian troops made an opportunistic p...
Apr 11, 2022•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week Justin chats with former diplomat and former non-commission officer in the United States Marine Corps, Shane Partlow. Shane was an assistant defense attache in the Ukraine during their 2014 Maidan Revolution, following the Euromaidan protests against former president Viktor Yanukovych. Shane recounts the events that led to violence, corruption within the central government, and his own experiences as a Marine at the embassy. This interview is split into two parts, so be sure to tune in...
Apr 05, 2022•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Justin describes research on an intelligence agency unique to one of the countries that makes up the former Soviet Bloc: Czechoslovakia's Státní Bezpečnost, also know as the StB. Hear stories of StB success from the 1940s to the 1980s, including suppression of rebellion and scuffles with MI6 and the CIA. Brutal and shockingly effective, the StB was one of Western intelligence's most formidable but little-known adversaries of the Cold War. Connect with Spycraft 101: IG: @spycraft...
Mar 28, 2022•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, author Ian Townsend shares the harrowing story of young Dickie Manson. Along with his mother, stepfather, uncle, and a family friend, Dickie was convicted as a spy and executed in during World War II. When the Australian government could not reinforce its troops in Rabaul, New Guinea, it left over a thousand Australian citizens behind, many of whom were tried for espionage by the Japanese. Though Americans and Australians alike forget the importance of the battle for Rabaul in the Pacific...
Mar 21, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Justin interviews educator and author Jonathan Gill on the riveting tale of Boris Morros. A refugee of the Bolshevik Revolution turned film producer in the Golden Age of Hollywood, Boris was a mysterious and remarkable man. While many details of his life are thought to be exaggerated and the absolute truth remains unclear, Boris led a unique and eventful life. He became a Soviet spy during the Cold War only to turn on the USSR and act as a double agent for the United States. Tune in for a...
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
