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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 by N2K Networks, Podville Media, 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.
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How a CIA Rising Star Fought His Own Agency After Polio
In the 1950s, Lyman Kirkpatrick had just been promoted to Chief of Operations in the CIA’s clandestine service. He was 36, with a bright future ahead. Then what he thought was a cold turned out to be polio. Suddenly, he saw his career traje
General Petraeus on Ukraine and the Shadow War
Winter is coming, and that means Ukraine has to gear up for another brutal season of strikes on its energy infrastructure - Russia’s bid to cut off power and heat, making life harder for all Ukrainians. Earlier this year, Ukrainian forces r
Unraveling a Secret KGB Investigation That Separated a Father and Son
The Kremlin is not a fan of Alex Goldfarb. He left the Soviet Union as a scientist, becoming a prominent author and human rights activist. In 2006, he was in the room with ex-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, reading his dying words, which
Ukraine’s Nord Stream Attack: Underwater Sabotage and Its Fallout
Correction: At 3:27, Bojan Pancevski refers to the “Danish” military intelligence agency. He meant the Dutch military intelligence agency, which picked up the intelligence and passed it to the CIA. The trial of a former Ukrainian special fo
A Plan to Be Captured: How Three American Commandos Deceived Their Nazi Captors Before D-Day
In the spring of 1944, three elite commandos parachuted into Hungary. The country was aligned with Nazi Germany, and these men intended to be captured in what was meant to look like a failed operation. Their real mission was to help Hungary
Inside Sweden's Cold War Stay-Behind Operation
It was preparation for an invasion that might never come, and never did. Across Cold War Europe, stay-behind networks were established on the premise that Soviet forces might successfully invade and occupy sovereign territory. These clandes
How the CIA Captured Carlos the Jackal
Before he became one of the world's most notorious terrorists in the 1970s and '80s, inspiring movies, books, and future terrorists, Carlos the Jackal was born Ilich Ramírez Sánchez to a privileged family in Venezuela. Over time, his crimes
A House Divided: The CIA, State, and a Coup in South Vietnam
It's a dark moment in American history that leads to a lot of what-ifs. By the spring of 1963, eight years into the Vietnam War, two opposing factions across the CIA and the State Department had President John F. Kennedy's ear. One side wan
25 Years After 9/11: The CIA's First Moments Behind Enemy Lines in Afghanistan
Retired Colonel Justin Sapp was a Green Beret detailed to the CIA after the September 11th terrorist attacks. He was part of Team Alpha, the first eight Americans to drop behind enemy lines into the mountains of Afghanistan. At 29, Justin w
Japanese Surveillance, Enslavement, and Experimentation in Wartime China
Graphic content warning: Not recommended for younger listeners. This episode contains material that may be triggering to some audiences, including violence and harm, medical and bodily content, sexual abuse, sexual enslavement, and forced m
Peter Ortiz: The WWII Marine Who Foreshadowed Modern-Day Special Forces
In 2017, journalist Katie Sanders discovered an episode of a radio program called This Is Your Life. It was a scratchy recording from 1949, and she heard the voice of 2nd Lt. Murray Simon, her grandfather, for the first time. In the episode
What It Takes to Run the CIA's Southeast Asia Department
You might find Meredith Cavan playing music in an Irish pub. But long before her first album dropped, she clocked more than 20 years at the CIA. One of her jobs there was Southeast Asia Department chief, where she oversaw covert action, int
Cuba's Spies, Defectors, and the Ex-FBI Agent Who Met Them All
For decades, Cuban intelligence has been seen as a force that punches above its weight. Shaped during the Cold War through cooperation with the Soviet Union, its intelligence officers received extensive training by the KGB. But where does C
Smears, Fakes & Phantoms: Cold War Britain's Secret Propaganda Department
In Cold War Britain, a secret propaganda department saw its list of targets and tactics widen. Personnel inside the Information Research Department went beyond forgeries, fakes, and plants, conducting bold impersonations to smear critics an
Murder in Mexico City: The Assassination of Leon Trotsky
For those of you who have visited the International Spy Museum, you may be familiar with one of our most prized artifacts, the ice ax used to assassinate Leon Trotsky in 1940. Trotsky was the operational mastermind of the Russian Revolution
The Triumphs and Failures of France's Foreign Intel Service
The DGSE, or Directorate General for External Security, is France's foreign intelligence service. It's found inside the Ministry of Defense but reports to the president. It was established under that name in 1982, learning the hard way, thr
Inside China's Cyber Espionage Business
Ahana Datta Fasel became the British government’s first ethical hacker in 2014, testing vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks that hackers could potentially exploit. She was only 23, but that gave her an early look at state-spons
The Navy Spy who Sold Secrets for $377 a Year
You may have heard of the long-running TV show NCIS, based on the real work of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. But you may never have heard of a unit inside it, called the Office of Special Projects, where staff work on espionage
Closer than Cuba: the Able Archer Nuclear Crisis of 1983
It's November of 1983, the closest the world came to nuclear war, some may argue even closer than the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Yet the Able Archer 1983 exercise incident is relatively unknown by comparison. A series of events that star
Putin’s Paramilitary 2.0
Since its emergence in 2014, the Wagner Group operated as the Kremlin's shadow army, deploying mercenaries across Africa and the Middle East. It gave Vladimir Putin plausible deniability, expanding Moscow's geopolitical influence by proppin
Tricked and Extradited: Inside the First FBI Operation to Lure a Chinese Spy to the US
The FBI won’t discuss exactly how Chinese spy Xu Yanjun came to the attention of special agents. Xu was handling a GE Aviation engineer in Ohio who specialized in composite fan-blade technology. That engineer, David Zheng, had been approach
The Flip That Broke the Cali Cartel
Now that drug cartels can be labeled foreign terrorist organizations, how do you dismantle one? As part of his 26 years at the Drug Enforcement Administration, retired Special Agent Chris Feistl was on a team that brought the demise of the
The Weather Report that Changed History
"If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone." This is the end of the announcement Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight David Eisenhower had prepared in June 1944 in case the D-Day landings failed. He never had to del
From Cartels to Terrorists, the CIA, FBI, and White House: The Vast Career of Karen Schaefer
Karen Schaefer retired from the CIA in 2019, after 26 years of service. She started out in Latin America and ended with a stint at the FBI. In between, she earned numerous intelligence awards and held key positions that spanned operational,
From Ivory Tower to Iron Curtain: The Academics Who Reshaped the CIA
In 1947, a new civilian intelligence agency was established: the CIA. But a series of intelligence failures undermined its credibility. The White House and Congress were up in arms, and a new mission was formed- to recruit Ivy League profes
The Civil War Spies and Saboteurs Across the Canadian Border
It’s 1864, and against the backdrop of the US Civil War- a war the Confederacy is losing- a group of spies and saboteurs have set up a base in Montreal, Canada. Today we would call this a sanctuary or a safe haven. Canada would become home
How Far the US Went to Rescue Hostage Bowe Bergdahl
In 2009, Bowe Bergdahl walked away from his Army post in eastern Afghanistan, only to be abducted and held hostage until 2014. He was captured by the Taliban and then handed to the Haqqani network, an aligned terrorist group. US officials s
From the Kaiser to the Führer: Inside the World of Lothar Witzke
One of the more notorious German spies of the 20th century, Lothar Witzke lived a life of intrigue: from escaping the death penalty in the First World War to joining the Nazi party in the Second. It's a story that Robert Hornick and Paul Fr
The Hunt for American Turncoats in World War II Europe
It’s a story that journalist and veteran Stephen Harding uncovered: a secret component of the FBI’s “European Operation,” whereby agents traveled abroad working undercover to track down American citizens who had betrayed their country durin
The Story Isn't Over: Inside Havana Syndrome and the CIA’s Response
Confusion and controversy are growing around the intelligence community’s handling of Havana Syndrome. This is what the government refers to as Anomalous Health Incidents, or AHIs. The mysterious health condition has left a group of America
