A former CIA officer reveals his job reality of life undercover in The Agency, assigned to protecting The CIA Director and their families against assassination plots. Scott Urbach shares stories of near-misses in war zones, the truth about how the agency operates, and his transition into high-stakes corporate security.

Like all episodes of TFTS, this episode also includes a deep dive into the guest's career. Learn from them to decide if this is a path for you!

If you have an interesting job and would like to be a guest on the show, then email me at [email protected]

Scott Urbach's Book "Admit Nothing": https://www.scotturbach.com/
The Central Intelligence Agency (Careers): https://www.cia.gov/careers/
Camp Peary ("The Farm"): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Peary
Kryptos Sculpture at CIA Headquarters: https://www.cia.gov/legacy/headquarters/kryptos/

0:00 Intro
1:31 What CIA Officers Do
3:26 The Hiring Process
6:42 Drug Use Disqualifications
10:01 The Pay Scale
11:15 Who Shouldn't Do This Job
12:10 Training for the Job
14:57 Protecting the Director
16:06 Career Work-Life Balance
17:10 Stress and Danger
28:36 Getting Shot At
30:53 The Aldrich Ames Mole
32:46 Dodging Iran Contra
35:06 The Recruit Review
37:48 Russian Retaliation Threat
42:00 Above the Law?
46:30 Most Interesting Moment
53:09 Corporate Security Career
58:15 Writing CIA Thrillers
1:01:22 CIA Censorship Board
1:04:10 Advice for Applicants

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