CIA clandestine services veteran and longtime Middle East hand Marc Polymeropoulos tells Jeff Stein that the CIA no longer prizes regional expertise, instead opting for spy corps “generalists” who can be shifted from region to region. In this Special Edition of the SpyTalk podcast, Polymeropoulos laments the passing of Charlie Seidel, who he calls the CIA’s “last great Arabist.”

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Follow Jeff Stein on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/SpyTalker

Follow Karen Greenberg on Twitter
https://x.com/KarenGreenberg3

Follow Michael Isikoff on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/isikoff

Follow SpyTalk on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/talk_spy

Subscribe to SpyTalk on Substack

https://www.spytalk.co/

Take our listener survey where you can give us feedback.

http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=short

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.