SpyCast

Robert Wittman (Website; Twitter) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his career and the FBI’s Art Crime Team. Bob recovered over $300 million worth of stolen art and cultural property over the course of his career. 

“The motivation for writing the book was to get the word out how important cultural heritage is. It really is important to make the public realize that this is an important program that should be supported by law enforcement both local and federal.” – Robert Wittman.

*Wildcard Resource*

Dina Rezk (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss Egyptian intelligence. Dina is an Associate Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of Reading. 

“I think that's one of the ways in which the Egyptian Intelligence Service sort of conceives of its primary responsibility. It's about maintaining internal security, and particularly at the moment you know, since 2014, I would say sort of eliminating any sort of political opposition, any possibility of political opposition.” – Dina Rezk.

Rear Admiral Tim Woods (Biography) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his role as Britain’s Defence Attaché to the United States. Tim previously served as the British Defence Attaché in Kyiv, Ukraine. 

Laura Tohe (Website) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the stories of the WWII Navajo Code Talkers. Laura is a Diné author and the Poet Laureate of the Navajo Nation. 

“When they got into the service they were told, ‘Now you're going to use your language to develop a code.’ They said, ‘But, back at home they told us not to speak Navajo, and now they want us to develop a code in Navajo?’ So, they were not only astounded, they were puzzled why they would be asked to do this when they were in a school where their identity was being erased.” – Laura Tohe.

Andrew leads a SPY Museum panel discussion between four experts on the most damaging mole in FBI history, Robert Hanssen. This program was in collaboration with CBS/Paramount on their new podcast “Agent of Betrayal"

Col. (Ret.) Shlomo Mofaz (LinkedIn) and Col (Ret.) Zohar Palti (Wikipedia) join Andrew to discuss their respective careers in the Israeli Defense Forces and the Mossad. 

This week on SpyCast, we bring you a Double Bill featuring Shlomo Mofaz and Zohar Palti. Shlomo Mofaz is the former Head of Counter-terrorism Analysis for the Israeli Defense forces, and currently serves as the director of the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. Among positions within the IDF and the Ministry of Defense, Zohar Palti formerly served as the Head of Intelligence for the Mossad. 

This episode is the final installment of SpyCast’s month-long special series on Israeli intelligence. This series has coincided with the ongoing Israel-Hamas War. We hope that through these episodes we’ve provided listeners with a bit of clarity and background on the conflict and its major players. 

“When you're dealing with intelligence, mistakes are very problematic … People make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, but you need to choose the best people that you can work with and you can count on to bring the information or the service that you need in real time.“ -Shlomo Mofaz.

“They can't be the best over here in the Middle East right now that we can deal with any threat in a radius of 2000 kilometers without being, in a way, superpowering intelligence. We are not superpowering other issues. In intelligence, we are really, really good. And this is, first of all, to protect our family. And secondly, surviving over here in the region. We have to be the best.” -Zohar Palti.

Lt. Col. (ret.) Aviram Halevi (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss Israel’s top secret commando unit, Sayeret Matkal. Aviram formerly served as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Sayeret Matkal. 

This week on SpyCast, Andrew was joined by Aviram Halevi, former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Sayeret Matkal, Israel’s top-secret elite commando unit. Aviram served over two decades in various branches of Israeli intelligence, and recently co-wrote the book Sayeret Matkal: The Greatest Operations of Israel's Elite Commandos. Andrew and Aviram discuss the origins and history of the unit, including the stories of some of Sayeret Matkal’s most notable operations. 

And… 

Sayeret Matkal’s motto is “Who Dares Wins” – A motto first used by Britain’s Special Air Service during World War II. Since then, 11 other elite special forces units have also adopted the saying.

“What makes [Sayeret Matkal] so unique? The fact is that these people, and you mentioned that before, we are not rambos and there is no ramboism in the unit in Sayeret Matkal. On the contrary, the basic building block of the Sayeret is the team. The team is what you're kind of imprinted with once you get drafted. And this will be your designation forever. I'm team Raz. Raz was my commander, and my soldiers are team Aviram for the rest of their lives.” – Aviram Halevi.

• Elite commando units like Sayeret Matkal, while not as focused on intelligence, go back as far as military history. To read about the special forces of antiquity, check out Persia’s The Immortals, Byzantine’s Tagma, and Rome’s Extraordinarii

Welcome to a very special bonus episode of SpyCast, coming to you directly from the stage of the International Spy Museum. Last month, we hosted a live panel discussion in collaboration with our friends at Goat Rodeo who produced the new podcast, Spy Valley: An Engineer’s Nuclear Betrayal, a series by Project Brazen and PRX. 

The riveting series tells the true story of James Harper, a Silicon Valley engineer turned spy who sold nuclear secrets to the Soviet Bloc. The series takes listeners on a journey of nuclear spying, technology theft, and double agents, with intelligence that might still help Moscow in a nuclear exchange today. Tune in to all six episodes of Spy Valley NOW to learn more! 

This live panel features moderator Sharon Weinberger, the national security and foreign policy editor at The Wall Street Journal, featuring Zach Dorfman, investigative journalist and host of Spy Valley; John Gibbons, who headed the United States Attorney's prosecution team in the case against James Harper; Dr. Raymond J. Batvins, Former Supervisory Special Agent and Counterintelligence Course Instructor at the Institute of World Politics; and Dr. Vince Houghton, Director of the National Cryptologic Museum and former historian at SPY. They’ll explore how the tech capital of the world became a hotbed for Soviet Bloc spies and what James Harper’s betrayal of his country has meant for modern day warfare.

Thank you to our friends and collaborators at Goat Rodeo, Project Brazen, and PRX for their support of this program. 

Listen to the series here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Uri Bar-Joseph (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the intelligence failure of the Yom Kippur War. Uri is an author and professor emeritus at Haifa University. 

Uzi Arad (Wikipedia) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss intelligence and policy at the highest level. Uzi was also a former foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Director of Intelligence for the Mossad.