SpyCast

Michael Vickers (Website) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his remarkable career and memoir. He was formerly the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. 

Michael Vickers has been on a heck of a ride. He started out as a U.S. Army private with no degree and went on to oversee hundreds of thousands of people as the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence while holding a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins. Michael is the author of By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operation & Strategy. 

"That weapon was called the Special Atomic Demolition Munition [i.e., “Nuclear Backpack] ...it was a sporty, uh, you know, it seemed like a good idea when I was 23 years old. So, there you have it." – Michael Vickers.

Jorhena Thomas (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss her career as an analyst and passion for intelligence education. Jorhena spent 8 years in the FBI as an Intelligence Analyst. 

Andrew is joined by Jorhena Thomas: educator, mentor, and analysis extraordinaire. It was a pleasure to have Jorhena in the studio to discuss to her career, which began at the Federal Bureau of Investigation where she served as an intelligence analyst for 8 years. She moved on to work at the Washington D.C. Fusion Center, the District of Columbia Deputy Mayor’s Office, and in private consulting. She currently lectures at both American University and Georgetown University, and serves as the Director of Mentorship and Professional Advancement at Girl Security.

And… 

Women make up 59% (more than half!) of the FBI’s Intelligence Analysis workforce. This has come along way since the first female FBI special agents, Joanna Pierce Misko and Susan Roley Malone, were hired in 1972. However, the work is not done. SpyCast is proud to highlight Jorhena’s work with Girl Security, supporting, mentoring, and training the next generations of women in intelligence. 

Leta McCollough Seletsky (Website; Twitter) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to share the story of her father, the famous “Kneeling Man” – The man knelt next to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at his assassination at the Lorraine Motel in 1968. Leta is a litigator turned essayist and memoirist. 

Ryan Zimmerman (MLB Stats; Wikipedia) and Marc Polymeropoulos (Twitter; LinkedIn) join Andrew to discuss intelligence and America’s pastime. From the SpyCast Field of Dreams.

Buy me some peanuts and crackerjack. Few things in the world compare to sitting back, putting your feet up, and cracking open a cold one while watching the World Series. 

For the 2021 World Series Marc joined us for a fantastic discussion on the links between baseball and espionage. How do we top that? A baseball fanatic ex-CIA officer? 

Why, how about getting a first-round draft pick, World Series Champion with over 6500 at-bats? Done! Enter Ryan Zimmerman, Mr. National! 

Ever wondered about signs-stealing, how to run a baseball counterintelligence operation, or what some of the many, many links are between baseball and espionage? You’ve come to the right place for a discussion that goes to the bottom of the ninth inning over a two-episode conversation.

Ryan played for the Nationals from 2005, when he was a first-round draft pick, through to 2021, when his #11 jersey was retired. He is an ex- All-Star, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove winner, and 2019 World Series Champion. 

Marc is a highly decorated former CIA operations officer who specialized in counterterrorism, the Middle East, and South Asia. Prior to his retirement, he served at CIA headquarters in charge of clandestine operations in Europe and Eurasia. He is the author of the 2021 book, “Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA.”

And…

“Big Data” is upending many fields, not least baseball and espionage. Gaining a competitive edge is central to both activities, the big argument is about how much “soul” is lost along the way. The Houston Astros have been a lighting-rod team, whose “smart and modern” or “cold and cynical” approach has been discussed at Penn's Wharton School of Business and in the pages of the Harvard Business Review. 

"I think “Dare to Fail” is enormous. I would want you to put me up at the bases load in the bottom of the ninth. I'll take it every single time. Even if I feel like I have zero chance, I want to be there." - Ryan Zimmerman

"You know, you have to have that mentality in these professions." - Marc Polymeropoulos

• Get “Analytics Certification” from the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) - which is where the term “sabermetrics” comes from!

Ioanna Iordanou (Twitter; LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss Venice’s Secret Service. Her research on “centralized intelligence” during the Italian Renaissance has secured her two entries in Guiness World Records!

“Considering some of the most significant challenges we face right now, such as disease, we just got over a global pandemic or migration or trade or climate change or cybersecurity, all these issues do not stop at the borders like any early modern spies, they cross borders. So even reflecting on how people dealt with these things in the past might help us make better political, social, economic decisions.” – Ioanna Iordanou.

• Browse the art of Titian, an artist whose work was used as a form of payment for spies and intelligence gatherers in Venice. Not a bad paycheck! 

This week on SpyCast, Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) is joined by former DPRK Agent Kim, Hyun Woo. This is the first time Dr. Kim has stepped out from the shadows to speak. 

*EXTENDED SHOW NOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE*

“When I envision reunification, I am envisioning reunified Korea under a liberal democratic system as opposed to say, unified Korea under a more North Korean system – That I oppose. My desire is that in a unified Korea, even North Korean populous or population living in northern parts of the Korean Peninsula will be guaranteed fundamental, standard rights as humans.” – Agent Kim, Hyun Woo.

*EXTENDED SHOW NOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE*

*EXTENDED SHOW NOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE*

Calder Walton (Website, Twitter) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the 100-year intelligence war between the United States and Russia. Calder is the author of the new book, SPIES. 

My conclusion, unfortunately, Andrew, is that looking at this large sweep of history that we have, not so much a Putin problem today, but a Russia problem. And the Russia problem has been persistent over a hundred years, which is why it makes me very cautious about speculation … Unfortunately, it seems to me that the Putin and the people he surrounds himself with in the Kremlin are all cut from this very similar cloth as he is. 

Cory Graff (Website, LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter, LinkedIn) to discuss the D-Day deception operation to mask the landings at Normandy. Cory is a Curator at The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

“During the evenings, French Resistance is taking over and blowing up train tracks and sort of funneling people this way. And that's another thing to talk about when we talk about D-Day is, intelligence was gained from French citizens beforehand. And the night of the 5th & 6th, we witnessed something like a thousand points of sabotage within the area directed at the Germans.” – Cory Graff on the French Resistance’s contribution to D-Day 

• The D-Day episode of the landmark documentary The World at War (“Morning: June-August 1944 (Ep. 17 of 26)”)

Noah Hurowitz (Twitter; LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss infamous drug kingpin El Chapo. A weak link in his cybersecurity set-up would help bring him down. 

Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, aka El Chapo (shorty) because of his 5-foot 6-inch frame, was called by one of the agents chasing him, “the godfather of the drug world.” So, how did a low-level drug dealer from a provincial state rise to try and subvert the Mexican government to his will? What was the intelligence game that played out with regards to El Chapo? How did the cartels use spytech, tradecraft and cybersecurity to stay one step ahead of the law? How was he caught?

To answer these questions and more, Andrew sat down with Noah Horowitz who covered the trial of El Chapo in Brooklyn for Rolling Stone magazine. Noah is also the author of the recent book El Chapo, and his work has appeared in the Village Voice, the Baffler and New York Magazine. 

And…

In the El Chapo trial, question No.57 asked prospective jurors, “Are you familiar with Jesus Malverde?” If you are not familiar with this angel of the poor (el ángel de los pobres) as well as the Sinaloan narcos (el narcosantón), then you can find out why this question would be relevant here, here, here and here.

"So, in addition to encrypted communications…he was also installing spyware on Blackberry devices that El Chapo was giving out to his lieutenants and his girlfriends and his wives. And then EL Chapo was able to use this, the spyware program to see what was on their phones. He was able to see their text messages. He was able to see their locations. He was even able to remotely activate their mic and listen to them. And he loved that…it was like a toy to him almost. He became obsessed with it." – Noah Hurowitz

Curators Alexis (LinkedIn) and Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) use James Bond artifacts in SPY’s collection to discuss all things 007. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the first Ian Fleming novel, Casino Royale. 

This week on SpyCast, curators Andrew and Alexis join forces to put the past 70 years of Bond into historical perspective. To help frame their conversation, our collections team brought out a fantastic selection of Bond artifacts for Andrew and Alexis to interact with during the recording of this episode. 

“I think in general the spy genre always has to have one foot, often two, in the real world. It's part of what makes that genre appealing and not science fiction. It takes place in the real world. And whether that is, you know, some of the technology or real-world threats, it has to be relatable and recognizable in that sense.” – Alexis Albion.

• Everyone has a favorite James Bond theme song. If you just can’t choose just one, check out The Ultimate James Bond Medley – A production from Alchemistic Records featuring all 25 Bond songs.