SpyCast

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 American spies, diplomats, and service members with serious brain injuries. Many believe Russia’s hand is at play. But an intelligence community assessment from 2023 said most agencies concluded it is “very unlikely” a foreign adversary was behind the affliction. It hasn’t changed its stance despite new details coming to light. As Sasha first reported, the US government bought and has been testing a weapon that some scientists believe is likely the cause of these brain injuries. Sasha reached out to the CIA, which declined to comment then and declines to comment now. Accusations of a cover-up have been mounting, from inside the House Intelligence Committee to journalists covering AHI. Reporter Michael Weiss is part of a team that uncovered new information.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: 

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at [email protected].

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

He may dress like he’s on a vacation in Hawaii, but Palmer Luckey has been busy designing weapons for the Pentagon. He founded California-based defense technology firm, Anduril, in 2017, named after a sword from the Lord of the Rings and, according to Palmer, is 20% veteran owned. He is promising a marked shift: faster, cheaper, and more agile systems to fight the wars of today and tomorrow. This comes after Palmer designed the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset, at age 19, revolutionizing the world of virtual reality. Palmer sat down to talk with Sasha about how Anduril’s work also supports the US intelligence community, an essential part of mission readiness. 

*Note: ISR refers to Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: 

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at [email protected].

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs. 

Half-truths. Lies. Distrust. And spying. These were part and parcel of the tenuous relationship between Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin - the “Big Three” who were eventually brought together by their opposition to Adolf Hitler during World War II. From London, British historian Tim Bouverie lays out the complicated dynamics of this coalition. His new book, Allies at War: How the Struggles Between the Allied Powers Shaped the War and the World, is out now. 

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: 

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at [email protected].

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs. 

Jonna Mendez knows how to blend in and when to stand out. Starting out as a secretary at the CIA, she left as its Chief of Disguise. Her career took her into denied areas, where her special abilities assisted in a variety of high stakes operations - collecting on the adversary, recruiting and exfiltrating agents, and staying on the cutting edge of technology. She sits down with Sasha to discuss stories, many of which she has never shared before.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: 

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at [email protected].

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs. 

In the 1960s, the CIA lost a plutonium-fueled generator on top of a mountain in India. The generator was supposed to power an unmanned listening station, intended to pick up signals from China’s missile tests. But when mountaineers ascended the near 26,000-ft Nanda Devi – under the guise of studying the environment – weather got in their way. They left the nuclear device behind and months later, when they returned, it was gone. New York Times reporter Jeffrey Gettleman reconstructed this event with a team of journalists. The story took about seven years, thousands of miles, and earning the trust of many men who had grown old and have since passed away.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: 

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at [email protected].

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs. 

When you’re sitting alone, and you want company or advice, have you ever turned to Artificial Intelligence? Chip Usher, who spent 32 years in the CIA, has been looking at AI companions. The tech companies behind them claim they offer comfort and reliability. Chip says they mostly come from China, and eventually they will be used to collect personal data on users, building a roadmap for recruiting and influence. Chip has conducted research on the threat through his role as the Senior Director for Intelligence at a nonprofit called the Special Competitive Studies Project. 

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: 

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at [email protected].

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

Children grew up reading Roald Dahl’s tales of giant peaches and chocolate factories. Adults know about the controversy surrounding the antisemitic statements he made in his later years. But before becoming one of the most successful children’s authors of all time, Dahl worked for MI6, seducing Washington socialites and cozying up to the First Family. He did this to gather intelligence and exert influence for Winston Churchill in the early days of World War II. Writer Aaron Tracy delves into Dahl’s complicated life in his new podcast, The Secret World of Roald Dahl, and sat down with Sasha to discuss Dahl’s forays into espionage.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: 

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at [email protected].

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

Katrina Leung, code name Parlor Maid, received nearly two million dollars from the FBI for being their top China informant. But little did the Bureau know… she was a double agent, collecting intelligence for China’s Ministry of State Security. Not only that, she was also sleeping with her FBI handler, James J. Smith (J.J.). For nearly two decades, J.J. covered up reports that raised red flags about her. That’s where retired FBI agent Steven Conley comes in. He worked for J.J. in the LA field office and then became Katrina’s new handler, and soon realized she wasn’t exactly providing useful information. Ultimately, he helped extract two painful confessions in a case that damaged the FBI’s reputation for years. 

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: 

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at [email protected].

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs. 

Before Delta Force captured Nicolás Maduro, Bryan Stern went on a secret mission in Venezuela. The veteran and Purple Heart recipient was there to extract opposition leader María Corina Machado, who had been living in hiding for her own safety. Bryan was trying to get María to Oslo to accept her Nobel Peace Prize. This daring operation – named Operation Golden Dynamite after Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite – involved land, sea, and air. This is just one of many high-stakes evacuations Bryan has conducted through his nonprofit organization, Grey Bull Rescue. Sasha and Bryan sat down to discuss the operation, just a few days after he returned from Venezuela.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at [email protected].

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

A 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina opened the world’s eyes to Hezbollah’s presence in Latin America. But the Iranian proxy, a US-designated terrorist group, has operated in the region since the 1980s. This started in the Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, earning the nickname "the United Nations of crime." The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has said Hezbollah’s revenues in Central and South America fund its External Security Organization, which plans their terrorist plots overseas. Wes Tabor, a former DEA agent, knows all about it. He was part of a landmark case that exposed their ties to drug cartels and financial institutions. Wes takes us into the present, describing how the US’s removal of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela impacts Hezbollah’s presence in the Western Hemisphere.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: 

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at [email protected].

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.