SpyCast

What should the US Intelligence Community prioritize domestically and overseas, and how should the work be done? We sat down with Congressman Rick Crawford, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to learn his perspective on these questions. The conversation emphasized the growing threat of China’s influence in the West, the impact of the new Open Source Intelligence Subcommittee, and the importance of analytic integrity in intelligence. 

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Spy Chat with Chris Costa | Special Guest: Beth Sanner

Dir. of National Intelligence Roundtable: 2025 Society for Intelligence History Panel

An Evening with H.R. McMaster

Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts. 

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ 

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

This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

In the early 2000s, the FBI uncovered a team of Russian operatives who had been living double lives in the United States. They were posing as professors, journalists, financial planners, real estate and travel agents, all while sending information back to Moscow. Now, 15 years after they were arrested, Alan Kohler, the former Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, tells us what it was like to supervise the case which came to be known as Operation Ghost Stories. 

In this episode, Alan mentions a number of different photos and videos from the Ghost Stories investigation. You can view them all here through the FBI’s digital vault. 

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"The Minions": Putin's Expendable Spies

Spy Chat with Chris Costa | Guest: Alan E. Kohler, Jr.

Curator's Corner: Kevin P. Riehle on Russian Intelligence

Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts. 

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ 

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

This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

How do you catch an enemy’s submarine … and then make it vanish? That’s what the U.S. Navy’s elusive Tenth Fleet planned, as it tracked down Germany’s U-505 submarine. The mission came right before the Allies ran ashore on the beaches of Normandy in World War II. Historian Alexander Rose draws on long classified documents and intercepted transmissions to reveal the bold, salt-soaked heist.

Alex's new book, Phantom Fleet: The Hunt for Nazi Submarine U-505 and World War II’s Most Daring Heist  is available now.

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Agent Zo: The Extraordinary Woman Who Parachuted Into Nazi-Occupied Poland

Enigma Traitors with Dermot Turing

The Heavy Water Sabotage Raid

Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts. 

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ 

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

This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

Most Americans would agree that the United States should be protected, but from whom … and how? Dr. Donell Harvin, the former Chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence for the District of Columbia, says the U.S. is taking its eye off the ball - focusing its large domestic intelligence apparatus in a direction that is politically expedient, but not in line with the most serious threats.

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​​ DOGE Layoffs and the Counterintelligence Threats They Pose | SpyCast

Spy Chat with Chris Costa | Special Guest: Colin Clarke

Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts. 

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ 

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

This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

After Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. rushed to create a secret center that set targets for the Ukrainians to destroy. But the counteroffensive of 2023 failed to achieve its goals. So, what went wrong? New York Times reporter Adam Entous spent more than a year reporting on this story. He joins SpyCast host Sasha Ingber to talk about what was going on behind the scenes, and the consequences that were felt acutely on the battlefield.

Read Adam’s full report here. 

The International Spy Museum has launched its first ever digital exhibition: Open Source: Ukraine & The Intelligence Revolution. Give it a visit to learn more about the role of publicly accessible information in intelligence collection and analysis. 

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SpyCast Live: Escalation: Tracking the US-Ukraine Relationship

An Evening with General David H. Petraeus

SpyCast - “Zelensky, Ukraine & Intelligence” – with Simon Shuster

Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts. 

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ 

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

This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

Conflict has been escalating between two nuclear powers–India and Pakistan. It started in April, after India blamed Pakistan for supporting militants who carried out a massacre in Kashmir. President Trump offered to help defuse the tensions.Throughout history, India and Pakistan’s hostility has been documented in the President's Daily Brief, a highly classified rundown of threats facing the United States. Former CIA officer David Priess, author of The President's Book of Secrets, tells us how the PDB mattered in relations between India and Pakistan.

To learn more, check out David’s book, the President's Book of Secrets, the Untold Story of Intelligence briefings to America's Presidents.

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Spy Chat with Chris Costa | Special Guest: Beth Sanner

The President's Book of Secrets - Understanding the President’s Daily Brief (PDB) with David Priess

Hot Topics: Intelligence Challenges in an Election Year

Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts. 

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ 

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

This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

They were a spy cell like no other — operating from quiet British suburbs, hailing from Bulgaria, and working on behalf of Russia. Their handler dubbed them “The Minions,” and their plots stretched across Europe and spanned honeytraps, abductions, and murder. At the time of this recording, six have been convicted and await sentencing. To parse out the case, we spoke with Gordon Corera, a British author and co-host of The Rest is Classified podcast.

Check out The Rest is Classified here, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

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Spy Chat with Chris Costa | Special Guest: Paul Whelan

Russian Assassinations in the UK: Inside Three Notorious Cases with Historian Nigel West

Curator's Corner: Kevin P. Riehle on Russian Intelligence

Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts. 

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ 

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

This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

The United States and Ukraine have had a long, complicated history that has been defined by just as much partnership and collaboration as hesitation and disagreement. This dynamic is laid bare in the 7-part podcast series ‘Escalation,’ produced by our partners at Goat Rodeo, with the national security publication Lawfare. In April 2025, The International Spy Museum hosted a panel discussion on the Washington-Kyiv relationship moderated by SpyCast host Sasha Ingber, and featuring Ukrainian journalist Anastasiia Lapatina, Lawfare’s Managing Editor Tyler McBrien, Retired Brigadier General Kipling Kahler, and former National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne.

To listen to the whole Escalation series, visit:

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/podcasts-multimedia/podcast/escalation

Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts.  

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ 

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

This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

Why does Vladimir Putin often say that the West is conspiring to weaken Russia? Historian James Crossland traces this narrative back to a British intelligence officer and a failed assassination attempt on Vladimir Lenin in 1918.

The story is featured in his new book, Rogue Agent, from Secret Plots to Psychological Warfare, the Untold Story of Robert Bruce Lockhart. James takes us into Lockhart’s psyche and lays out how a single moment in the dying days of Czarist Russia helped fuel a century of paranoia and rifts.

SPY Artifact Highlight: Trotsky Ice Axe 

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Sidney Reilly: Master Spy with Benny Morris

Accessory to a Mission - Gadgets and Gear For The Well-Dressed Spy

SpyCast | Rise of Devils - The Origin of Modern Terrorism with James Crossland

Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts.  

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ 

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

This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

Government employees were dismissed with startling swiftness and sweeping in the midst of the Trump administration's relentless pursuit to pare down the federal workforce. The sheer number of fired personnel and the manner in which US officials let them go have led to concerns that disillusioned former employees may share what they know with foreign intelligence services, jeopardizing the very security they once sought to protect. Bill Evanina, former Director of Counterintelligence, discusses this fear and how foreign adversaries are exploiting the moment.

If you liked this episode, check out these links:

Dir. of National Intelligence Roundtable: 2025 Society for Intelligence History Panel

Spy Chat with Chris Costa | Guest: Alan E. Kohler, Jr.

Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts. 

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ 

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

This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.