SPYCRAFT 101

 Today, Justin is joined by Michael Lebowitz. Michael served as a paratrooper in the Army's 101st Airborne Division and later as a judge advocate in the US Army Reserve, currently at the rank of lieutenant colonel. As a civilian, he's worked as a trial attorney in private practice and as a prosecutor for the Department of Justice's National Security Division. Michael is here to discuss the investigations, arrests, and trials of terror suspects following the 9/11 attacks, which he wrote about in his new book, available this week from Diversion Books.

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Today Justin sits down with William Gage. Bill graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a Bachelor's Degree in History and received his Master's Degree in Criminal Justice from Boston University. He worked for more than 11 years as a special agent in the US Secret Service, where he performed a wide variety of roles related to protecting US government senior leaders and counterfeiting investigations. Bill is here to discuss his career and, in particular, his work on investigating ultra-high quality counterfeit $100 notes, known as Superbills, that originated in North Korea and which have circulated worldwide for nearly four decades.

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This week's guest is John Ware. John is an award-winning investigative journalist with over four decades experience reporting on security, intelligence, and public accountability. He's a former BBC Panorama correspondent who has led major investigations into policing, national security, and state power, including extensive reporting on Northern Ireland. He's here to share the story of two of the most significant informants working for British intelligence during The Troubles in Northern Ireland

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This week, Justin revisits episode 61 with trial lawyer Michael Pullara. Michael is a practicing trial lawyer from Texas who has spent more than 40 years representing an incredibly wide variety of clients. In the courtroom, he squared off against Italian mobsters, the U.S. Department of Defense, and giant telecom companies, among many others. He's here to talk about one of his most incredible endeavors: when he represented the family of Freddie Woodruff, a CIA case officer who was shot to death while on assignment in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in 1993.

This became a personal crusade for Michael as he was embroiled in the search for the truth behind Freddie's death for more than 10 years. As he dug further and further into the shooting, the capture of the alleged murderer, and his subsequent prosecution and conviction, Michael found that almost every single thing reported by Georgian authorities about what happened to Freddie was false. Michael's work eventually led him to personally confront the president of Georgia about Freddie's death in order to shed light on the event and try to bring the perpetrators to justice. In 2018, he published a book about his investigation into what really happened that day.

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Today, Justin sits down with Michael Walsh. Mike served in the US Navy for more than twenty-six years, most of it spent as a SEAL. He completed five tours of duty in Vietnam, including working on the Phoenix Program, running agents and targeting Viet Cong infrastructure. He also participated in the invasion of Grenada and was involved in Panama during the rein of Manuel Noriega. Mike spent years operating throughout Central and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. He's here discuss his career and the lessons he learned along the way, which he wrote about in his autobiography, first published in 1994.

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Today's guest is Charles Finfrock. Charles served in the Navy for four years as a military policeman and investigator. He then joined the Central Intelligence Agency in the summer of 2001 and was in training when the September 11th attacks took place. He spent the next 18 years with the agency as a case officer working primarily overseas. After leaving the agency, he worked as a senior manager at Tesla's insider threat program for three years before he founded his own company in 2021, Vigilance. Charles join the podcast to discuss his career as a CIA officer and what it's like to transition from government service into private business.

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Today's guest is

today is Dr. Greg Barnhisel. Greg is a graduate of Reed College, New York University, and the University of Texas at Austin. He is now a professor of English at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the editor of The Bloomsbury Handbook to Cold War Literary Cultures, Pressing the Fight: Print, Propaganda, and the Cold War, and the scholarly journal Book History. Greg has written three books as well, including Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy, and James Laughlin: New Directions and the Remaking of Ezra Pound. He's here discuss his newest book, Code Name Puritan, which is available now from the University of Chicago Press. It's about the life of Norman Pearson, an author, poet, professor, and member of the Office of Strategic Services during World War II.

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Today Justin talks with Josh Ireland. Josh has a master's degree in history from the University of York. After graduating, he worked as an editor at Headline and Quercus, two of Great Britain's leading publishing companies. Josh has ghostwritten numerous books for A-list celebrities, sports stars, politicians, oligarchs, and adventurers, including five Sunday Times bestsellers. He's also the author of two previous nonfiction titles under his own name. Josh is here todY to discuss his third and newest book,The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin's Greatest Enemy which is available now from Penguin Random House.

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Clandestine Laboratories

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Today Justin sits down with Sam McKnight. Sam is a graduate student at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He's also the founder and director of Khthon, a non-governmental organization that uses open source intelligence, satellite imagery, and digital analysis to document war crimes and locate mass graves in conflict zones. Sam founded Khthon in 2022, and since then, it has grown to include more than 100 volunteers dedicated to uncovering and reporting mass graves. He's here to discuss Khthon’s work worldwide, their successes, and their plans for the future.

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Today Justin sits down with Dr. Niccolò Petrelli. Niccolò is a research scholar at the Center for International and Strategic Studies at LUISS in Rome, Italy. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Political Science, his Master's degree in International Relations, and his PhD in Political Science, all from Roma Tre University. He has also published many papers and journal articles on counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and intelligence matters. He's here to discuss the relationship between US and Italian intelligence during the Cold War, and in particular, the Gladio operation, which armed, trained, and funded personnel intended to operate behind enemy lines in the event that World War III broke out in Europe. The Gladio teams were also suspected of being employed to suppress communism in Italy.

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Clandestine Laboratories

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