SpyTalk

Fat Leonard was “a maritime fixer who provided harbor protection, barges, cranes, food, fresh water, sewage collection, and anything else a nuclear powered aircraft carrier might need.” It’s absolutely astonishing how easily Leonard corrupted so many ranking Navy officers by providing them with prostitutes, booze, cash and airline tickets.

Craig Whitlock
https://twitter.com/CraigMWhitlock

Fat Leonard
How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy
https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Craig-Whitlock/162473096

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There are friendly nations, but no friendly intelligence services, goes an old saw in the spy business. What that means in practicality is that we have close intelligence relationships with our allies, but in many cases, we also spy on each other, not entirely trusting what they’re telling us.  In no place is this convoluted arrangement better exemplified than the security relationship between US and Israel, who have a long history of snooping on each other while closely working together on mutual targets, like Iran and its allied militias, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and now, Hamas in Gaza. 

Here to discuss that with me today is my old friend and colleague Jonathan Broder. He’s been in and out of the Middle East for decades, in particular Israel, whose struggles and wars he began covering many decades ago as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press and Chicago Tribune based in Tel Aviv. He’s also been a foreign policy editor and writer for Congressional Quarterly and Newsweek, and today we’re blessed to have him as a contributing editor at SpyTalk, where he’s written a number of shrewd pieces since the Hamas invasion of Israel last Oct. 7.

Jonathan Broder
https://twitter.com/BroderJonathan

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Jason Leopold, a senior reporter with Bloomberg News, has literally been getting under the skin of government bureaucracies for decades. His weapon: The Freedom of Information Act, enacted by Congress in the mid-1960s because the feds, well, had an insidious propensity to bury embarrassing, or even illegal, acts under layers of official secrecy. Over the years the law has been strengthened—not that it’s stopped the government from continuing its bad behavior. 

That’s where Leopold, a multiple prize winning, much admired, relentless digger, comes in. The 55-year-old journalist is a legend for forcing the government to release explosive documents ranging from Hillary Clinton’s secret email server to CIA torture procedures to Donald Trump’s misrouting, should we say, of highly classified documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. For his efforts, the FBI labeled him an “FOIA terrorist,” a moniker he cheerfully welcomes.

May 1st marked the seventh anniversary of his most favorite FOIA triumph, the release of details on a threatening telephone call a person imitating a Mafia thug—all but certainly Trump—made to a lawyer representing investors going after Trump after the failure of his Atlantic City casino. It seemed like a good day to ring Jason up.

Jason Leopold

https://twitter.com/JasonLeopold

https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/foia-files

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Last month’s spectacular terrorist attack on a concert venue on the outskirts of Moscow, which left 144 people dead, was quickly followed by startling news that US intelligence had warned the Russians about the impending assault. When the Kremlin said the warnings hadn’t been specific, moreover, US officials pushed back, saying, in effect, “Oh yes they were,” and added details to its rejoinder. Likewise, it turned out that back in January, US intelligence had warned Iran about an impending Islamic State terrorist attack at a gathering to honor its fallen Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani, who had been killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad.  

The revelations that our spy services had actually warned two of our greatest mortal enemies astounded many people and triggered a lot of acidic commentary, confusion and the inevitable conspiracy theories on social media. 

Today’s guest, former CIA case officer and base chief Laura Thomas, who held a number of senior intelligence positions during her nearly 16 years of government service, says those actions followed a standard practice in American intelligence. It’s called “a duty to warn.” And she’s here to explain how that seemingly esoteric, even confounding, practice is not only a staple of the spy world—at least on the American side—but it has some espionage benefits as well. 

Laura Thomas
https://twitter.com/laurae_thomas

https://www.lauraethomas.com/

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New SpyTalk Contributing Editor Mike Isikoff pokes holes in 60 Minutes’ blockbuster story.

Michael Isikoff
https://twitter.com/Isikoff

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Jeff talks with Henry Schlesinger, author of "Honey Trapped: Sex, Betrayal, and Weaponized Love."

Henry Schlesinger
Honey Trapped: Sex, Betrayal, and Weaponized Love
https://a.co/d/cwXy65Z

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Jonna Mendez, former CIA chief of disguises, discusses her new book, “In True Face: A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked.”

Jonna Mendez
In True Face: A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked
https://www.amazon.com/True-Face-Womans-Life-Unmasked/dp/154170312X

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Former top CIA ops official Dan Hoffman talks with Jeff about options on Putin.

Daniel Hoffman
https://twitter.com/danielhoffmanDC

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Former US Army “influence ops” specialist Paul Cobaugh talks with Jeff about combatting conspiracy mongering. 

More from Paul Cobaugh
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-cobaugh-5253b335/
truthaboutthreats.com/

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Former CIA officials Kristin Wood and Martin Petersen built a Red Cell project on The Cipher Brief to challenge experts to explore how China came to supplant the US by 2041.

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