The Live Drop

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Witold’s experience as a daring underground operator working within and around the Polish borders offers a view into the relationships, ratlines, allies, enemies, and tradecraft necessary to fund and supply the Solidarity insurgency movement from the late 70s until the Communists were peacefully voted out of power in 1989.  He speaks to me from an apartment in Warsaw near the former Ghetto where his relatives had struggled a generation before him. 

His unassuming codename - Makaron - means ‘noodle' in Polish, which may offer an explanation to why he was never caught.  After the interview he showed me his favorite spot in Old Warsaw to lose a tail, how they encoded messages using poetry, and the home of controversial Polish spy Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski.

This is the first episode in collaboration with my sponsor the Wende Museum of the Cold War in Los Angeles, California.  I’ve included one of my interviews for the The Wende Museum’s Historical Witness Project, sponsored by Fiona Chalum and Joel Aronowitz, which seeks to preserve voices of the Cold War for future generations. 

In November of last year I went to Warsaw, Poland to help retrieve historical documents and samzidat (smuggled during the near decade of martial law) for an upcoming exhibit for the Wende Museum.  I interviewed several key players in the Polish anti-communist movement, one of whom is my guest for this episode - Witold Radwanski.  

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Mark Valley
Creator/Host

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Live Drop episode 027, I meet up with an old friend of mine who among other things plays high stakes poker. I wanted to talk to him about that world, and perhaps see how it could inform the role of intelligence with the brinksmanship, nerve, bluff and distraction that are tools to a card player, and protection or transfer of clandestine information ie. when to show your cards. Joe doesn’t disappoint, he’s a natural storyteller and fills me in on some of the jargon like: What’s a fish? Stalking, Tilting, Action Player, Smooth Calling, Colluding and the Interview. He also reveals how important it is to control your breathing if the stakes are high and the nerves are starting to frazzle. You can find Joe Rivers on Instagram @rivers483 Thanks listeners for a wonderful first year of podcasting. I’ve learned an immense amount about interviewing and the world of intelligence, espionage, security and diplomacy. There is a lot of information out there: Always be listening, Share what you need to get what you want, build trust, provide something in return, consider sources, share a fact-based reality, consider your biases, put yourself in the shoes of the target, act like you belong, don’t stand if you can sit, rinse and repeat. more information available on the episode debrief at thelivedrop.com

Hello Listener,

If you've enjoyed this episode and would like to hear more, please consider signing up as a contributing patron and join the community for exclusive commentary and content.  A $10 a month donation will really keep us going ---> https://www.patreon.com/thelivedrop

Alternatively, if you would like to help make Season Three operational you could offer a one time donation of any amount right here ---> https://www.paypal.me/thelivedrop

Thank you for listening and your support,

Mark Valley
creator/host

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A trucker from upstate New York, David Rupert spent seven years informing for the FBI and MI5 while working his way as high as the IRA war council. His lengthy testimony brought justice to several key players in the supply and terrorism networks of the Troubles, including Real IRA leader Mickey McKevitt who’d had a significant role in the Armagh bombing which killed 31 civilians and injured hundreds shortly after the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998. Rupert learned his spycraft as he went along, with no prior instruction, only taking occasional counsel from his MI5 handlers and his own instincts from a career in the rough and tenebrous world of interstate trucking. Although he provided a trove of information for the FBI and British Intelligence, Rupert had never agreed to testify against those he’d worked with daily in the IRA. But a PBS documentary about the consequences of the Omagh Bombing convinced him he had to take the stand, which we’ll find out wasn’t as easy as it sounds. An engaging and congenial Rupert shares his perceptions of the Irish on their northern border from his arrival with his wife and collaborator Maureen, to his testimony deep in the Republic of Ireland, where loyalties are often at odds with personal identity, and safety. Find out more about him in Sean O’Driscoll’s book 'The Accidental Spy.'

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If you've enjoyed this episode and would like to hear more, please consider signing up as a contributing patron and join the community for exclusive commentary, and content.  A $10 a month donation will really keep us going ---> https://www.patreon.com/thelivedrop

Alternatively, if you would like to help make Season Three operational you could offer a one time donation of any amount right here ---> https://www.paypal.me/thelivedrop

Thank you for listening and your support,

Mark Valley
creator/host

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Stephen Hoyt is a University of Maryland Professor, former analyst and President of the USMLM Association - United States Military Liaison Mission in Berlin. USMLM in cooperation with British and French Allies were the only observers with daily access behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Mission reports provided not only a realistic picture of the Soviet Army, but a window into East German Society. Stephen talks about the origins, singularity and legacy of USMLM along with the Mission Potsdam Conference June 20-22nd of this year 2019 - sponsored by the University of Maryland and hosted by the Potsdam Museum, where notable speakers will discuss this unique HUMINT organization from a variety of perspectives.

Thomas Favia is a retired cavalryman and Sergeant First Class US Army. He served in Berlin from 1989 through the fall of the wall until 1993. He lives in Germany and enjoys the occasional good cigar with brothers-in-arms of various nationalities. More information about the annual LTC Arthur Nicholson Memorial and upcoming conference events can be found on USMLM website.

USMLM Association Website  

Cold War Spies - USMLM Page

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If you've enjoyed this episode and would like to hear more, please consider signing up as a contributing patron and join the community for exclusive commentary, and content.  A $5 a month donation will really keep us going - https://www.patreon.com/thelivedrop

Alternatively, if you would like to help make Season 3 operational you could make a one time donation of any amount right here ---> https://www.paypal.me/thelivedrop

Thank you for listening and your support,

Live Drop Team

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Top counterintelligence and interrogation expert Stuart Herrington shares from a renowned and decorated intelligence career.  He sets the stage with his introduction to military intelligence duty in Cold War Berlin in 1968.

Over the course of a friendly conversation he comments on: The Fall of Saigon, lunch with Henry Kissinger and his most significant command as Director, U.S. Army Foreign Counterintelligence Activity (FCA), between January 1988 and May 1992. During his tenure as Director of FCA, he pursued and wrapped up two of the most sensitive and significant espionage cases in post WW II history: Hungarian operative Clyde Lee Conrad & US Army Analyst James Hall.

A vocal opponent of enhanced interrogation methods, Herrington cites the effectiveness of his more humanitarian approach in Operation Just Cause in Panama, The Gulf War, MACV SOG in the Vietnamese provinces, The Iraq War, and Guantanamo. 

And he's prolific, having provided us with a published first-hand catalog of his experiences.  He also shares some writing advice along with lessons learned from a fascinating and four-decade intelligence career.

Books by Stuart Herrington:

Traitors Among Us
Stalking the Vietcong
Peace with Honor? An American Reports on Vietnam, 1973-1975
Silence Was A Weapon: The Vietnam War in the Villages

Stuart also appears in the documentary film The Fall of Saigon

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