SPYCRAFT 101

This week Justin talks with Patrick K. O'Donnell. Patrick is a combat historian who has covered the war in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, where he was armed and participated in the battle alongside U. S. Marines. He is an expert on special operations units and irregular warfare. He's published 13 books so far on combat history, covering stories from the American Revolution, World War II. The Global War o...

This week, Justin speaks with Bill Mills. Bill holds a B.A. in History from Framingham State University and has written four nonfiction books about espionage during the First World War. Along the way, he has amassed a significant private collection of original documents, photos, and artifacts related to espionage during that war. Today he shares story of Germany's highly-coordinated and highly-eff...

This week Justin interviews Vince Houghton and Eric Driggs. Vince grew up in Miami, Florida, and is a veteran of the U. S. Army, where he served in The Balkans. He went on to receive a master's degree and PhD in Diplomatic and Military History from the University of Maryland. He spent more than six years as the historian and curator for the International Spy Museum in Washington, D. C., and is now...

Today just chats with Nick van der Bijl. Nick served for 24 years as a regular in the British Army in military intelligence, security, and later as an infantry officer in the Territorial Army. He saw active service in Northern Ireland, Belize, and with the 3 Commando Brigade during the Falklands Conflict. Since leaving the service, Nick has published 23 books on military history, covering several...

This week Justin sits down with Phillip Tourney. Phil enlisted in the U. S. Navy in February 1964. He served two tours on the USS Mauna Kea in the waters off Vietnam, then transferred to the USS Liberty, where he served three more tours. In June 1967, he was aboard the Liberty as a petty officer third class when the ship came under attack by Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats in the eastern Medite...

This week Justin talks with returning guest Aaron Stark. Aaron served in the U S army as an Apache helicopter pilot, including on two tours in Afghanistan. He finished his term of service teaching at his alma mater West Point Military Academy as an assistant professor of economics after completing his master's in business administration at Harvard University. Today he discusses Benedict Arnold, th...

This week Justin talks with Ann Hagedorn. Ann is a former staff writer for the Wall Street Journal and an award winning author of six narrative nonfiction books ranging in topics from thoroughbred horse racing to international kidnapping to unsung heroes of America's anti slavery movement and to the high drama of the tumultuous year 1919.  She's a graduate of Denison University and holds a master'...

This week Justin talks with Richard "Ricky" O'Rawe, a former member of the Irish Republican Army. Since leaving the IRA, Ricky has worked as a peace advocate and has written several nonfiction books as well as two novels about The Troubles.  Today Ricky shares the story of Britain's greatest intelligence coup during The Troubles: the recruitment of Freddie Scappaticci, the man who ran the IRA's in...

This week Justin sits down with Dr. Kathryn Olmsted.  Kathryn is a professor of history at the University of California, Davis, where she has taught since 2001. She's published five books and many journal articles focusing on the political and cultural history of the United States since World War I. Today she discusses the story of Elizabeth Bentley, a spy and agent handler for the Communist Party...

This week, Justin sits down with Ray Martinez. Ray served three consecutive terms as mayor of the city of Fort Collins, Colorado between 1999 and 2005. He was later elected to the Fort Collins City Council, serving a term from 2015 through 2019.  Ray is an active member of several local advisory boards in the Fort Collins area. He's also the author of 15 books and he is the founder of RM Consultin...

Today Justin talks with Dr. Larry Berman. Larry is a professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis. He has published four books dealing with the history of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. His work has also been featured on C-SPAN, The History Channel, and Vietnam: A Television History .  Today Larry discusses the incredible double life of Phạm Xuân Ẩn,  Time Magazine reporter...

Today Justin talks with Howard W. Cox. Howard is a former federal prosecutor, criminal investigator, and senior intelligence service officer. After graduating from Georgetown University Law Center, he served as a trial attorney for the U. S. Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps, followed by many other investigative and prosecutorial assignments throughout The federal government, his final positio...

This week, Justin sits down with Dr. David Strachan-Morris. David is a lecturer in intelligence and security at the University of Leicester, where he runs the M. A . in Intelligence and Security program, as well as being Director of Distance Learning for the School of History, Politics, and International Relations. Before embarking on an academic career, he served in the Intelligence Corps in the...

This week's guest is Justin Ling. Justin is an award winning investigative journalist whose work has appeared in Vice, Maclean's Foreign Policy, and The Globe and Mail , among other publications. He's also the author of the book Missing from the Village , which is about Toronto based serial killer Bruce MacArthur and has hosted two seasons of the Uncover Podcast for the Canadian Broadcasting Corpo...

This week, Justin sits down with Kati Marton. Kati is an author, journalist, and correspondent who has worked with National Public Radio and later ABC News , where she was the Bureau Chief in Germany. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker , The Times of London , The Washington Post , The Wall Street Journal , Newsweek , Vanity Fair, and many other publications. She has also published nine books...

This week Justin chats with Dr. Alan McPherson. Alan is a historian of U.S. foreign relations at Temple University and the director of the Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy. He received his Ph. D. in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his M.A. in history from San Francisco State University.  He has also published 11 books and dozens of articles on U. S. fore...

Today, Justin sits down with Vince Houghton. Vince is a veteran of the U.S. Army and served in the Balkans. He went on to receive a Master's Degree and PhD in Diplomatic and Military history from the University of Maryland. He spent more than six years as the historian and curator for the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, and is now the director of the National Cryptologic Museum located...

This week Justin sits down with Dr. Paul Winter. Paul is an independent historian, an author who specializes in wartime intelligence and military history, and a Red Team consultant. He's published articles in several journals and has written two books about World War II called D Day Documents and Defeating Hitler, as well as a third book called First In, Last Out, The Post War Organization, Employ...

This week Justin's guest is James B. Stockdale II. Jim has worked in public education for many years, including as an independent school headmaster, public school district superintendent, and as a distinguished educator for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. He's also the son of U. S. Navy aviator, Admiral James B. Stockdale. Admiral Stockdale was shot down over North Vietnam in September 1...

In this bonus episode, Justin shares his interview from The Gunfighter Project podcast. With host B, he discusses espionage stories that sound too incredible to be true.  The Gunfighter Project features members of some of the world's most elite military units. It's a conversational show where professionals from around the world share their expertise to help you protect yourself and your family and...

Justin's guest this week is Matti Friedman. Matti has worked as a correspondent for the Associated Press and his work has appeared in The New York Times , The Atlantic , Smithsonian Magazine , and elsewhere. He's also the author of four nonfiction books covering subjects related to the formation of Israel and the conflicts that followed the birth of that nation. Today Matti tells the story of four...

This week Justin talks with Robert Lancaster. Robert served in the British Army from 1977 until 1989, including time spent with 22nd SAS, and then in the Australian Army as a reserve special forces soldier. In 1991, he founded Lancaster's Global Risk Consultancy based in Australia, which has offered a wide variety of security surveillance, business intelligence, and counterintelligence services al...

This week Justin sits down with Naveed Jamali. Naveed is currently an editor at large for Newsweek, where he reports on national security issues. Naveed grew up in New York City, where his parents owned a small business selling technical journals and other hard to find publications. This inadvertently put them in touch with Russian agents working under diplomatic cover at the Soviet mission to the...

Today Justin talks with Peter Dowding. Peter worked as a solicitor and barrister for many years in Australia, beginning in 1966. He also served in various positions with the Labour Party and was elected to serve as the 24th Premier for Western Australia from 1988 until 1990. Peter is here to tell the story of his uncle Bruce who was studying in Paris when Germany invaded duriNg WWII and felt the c...

This week's guest is Tomasz Awasiewicz. Tom is an author, journalist, and expert on counterintelligence who has taught courses at the SWPS University of Social Sciences in Warsaw and elsewhere. Currently, he focuses on the Cold War-era intelligence and counterintelligence units of the Polish People's Republic. Today, Tom discusses a covert unit of Polish counterintelligence officers who specialize...