SPYCRAFT 101

This week Justin sits down with former police officer, Navy officer, and US Secret Service special agent Stephen Monteiro. Steve spent 20 years in the Secret Service, where he was a member of the Presidential Protective Division at the Clinton White House, among other assignments. After retiring from federal service and continuing on as a contractor, Steve was tasked with a mysterious case that wo...

This week, Justin sits down with historian and author Ann Todd. From working at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia,  to writing and consulting for the National Geographic Society and giving presentations for the National Park Service on the history of the OSS, Ann is an expert. Ann joins us today to discuss OSS action in the "forgotten theater" of WWII, China-Burma-India...

Today, Justin sits down with author and researcher, Dr. Andrew Jeffrey. Alongside his historical books, Andrew has made on-air contributions for British, Dutch and French documentaries and is a former Royal Navy Reservist, and a volunteer Lifeboatman with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Andrew's latest book tells the tale of a Scottish civilian Mary Curran, who spotted the suspicious acti...

This week, Justin chats with investigative reporter and author Bryan Denson. Focusing on true crime, scandals, and government corruption, Bryan has spent his career reporting for publications like The House Post, Reader's Digest, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Tomes, and the Oregonian. He's also written three nonfiction book series on infamous criminals like Aldrich Ames and the Unibomber, as well as o...

This week, Justin chats with Alejandra Suárez Barcala Ogorodnik. Alejandra  was born in Madrid in 1975 and currently works in Spain in the medical industry as a disease area specialist. She never knew her father growing up, and her mother told her he was a German mathematician who was killed in an automobile accident when Alejandra was a baby. When she was a teenager, she slowly began to uncover a...

Today, Justin sits down with  retired FBI special agent Raymond J. Batvinis, who served in the FBI for 25 years, from 1972 until 1997. Raymond worked primarily in counterterrorism and counterintelligence, and shortly after the 9/11 attacks, he returned to teach the Basic Counterintelligence course at the FBI Academy at Quantico. During his career, he worked on several very high profile espionage c...

 This week, Juston sits down with Thomas Maier. Thomas is an author and award-winning investigative journalist, having worked at NewDay since 1984. He has also written several historical books, including When Lions Roar about the Churchills and the Kennedys, and Masters of Sex , which was produced as a series on Showtime for four years. His latest book, Mafia Spies, details the inside story the in...

This week Justin sits down with Kathy Hogue, daughter of World War II OSS agent Doc Hogue. Her father's service includes one of the most important and least understood missions of WWII--the mining of the uranium that built the atomic bomb. Kathy herself is also very accomplished, having worked for the Department of Defense for over a decade, enrolled at the US Navy Postgraduate School, and worked...

This week, Justin sits down with author and historian Giles Milton. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society in London, Giles has written 11 nonfiction books and three novels. Today, they focus on his book Russian Roulette to tell the story of the British MI6 spies who stopped Lenin from spreading the communism on a truly global scale after the Bolshevik Revolution. Connect with Giles: gilesmilton...

This week, Justin chats with Dr. Paul. O'Hara. Paul is an associate professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, teaching a wide range of compelling history courses.  Paul and Justin discuss the Pinkerton Detective Agency, the most famous and most notorious detective agency in us history. From its origins to its scandals, near downfalls, and recent activities, The Pinkertons have helped sha...

This week, Justin sits down with trial lawyer Michael Pullara. Michael has faced formidable foes in the court room, from the US Department of Defense to criminals with connections to the Italian mob. But today, Michael and Justin discuss the case of CIA case officer Freddie Woodruff, who was shot and killed on assignment in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Michael knew Freddie's family and b...

Spycraft 101 is back! In this episode, Justin sits down with former smoke jumper and Continental Air Services employee, Toby Scott. They dive in to all things smoke jumping and discuss his work in Southeast Asia during the secret war in Laos. Toby was also involved in Operation Cold Feet in the Arctic Circle, among many other daring missions and and global events. He was close friends fellow smoke...

This week, Justin releases a quick public service announcement to let listeners know of a short upcoming hiatus. Connect with Spycraft 101: Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms , here . spycraft101.com IG: @spycraft101 Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com Patreon: Spycraft 101 Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One , here . Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm...

This week, Justin talks with author Henry Schlesinger on the topic of a notorious espionage strategy: the honey traps. Honey traps utilized seduction, from male or female spies, to glean information, create scandal, or acquire money. They've been used in intelligence for centuries--perhaps even millennia. Henry shares several stories of some of the mist influential espionage seductions in history,...

In this episode, Justin describes espionage activity in the decades-long race to the stars between the United States and the Soviet Union. The two superpowers devoted significant time, resources, and manpower to outshining each other in technological advancement in aerospace. So much occurred in this time period that it would be impossible to cover it all in one episode, so Justin highlights parti...

This week, Justin chats with investigative editor, veteran reporter, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and author Michael Sallah. Michael tells the story of William Morgan, an ex-paratrooper who went to Cuba in 1957 to help revolution efforts against then-dictator  Fulgencio Batista. Morgan worked alongside the likes of Che Guevara, leading an entire guerilla himself. When the revolution ended and C...

Today, Justin sits down with legendary CIA case officer and author Robert Baer. Robert served all over the world between the late 1970s and late 1990s, spending much of his time in the middle east. He has written several nonfiction books about his experiences, including See No Evil, the book that inspired the 2005 film Syriana , for which he helped write the screenplay. George Clooney's character...

In this special episode of Spycraft 101, Justin answers questions listeners have submitted on Instagram. Tune in to hear stories of espionage in New Zealand, highly-successful operations, weapons and gadgets (including the fake scrotum concealment device), and more. If you submitted a question that wasn't answered, look out for our next Q & A episode. Connect with Spycraft 101: Check out Justin's...

This week, Justin returns with retired CIA paramilitary operations officer, Felix Rodriguez. Felix took part in many of the pivotal events of the Cold War from covert action against Fidel Castro in Cuba to operations in the Vietnam War and Laos to supporting to the Contras in Nicaragua. Today, Felix shares Che Guevara's failures as well as stories of Felix's time spent in Vietnam and Nicaragua. He...

In this episode, Justin sits down with retired CIA paramilitary operations officer, Felix Rodriguez. Felix took part in many of the pivotal events of the Cold War from covert action against Fidel Castro in Cuba to operations in the Vietnam War and Laos to supporting to the Contras in Nicaragua. Most famously, he was one of two Cubans that took part in the hunt for Che Guevara in Bolivia. Today, Fe...

This week, Justin sits down with journalist Chris Carola. Chris spent many years following the story of Jack Wilpers, one of the last surviving men on a team of World War II soldiers that captured Hideki Tojo, prime minister of Japan during WWII and a convicted war criminal. Jack was difficult to get ahold of, but Chris never backed down. Hear about Jack's interesting upbringing, his journey to co...

Today, Justin sits down with Terry McIntosh. Terry enlisted in the army at age 17, and joined special forces at age 18. He soon became one of the youngest men to wear a green beret in Vietnam. Terry was involved in the infamous Green Beret Affair, in which a Vietnamese double agent was identified and killed by his special forces team. Terry shares his journey to special forces, his experiences in...

Today, Justin chats with writer, academic, and engineer George Bearfield. George is the grandson of Jaroslav Bublík, one of the last men to parachute into Bohemia and Moravia (now Czechoslovakia) in World War II. Jaroslav and his cousin Josef conducted espionage operations in the region while it was occupied by Nazi Germany until Josef was famously killed in Prague soon after assassinating German...

This week, Justin chats with Enrique "Ric" Prado, a retired case officer and Paramilitary operative of the CIA.  Ric is also the author of his memoir, Black Ops.  Ric dives into his career, from fleeing the Peter Pan Project and his home country of Cuba to serving in Nicaragua with the Contras, including past guest Mike Lima AKA Luis Moreno.  Soon after his time in Latin America and a few years in...

This week, Justin sits down with John Capello, former Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and air attache and founder and president of the Halyard Mission Foundation. The mission itself involved rescuing over 500 US airmen from occupied Serbia in WWII with the help of Serbian nationals.  John shares his own experiences as an air attache in Israel and Serbia. Each country posed difference challenges and a...