The Rest Is Classified

Was it possible to avoid KGB surveillance in Moscow as a CIA agent at the height of the Cold War? What motivates someone to spy on their country for an opposing power? And how did Adolf Tolkachev manage to smuggle out the top secret documents the CIA needed to defeat the USSR? Adolf Tolkachev has been recruited by the CIA as a mole inside a highly sensitive government department in Moscow. His job...

How did the CIA recruit a Russian asset in Moscow during the height of the Cold War? Why would someone be so determined to defect from the Soviet Union and spy for the US? And what would happen if the KGB found out they had a traitor in their midst? Adolf Tolkachev had a vendetta against the Soviet state and became determined to orchestrate its demise. An expert on Soviet radar, Tolkachev realised...

Is the Chinese state using TikTok to spy on you? Why did President Biden move to shut TikTok down in the US the day before Trump's inauguration? And where does TikTok fit into China's cognitive warfare strategy? On Sunday 19 January, TikTok users in the United States opened their apps to receive an error message from the company, explaining that "a law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S."....

The net is closing in around Anna Chapman. She is being watched by the FBI as they suspect her of being a Russian spy. Her moves are being tracked, but it is not as simple as they think. With the US and Russia trying to reset relations and President Medvedev stateside, the FBI are not in a place to be arresting Russians in New York. Especially when they can’t prove what she is. So what will they d...

How did a Russian spy manage to infiltrate the upper echelons of London and New York society? Was Anna Chapman really an old fashioned Russian honeytrap or was she underestimated by the world's press? What was life like for wealthy Russians in "Londongrad" in the early 21st century?  The year is 2001 and the 18-year-old daughter of a Russian oligarch is partying in London. She meets a handsome you...

What happens when an authoritarian state runs its security services like an organised crime syndicate? Why did a group of North Korean cyber criminals gamble away vast sums of stolen money in the casinos of Las Vegas? And did Kim Jong Un's spies get away with their billion dollar heist? After over a year of work, the North Korean cyber criminals are inside the Central Bank of Bangladesh and about...

How did a group of North Korean cyber criminals manage to pull off the biggest bank heist in history? Did Kim Jong Un really orchestrate the murder of his own brother? And what does it take to keep an authoritarian state afloat?  A seemingly innocuous spearfishing email lands in the inbox of an unsuspecting employee at the Central Bank of Bangladesh. Months of patient digital hacking follow, all m...

The daring, gadget-loving, mischievous founder of MI6. Mansfield Cumming, the first C, was a former navy man brought out of retirement to keep tabs on German spies around the outbreak of the First World War. Over the following decade he established MI6 and set it on course to be a central part of the British security apparatus. Known to test the mettle of potential employees by taking a knife out...

Did the assassination of Rafic Hariri lay the foundations for the ultimate downfall of the Assad regime? And was the Syrian dictator always destined for evil, or was evil thrust upon him? Rafic Hariri is looking over his shoulder, anxious for his future, with Bashar al-Assad hellbent on his removal from power. He steps up his security detail and coordinates convoluted exit strategies, but his effo...

How did Bashar al-Assad become one of the Middle East’s most feared dictators? What role did Hezbollah play in the assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister in 2005? And how did Assad’s rise to ultimate power mirror the ascent of Michael Corleone in the Godfather? As the new millennium dawned, Bashar al-Assad prepared to step into his father’s shoes as the next authoritarian president of Syria....

Mazar i-Sharif has fallen without much of a fight. The Taliban's grip on Afghanistan is looking all the more shaky. It seems as if the American policy to work with the warlords is paying dividends. Enemy fighters are surrendering to them. But is it all too rosy? In the centre of Mazar i-Sharif, the Americans take 400 Al-Qaeda captives to Qala-i-Jangi, the Fort of War. They believe they have surren...

What will western and Syrian spy services be focusing on following the fall of Bashar al-Assad? Is Russia and Iran’s withdrawal from Syria similar to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan? Were the security services predicting that the Assad regime would collapse so quickly? Join David McCloskey and Gordon Corera as they answer all these questions and more in this emergency episode of The Rest Is Cla...

America knew Al-Qaeda were behind the 9/11 attacks before the day was out. They knew they were being sheltered by the Taliban in Afghanistan and so the CIA went after them. Small teams were dropped behind enemy lines with bags of cash and very little else, instructed to link up with Afghan warlords like Abdul Rashid Dostum. It proved to be a devastating combination as they began to sweep through A...

The first coup attempt has failed. The Shah has fled to Baghdad. The CIA have told Kermit he can leave if he's in a jam, but he chooses not to. He wants to finish the job. The streets of Tehran are chaos; protesters against the Shah are out in their thousands and things are getting violent. But in this Kermit sees an opportunity. If he stokes enough disorder will the majority of the capital turn a...

Welcome... to the first episode of The Rest Is Classified! It's Iran 1951. Mohammad Mossadegh, fuelled by an ever-growing nationalism, has just been elected Prime Minister. Immediately he chooses to nationalise the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, much to the anger of the British who control the majority stake. In response, MI6 are determined to destabilise his government and remove him from power. So t...