True Life Spy Stories

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ From A to Z, the secret world has a story for every letter. The spy chief who ran Nazi intelligence while sabotaging it from within. The corpse that fooled Hitler. The tunnel the KGB already knew about before the first shovel...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ On 6 September 1976, Soviet Air Force Lieutenant Viktor Belenko defected to the West in a MiG-25 interceptor, landing at a civilian airport in Japan and handing American intelligence the most secret aircraft in the Soviet arsena...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ In 1982, an American signals intelligence sergeant walked past the Soviet consulate in West Berlin and dropped a letter through its mail slot, offering his services to the KGB. Within weeks he had opened a second channel to the Eas...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Welcome to Dead Drop. In this week's dossier: FSB operative Zarubina jailed 14 months in New York; the Pentagon raises Israel's espionage threat rating to critical; Tulsi Gabbard resigns as US Director of National Intelligence...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠ John Anthony Walker Jnr. ran the largest and most damaging espionage ring in Cold War history. For nearly 18 years he and his co-conspirators sold US Navy secrets to the Soviets. Yet things inevitably got too big and too messy. John Walk...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Welcome to Dead Drop. In this week's dossier: A former CIA officer steals gold bars worth more than 40 million dollars;  Former MI6 chief, Sir Alex Younger, dies at the age of 62;  IRA spy asks a judge if she can take off her ankle ta...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠ On 28 August 2013, a woman named Monica Witt sent an email from Dubai. She was about to board a flight to Tehran. The message went to a contact in Iran who had been managing her movement for months. "I'm signing off and heading out!" she wr...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠ Welcome to Dead Drop. In this week's dossier: 1. CIA conducts covert operations Mexican cartel; 2. Russia hijacks 18,000 home routers across 120 countries to silently steal credentials; 3. Austria hands down a unanimous guilty verdict in...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠ In 1990, a German court made a finding that sent shockwaves through the Western intelligence community. If the Cold War had turned hot, NATO would have been forced to choose between capitulation and launching nuclear weapons on German soil. Th...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠ Welcome to Dead Drop. In this week's dossier: 1. Iran hangs three men for alleged Mossad and CIA espionage as the post-war ceasefire teeters on the edge; 2. Britain records its first-ever convictions for Chinese espionage; 3. Norway seizes a...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠ In 1968 a Soviet nuclear submarine sank in the North Pacific with 98 men aboard. The Soviets never found it. The Americans did — and they spent six years and half a billion dollars trying to secretly raise it from three miles down. This is the story...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠ Welcome to Dead Drop. In this week's dossier: Russia's secret unit for assassinations and sabotage finally unmasked — after one of its operatives used Google Translate to arrange a murder and was arrested in Colombia; A former Goog...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠ In October 1957, a young Ukrainian man walked into a Munich office building, passed a stranger on a stairwell, and killed him with a weapon that left no trace. Two years later, he did it again. Both deaths were recorded as heart attacks. On 13 August 19...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠ She walked 1,400 kilometres across Europe. Cycled through Nazi Germany as Hitler rose to power. And then, in the middle of the most elaborate deception operation in history, she made a decision that would cost her everything. Nathalie Sergueiew, known to e...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠ Welcome to Dead Drop. In this week's dossier: Russian spy fleet caught stalking the undersea cables that carry the West's internet and power; Iran's wartime spy ring penetrates the Israeli Air Force — and its hackers hit American h...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠ When Vasili Mitrokhin defected to Britain in 1992, he brought with him six cases of handwritten notes copied from the KGB's most secret files — material spanning from the October Revolution to the eve of the Gorbachev era. The FBI called it the most co...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠ In 1972, the KGB exiled Vasili Mitrokhin to the archives. It was meant to be the end of his career. Instead, it gave him access to everything. For the next twelve years, the failed spy read every classified file that passed through his hands, took secret note...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠ Welcome to Dead Drop. In this week's dossier: The CIA runs a live deception campaign inside Iran to rescue its down F15 airmen; Israel assassinates the head of the Iranian spy chief, again The Russian FSB publicly names and expels another Brit...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠ Was Jeffrey Epstein a spy? It's a question that has migrated, with the release of more than 3.5 million pages of investigative records under the 2026 Epstein Files Transparency Act, from internet speculation into a credible hypothesis. In this epi...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠ On the morning of 17 December 2024, a bomb concealed inside an electric scooter killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov outside his Moscow apartment building. The man who planted it had no idea who he was really working for. This episode tells the story...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠ 13 October 1943. For four months, the Gestapo in Paris had been hunting a British wireless operator codenamed Madeleine. She changed her appearance and safe houses constantly, vanishing every time the German direction-finding vans closed in on her signal. She wa...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠ In January 2026, Britain approved plans for the largest Chinese embassy in Europe; a 5.4-acre fortress opposite the Tower of London with 208 underground rooms and a concealed chamber sitting one metre from critical financial data cables. Beijing refused to...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠ On 28 February 2026, a joint US-Israeli airstrike killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his Tehran compound. He died alongside his son, his defence minister, the head of the Revolutionary Guard, and around 40 other senior officials. Three loca...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠ For twenty-five years, the CIA hunted a ghost. They knew he existed—his fingerprints were on operations across Europe. But they had no idea what he looked like. They called him "the man without a face." Markus Wolf was East Germany's spymaster for over...

Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠ In September 2024, thousands of pagers exploded across Lebanon in a single afternoon. The devices had been built by Israeli intelligence, packed with explosives, and sold to Hezbollah through a network of fake companies stretching from Budapest to Sofia. The oper...