British aristocrat Donald Maclean, as a member of the Cambridge 5, worked his way to the top of the British Foreign Office while secretly working as KGB spy. His wife was in on it the whole time. How did an extremely wealthy and noticeable couple successfully spy for so long, and why? Learn about their backgrounds, deeds, and fates. This is the fourth episode to deal with the Cambridge 5. The other episodes are: Episode 7: Secret Agent Super Spy: Harold Kim Philby: The 1st in a series on the Cambridge 5, Episode 10: Kim Philby Part 2: I Really Must Be Going; The second episode on our series on ..read more

This is our third episode in a three part series on CIA Directors who shaped US policy towards the Soviet Union and now Russie. I give an overview of the life of John Brennan, a straight talking Irishman from New Jersey. The episode ends with anecdotes about a stateside former American sailor pretending to be in the Donbass while promoting pro-Kremlin propaganda, a Ukrainian operation to trick Russians into burning down their own recruitment stations, a hacker who steals from the FSB and gives to Ukraine and the FBIs prosecution of alleged Chinese agents on US soil. The agents allegedly h ..read more

This is our second episode in a three part series on CIA Directors who shaped US policy towards the Soviet Union. I give an overview of the life of Robert Gates a proverbial and literal boyscout. We also give a brief news update about Wagner in Sudan and Armenia's frustration with Russia ..read more

From the OSS to CIA Director William Casey is the CIA Director who shaped America's Cold War policy and indirectly gave us GPS. Find out how. This is the first episode in a three part series on CIA Directors who influenced our present policy towards Russia. Though a sober man Casey was not without controversy. At minute 19:00 there is an interview with Rebecca Maciorowski. She is an American nurse who is volunteering as a medic in Ukraine. You may donate to her via paypal at bechendry@gmail.com, or at www.bymeacoffee.com/bekamaciorowski Rebecca Maciorowski mentioned the need for the following ..read more

Picture this: You're a high-ranking Air Force official overseeing research and development of new, top-secret aircraft. Your job is Operational Security, which is to say, keeping it secret. Then one day, a civilian who's an expert on radio waves, as well as a bit of a photography buff, comes to you with a massive collection of pictures and data related to the top-secret aircraft you're supposed to be keeping secret. Not ideal, right? But then this civilian explains that he's pretty sure what he has is evidence of an alien invasion. So you look him in the eye and you tell him he's onto somethin ..read more

In 1986, computers were still the domain of the wily nerd. They wouldn't become cool until the World Wide Web was invented. And even then, computers weren't really that much cooler until DSL connections came along. But Clifford Stoll, an unemployed astronomer, took an IT job at a university, where his superior nerdity would lead him to be the first IT person to discover and track down a computer hacker. That hacker was sniffing around private U.S. military and national defense databases, selling whatever information he could find to the KGB. Also, this week, Josh, whom you may recognize as the ..read more

Mikhail Gorbachev died on August 30, 2022, at the age of 91. Brandon discusses the man's life and political trajectory while making the case that Gorbachev's legacy deserves more appreciation. And I, Topher, talk about new details in the unending drama that is former President Donald Trump versus the National Archives. Or FBI. Or Department of Justice.  We also talk about a Ukrainian immigrant named Inna Yashchyshyn, or as Donald Trump, Senator Lindsey Graham and former Missouri governor Eric Greitens knew her, Anna de Rosthchild. She posed as a member of the famous, wealthy family in ord ..read more

Brandon walks us through some of the misunderstood, overblown, and under-reported aspects of Russia's long-term efforts to sow derision and division among Americans. How involved was Russia with the NRA? Has the Kremlin been stirring up secessionist movements? And what's up with those crazy Russian dashcam videos? We don't really talk about that last question, but we're still curious. NRA Infiltrated https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlin-used-nra-to-help-trump-in-2016-says-senate-intelligence-committee?fbclid=IwAR0qMckztLmcsp7TzK0bmwVl5n3J_dSppQZwfsNp0mKd8ukEe7ykb8tHh74 https://www.npr.org/201 ..read more

On Monday, August 8th, the FBI conducted a search of Trump’s Mar A Lago mansion, seizing 11 boxes of documents. It was later disclosed that the boxes were classified material, including some labeled Top Secret, that the National Archives and the Department of Justice say Trump was not authorized to take with him after he left the White House.  In mid January, 2022, 15 boxes of presidential records were moved from Mar A Lago back to National Archives. Officials involved in the matter said Trump dragged his feet on the request for documents from his time in the White House, but eventually g ..read more

Sorry for the delay. We recorded this episode to release last week, but I (Topher) had a lot going on and neglected to edit and publish it on time. So here it is for this week. We hope you didn't miss us too much. In this episode, we dive into the world of "signature reduction" -- which is made up of efforts to hide agents' true identities online in the world of social media and open-source intelligence. All of this is being produced by a massive network of military and private contractor efforts, which also include constructing fake digital personas for agents working under cover in the field ..read more