PODCAST

SPYCRAFT 101

Justin Black

Welcome to your clandestine classroom.

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All Episodes

54:09

183. My Life As a Canadian Spy with Andrew Kirsch

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2025/02/10

Today Justin sits down with Andrew Kirsch. Andrew grew up in Toronto, Canada, and is a graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He worked as an investment advisor in London before applying for a position with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service or CCIS. He spent nearly 10 years as an intelligence officer working in several positions, including analyst, investigator, and as a special operations team leader. He now runs the Kirsch Consulting Group, a risk advisory firm b...

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42:41

182. The Most Damaging Espionage Case in History with...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2025/02/03

Today Justin talks to retired Special Agent Joe Navarro. Joe spent 25 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, primarily working on counterintelligence investigations. He is also a founding member of the National Security Division Behavioral Analysis Program, which focused on the behavior of spies, terrorists, and criminals. During his career, Joe developed tremendous expertise in nonverbal communication and body language, and after retiring, went on to write the international bestsell...

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39:42

181. From Anthropology to Espionage and Authorship...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2025/01/27

Today's guest is Kit Turner. Kit has worked as an anthropologist and archeologist in the U. S., Polynesia, and Southwest Asia. He later joined the Central Intelligence Agency where he spent 25 years working in East Asia, South Asia, and Europe, running sensitive operations against high priority objectives. He's been awarded the Intelligence Star, a commendation for valor after a dangerous deployment. He's also the author of a nonfiction book, four novels, and has published articles on intelli...

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37:10

180. Evolution of Drone Warfare From Vietnam to the...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2025/01/20

Today's guest is David Axe. David is a journalist and filmmaker. His work has appeared in The Daily Beast, Vice, Reuters, Wired.com, The Washington Post, Forbes, and many other publications. He's published several books including fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels. He's also written, produced, or directed several independent films. David is here to discuss the origins of American battlefield drones and how their early successes and failures helped inform the continued development of dron...

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77:09

179. Who Was D. B. Cooper? with Pat Boland

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2025/01/13

This week Justin talks with Pat Boland. Pat has worked in several different positions in sales and marketing, including as a Portfolio Analyst, Consultant, and Senior Account Executive. She's currently working as a writer and researcher. But aside from her career, she's also devoted a great deal of time to investigating one of the most intriguing mysteries of the 20th century, the true identity of the famous skyjacker known as D. B. Cooper, who quite literally disappeared into thin air with $...

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72:22

178. Czechoslovakia's Cold War Liaisons with the...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2025/01/06

Today Justin sits down with Dr. Daniela Richterova. Daniela received her master's degree from King's College London and her PhD from the University of Warwick. She is an associate professor of intelligence studies at the department of war studies at King's College London, as well as the co director of the King's Center for the Study of Intelligence. Her work has been published in international affairs, foreign policy, and other major media outlets and journals. She's here to discuss the culm...

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34:30

177. Traitor or CIA Double Agent? The Richard Craig...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/12/30

In this solo episode, Justin share some of his own research. Today he discusses the very unusual case of Richard Craig Smith. Craig was a former army counterintelligence agent who was arrested in April, 1984 for passing classified information to a KGB officer in Japan on several occasions. There are two very different versions of Craig's story. He did meet with a Soviet intelligence agent. He did give him information on American double agents and he was paid for this information. Craig did no...

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115:26

176. First to Afghanistan: The Earliest Days of the...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/12/23

This week's guest is David Tyson. David served in the U. S. Army first as an enlisted artilleryman and later as an intelligence officer. During his time in the Army, he discovered he had an affinity for learning languages, and after leaving the service, he began working towards a graduate degree, focusing his studies on Central Asia. He was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1996, and five years later, was one of the first Americans to enter Afghanistan in November 2001.&nbs...

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16:34

[BONUS] Espionage in TV: The Sandbaggers

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/12/19

Join Justin for a special review episode of The Sandbaggers, a British television series that ran for three seasons between 1978 and 1980 following characters who worked at MI6. In Justin's opinion, this show is one of the best ever fictional portrayals of covert operations and the day-to-day running of an intelligence agency. You can find more reviews on Patreon, and catch The Sandbaggers on Prime Video.Connect with Spycraft 101:Get Justin's latest book, Murder, Intrigue, and Conspiracy: Sto...

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75:05

175. The Real Miss Moneypenny: Forgotten Women of the...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/12/16

This week Justin sits down with Dr. Claire Hubbard-Hall. Claire received her doctorate in European history from the University of Hull. She has lectured and taught history courses at several British universities over the past 16 years with a particular focus on secret intelligence. She's also appeared in several television documentaries and written articles for many different publications. Today she discusses the story of the often overlooked contributions of many long serving and hard workin...

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64:15

174. A German Spy Ring on Staten Island with Robert...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/11/25

This week Justin talks with Robert Weingartner. Rob is a lifelong resident of Staten Island, New York. He graduated from Drake Business School in Manhattan in 2002, and he enjoys reading and learning about history. Over the past few years, Rob has been researching an espionage story that began right in his own hometown. I invited Rob onto the podcast to discuss his research into a German spy ring, which operated on Staten Island during World War II.Connect with Robert:Facebook Group: WWII Ger...

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72:36

173. The Real Secrets of Area 51 with Peter Merlin

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/11/18

Today Justin sits down with Peter Merlin. Peter is an author, historian, and college instructor. He received his Bachelor's of Science degree in Aeronautical Studies from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and has just completed his Master's degree in Aviation Management from Southern Illinois University. He's been a freelance writer and researcher for more than 30 years and has worked as a historian and archivist at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards, California. He current...

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89:53

[REPLAY] The Green Beret Defector with Greg Walker

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/11/11

This week Justin replays one of his personal favorite episodes, number 26, when author and former special forces officer Greg Walker shared the little-known story of a David Baez, a green beret defector. Baez was a Nicaraguan national whose father was killed by U.S.-backed President Samosa after voicing his displeasure with inequalities that had risen under Samosa's rule. After immigrating the U.S. and joining the Army (and then Special Forces), Baez found himself in El Salvador watching the ...

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81:18

172. Secrets of the Spycatcher Affair with Tim Tate

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/11/04

Today Justin sits down with repeat guest Tim Tate. Tim has worked as a documentary filmmaker and an investigative journalist for more than 40 years, and in that time has published 19 books and produced 80 documentaries. Some of the topics he's covered in the past include China's slave labor gulags, the worst child murderer in British history, and the orphans left behind after the Vietnam War. Today he discusses the topic of his latest book. It's the story of Peter Wright, MI5 senior counterin...

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71:24

171. Out of the Shadows and Into the Boardroom:...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/10/28

This week's guest is Dr. Lewis Sage-Passant. Lewis is a former British military intelligence officer and holds a PhD in Intelligence Studies. He's currently the global head of intelligence for one of Europe's most valuable companies, where he helps the firm navigate geopolitical, security, and industrial espionage risks. He also teaches courses in intelligence studies as an adjunct professor at Sciences Po Paris. His work has appeared in many publications and media organizations, including BB...

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63:28

170. The Secret History of the Civil War with Patrick...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/10/21

This week, Justin welcomes back 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 the U.S. Marines. He's 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 on Terror and more. He's also the author of The Brenner Assignment, which informed episode n...

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44:23

169. MKUltra and the Real Mind-Altering Potential of...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/10/14

Today Justin talks with Norman Ohler. Norman is a best selling novelist, a journalist, and a screenwriter. He's written three novels, which comprise the City Trilogy, and while working in the West Bank in 2004, he interviewed Yasser Arafat in what turned out to be the final interview of his life before he passed away in November of that year. He's also the author of the non fiction book Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany, published in English in 2016. In this episode he discusses his newest book,...

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61:24

168. Unveiling the October Surprise: The Treason That...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/10/07

This week Justin sits down with Craig Unger. Craig is a journalist and the author of eight books. He's a graduate of Harvard University, where he worked as an editor for The Harvard Crimson. He's written articles which have appeared in The Washington Post, The Guardian, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Esquire, and other publications. He also served as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, where he covered national security and foreign affairs for more than 15 years. He's here today to di...

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70:37

167. The Real Guns of 007 with Caleb Daniels...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/09/30

This week Justin talks with Caleb Daniels. Caleb is a lifelong fan of the James Bond films and novels, as well as a firearms enthusiast from Kansas City, Missouri. For seven years, he worked in the firearms industry. In 2020, he started the website and social media pages titled Commando Bond, which are a passion project of his to bridge the gap between pop culture and the world of firearms by analyzing how to live like James Bond from his daily carry to his wardrobe and lifestyle.Todya he dis...

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58:00

166. My Father Defected to Russia for Love with...

SPYCRAFT 101 ·

2024/09/23

Today Justin sits down with Vladimir McMillin. Vlad was born in Moscow and worked for 20 years for the TASS Russian news agency as a sports reporter. He immigrated to the United States in 1990 and has lived here since then. At a very young age, Vlad realized that there was something different about his family, because they were the only family named McMillan in all of Russia. Vlad's father was James McMillan, a former U.S. Army NCO stationed at the American Embassy in Moscow in the late 1940s...

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