The Rest Is Classified
Enter the secretive world of spies, espionage, and covert operations. Hosted by former CIA analyst turned spy novelist, David McCloskey, and veteran security correspondent, Gordon Corera, this podcast unravels real-life spy stories, intelligence secrets, and the hidden power struggles shaping global events. From Cold War espionage to modern-day intelligence agencies like the CIA, MI6, and Mossad, explore the world of double agents, classified missions, and the shadowy figures who operate in them. Whether you're a true crime addict, a thriller fan, or fascinated by spy stories, this is the show for you.
Episodes
August 5, 2025 • 43 mins
How did the Stuxnet cyberweapon, designed to be covert, break out into the wild? What were the world-changing implications of this sophisticated attack on Iran's nuclear centrifuges, and what happened when it was exposed?
Listen as David McCloskey and Gordon Corera reach the finale of their series on the Stuxnet cyberweapon, discussing its discovery by cybersecurity researchers and the subsequent shift in tactics against Iran's ...
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August 3, 2025 • 33 mins
What was the "horse blanket" and how did it guide Obama's decisions on cyber warfare? How did the Stuxnet virus evolve to target Iran's centrifuges more aggressively? And what were the risks and ethical dilemmas involved in unleashing such a powerful and precise cyber weapon?
Listen as David McCloskey and Gordon Corera delve into the Obama administration's acceleration of the Olympic Games program, the sophisticated targeting me...
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July 29, 2025 • 39 mins
How did Israel and the US develop this new type of weapon which they would unleash upon Iran? Who will they rely on to get it into the system? And how will they try to sabotage Iran in silence?
Listen as David McCloskey and Gordon Corera discuss Israel’s development of a cyber weapon that could damage the Iranian nuclear program without anyone even knowing it was there.
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July 27, 2025 • 48 mins
When did Israel first attack Iran’s nuclear program? How did they do it? And how did Iran develop its nuclear program that has shaped so much of the politics of the Middle-East over the past 20 years?
Listen as David McCloskey and Gordon Corera discuss Israel’s first attempt to slow down Iran’s development of a nuclear bomb.
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July 22, 2025 • 50 mins
How do you switch sides and become a spy for the KGB? When the FBI is tracking you, how do you escape the country? And what is life like for a traitor on the other side of the Iron Curtain? Join David McCloskey and Gordon Corera as they discuss the life of Edward Lee Howard, his defection, and whether recent events mean there may soon be more like him.
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July 20, 2025 • 47 mins
How did an alcoholic, drug-addicted hippie end up working for the CIA? How are CIA agents trained? And what is the real purpose of a lie detector test? Join David McCloskey and Gordon Corera as they discuss the life of Edward Lee Howard, the only CIA officer ever to defect to Moscow.
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July 17, 2025 • 10 mins
What was it truly like inside MI5 and the heart of government as the 7/7 attacks unfolded? How did 7/7 expose a shocking blind spot for Britain's spy agency? And what lessons are still being applied two decades later to prevent future attacks?
Listen as David and Gordon sit down with former Head of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, to discuss her role in investigating the 7/7 bombings and how the attacks have stayed with her to this...
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July 15, 2025 • 35 mins
Two weeks after 52 people were murdered on London’s transport network, terrorists tried to strike again. How did the UK's domestic security services leverage bulk phone record collection to track down the fleeing bombers? And what was the significance of a gym membership card and abandoned bags in identifying the suspects?
In the final episode of our series, we explore the intense investigation following the foiled 21/7 attacks....
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July 13, 2025 • 34 mins
He left a video for his daughter before he vanished to Pakistan. A quiet farewell, wrapped in the language of faith and finality. What no one knew was that in the mountains near the Afghan border, he would meet the man who would change everything.
In the penultimate episode of our series on the 7/7 Bombings, Gordon and David uncover how two young British men - Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer - crossed a hidden threshol...
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July 8, 2025 • 34 mins
Fifteen months before the London bombings, MI5 had seen them. They had names, photographs, and addresses. Two of the men who would carry out the 7/7 attacks had already appeared in surveillance. And then… they vanished back into the noise.
In this second episode of our 7/7 series, 20 years on from the attacks, David and Gordon unravel one of the most haunting questions of the entire investigation: could the 7/7 bombings have bee...
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July 6, 2025 • 39 mins
London woke up to joy and celebration on 7 July 2005. The city had just won the 2012 Olympics. It was a glorious summer. There were parties in the streets. But, by 9am, everything had changed.
Three explosions tore through the London Underground. Minutes later, a double-decker bus was ripped apart in Tavistock Square. Confusion reigned. Was it a power surge? A freak accident? Or something worse?
In this opening episode of our...
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July 1, 2025 • 41 mins
For years, the term UFO conjured images of tin foil hats and elaborate cover-ups. But with recent official reports from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence detailing hundreds of UAP sightings, including objects that remain stationary in high winds or manoeuvre in strange ways, the conversation has fundamentally changed. What accounts for this new era of openness, and what are these "true anomalies" that continue to ...
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June 29, 2025 • 32 mins
In 1955, a United States Senator claimed he saw a "greenish-yellow ball rising rapidly" over the Soviet Union. Was it a Soviet secret weapon, an extraterrestrial visitation, or something else entirely? And why was the CIA so intent on keeping its UFO investigations under wraps?
From the early days of the Cold War, the CIA found itself drawn into the burgeoning world of UFO sightings, not because of aliens, but due to a deeper f...
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June 24, 2025 • 36 mins
In the mid-1970s, new, more outlandish claims about the Roswell incident began to surface: not one, but multiple crash sites, military recovery of alien bodies, and secret autopsies. What do these reports of "bald" creatures in "silver unitards" have to do with the original 1947 mystery?
As the Roswell mythology grew, accounts emerged of strange bodies, often described as small, mangled, and blackened, with large flexible heads...
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June 22, 2025 • 33 mins
The date was July 8th, 1947. The Roswell Daily Record boldly announced: "RAAF Recovers Flying Saucer." How did this headline ignite a global obsession with UFOs, and why has the official narrative shifted so many times since?
From eyewitness accounts of glowing objects zooming across the sky to official reports of a recovered "disk," the Roswell incident remains one of the most compelling and hotly debated mysteries of the 20th ...
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June 18, 2025 • 106 mins
The ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel may have escalated last Friday when Israel launched predawn strikes on its regional enemy, but tensions have been brewing for years.
In 2020, the Israeli National Intelligence Agency, Mossad, assassinated Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, using AI-powered weaponry. This attack laid the foundations for the contemporary Israeli attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and s...
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June 16, 2025 • 63 mins
His poetry celebrated a cosmic struggle of violence and glory, but his end was far from a medieval power play. Why did Osama bin Laden spend his final years in a secluded compound in Pakistan, attempting to manage a global terrorist organisation while living a surprisingly mundane life? What were the chilling details of the raid that finally brought him down, and how did it forever change the landscape of global security?
In the...
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June 15, 2025 • 56 mins
A decade after 9/11, Osama bin Laden remained at large, a constant "running sore" for the US government. But how did a fleeting glimpse of a tall guy with a beard and the interrogation of a high-value detainee finally set the CIA on the right path? And what was the decision that President Obama had to make, knowing the risks and the history of missed opportunities?
In this episode, we detail the relentless pursuit of Osama bin L...
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June 10, 2025 • 42 mins
On a clear September morning, the American homeland was shattered, revealing a vulnerability unforeseen for nearly two centuries. But, how did Osama bin Laden, soon to become the world's most wanted terrorist, orchestrate the largest mass murder in American history? What was the "chatter" among Al Qaeda members that something was imminent, and why couldn't the intelligence community piece together the puzzle?
This episode plunge...
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June 8, 2025 • 59 mins
"The walls of oppression and humiliation cannot be demolished except in a rain of bullets." These chilling words from Osama bin Laden's 1996 fatwa declared war on the United States. How did this Saudi Arabian millionaire transform into a global terrorist leader, openly inviting media attention even as he plotted attacks against America? And what were the critical missed opportunities for the CIA to capture or kill him before 9/11?
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