I Spy
Spies don’t talk—it’s the cardinal rule of the business. But on Foreign Policy’s podcast I Spy, we get them to open up. We hear from the operations people: the spies who steal secrets, kill adversaries, and turn agents into double agents. Each episode features one spy telling one dramatic story.
Episodes
September 28, 2023 • 30 mins
Hey there I Spy listeners. Here at Foreign Policy, we’re dropping season 3 of our podcast, The Negotiators. On each episode, one former diplomat or troubleshooter tells the story of one dramatic negotiation. If the tagline sounds familiar, that's by design. We think of The Negotiators as the sister show of I Spy.
We’re actually inserting the season 2 finale of The Negotiators into this feed because it’s especially I Spy like. It’s ...
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June 29, 2023 • 11 mins
This week, we’re sharing an episode of Alphabet Boys. Alphabet Boys takes you inside secret investigations that the FBI, DEA, CIA, and other alphabet agencies never wanted the public to know about. These cases are both dangerous and absurd … and they raise a troubling question: Are America’s top cops catching criminals -- or creating them? In this episode, you’ll hear real audio from an illegal arms deal and meet our central charac...
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June 28, 2022 • 33 mins
Long before Joe Weisberg created the award-winning television show The Americans, he served in the CIA. His brief period in the agency informed story lines in the show and helped shape Weisberg's views on espionage. Eventually, he came to believe that spying does more harm than good in the world.
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June 21, 2022 • 29 mins
The Secret Service is known for its VIP protection unit but it also investigates international crimes, including hacking cases. On this episode, we feature a Secret Service agent who helped nab one of the biggest hackers in the world, Roman Seleznev. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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June 14, 2022 • 33 mins
Michele Rigby Assad joined the CIA just weeks after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and spent much of the next decade working undercover in the Middle East.
In 2007, she helped investigate an ambush in Iraq that killed an American woman.
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June 7, 2022 • 34 mins
This is part two of Eric O'Neill's story. O'Neill was an FBI agent who went undercover to catch a suspected spy in the bureau: Robert Hanssen.
If you haven't signed up for our newsletter yet, go to https://foreignpolicy.com/ispynewsletter/. Each week we'll send you bonus content you won't find anywhere else, including photos, illustrations, and expanded show notes—for free.
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May 31, 2022 • 31 mins
On this episode, FBI agent Eric O'Neill goes undercover to catch a suspected spy in the bureau: Robert Hanssen. O'Neill is just 26 at the time. Hanssen turns out to be one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history.
This is part one of a two-part story.
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May 31, 2022 • 35 mins
Well, listeners, it's taken us a while but here it is: the first episode of our fourth season.
We begin with Ric Prado, a former CIA officer who trained the Contras in Central America in the 1980s.
For those of you who don't remember, the Contras were trying to overthrow the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. America's support for the group eventually led to the Iran-Contra affair, a government scandal that nearly brought down the Rea...
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May 18, 2022 • 1 min
Hey there I Spy listeners, here's the trailer for season 4. We'll have new episodes starting May 31. More spies, more Margo Martindale.
This season, we'll also have an I Spy newsletter, with photos, very cool illustrations, and a bunch of other bonus content you won't find anywhere else. Yes, it's free. Sign up at foreignpolicy.com/ispynewsletter.
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March 9, 2021 • 27 mins
This is part 2 of Frank Snepp's story. Snepp was a CIA analyst based in Saigon during the Vietnam War. In April of 1975, he discovered that Communist forces were preparing a large-scale attack on Saigon—but the higher ups refused to believe it. When the attack began later that month, the Americans conducted a frenzied evacuation, leaving behind many Vietnamese allies.
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March 2, 2021 • 28 mins
Frank Snepp was a CIA analyst based in Saigon during the Vietnam War. In April of 1975, he discovered that Communist forces were preparing a large-scale attack on Saigon—but the higher ups refused to believe it. When the attack began later that month, the Americans conducted a frenzied evacuation, leaving behind many Vietnamese allies.
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February 23, 2021 • 33 mins
The FBI's Ali Soufan specialized in Al Qaeda investigations both before and after the attacks of September 11th. In 2002 he was sent to question Abu Zubaydah, a high-level jihadi captured in Pakistan. But after several rounds of interrogation at the secret site, he was sidelined by a CIA contractor who had helped develop a new torture program for the agency.
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February 16, 2021 • 35 mins
Jay Dobyns was a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In 2002, he infiltrated the Hells Angels biker gang and spent two years undercover—a period in which he says he worried every single day about getting exposed and killed by the group.
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February 9, 2021 • 32 mins
The British spy agency MI5 recruited Willie Carlin to infiltrate Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland. He spied on the group for 11 years until his cover was blown.
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February 2, 2021 • 30 mins
FBI special agent George Piro spent seven months interrogating deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, establishing a rapport and then getting him to reveal the truth about the country's weapons of mass destruction.
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January 28, 2021 • 28 mins
This is part 2 of the story with DEA special agent Steve Murphy, who goes to Bogota, Colombia, to hunt for the head of the Medellin Cartel, Pablo Escobar.
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January 19, 2021 • 29 mins
Welcome to Season 3 of I Spy. On this episode, DEA special agent Steve Murphy is sent to Bogota, Colombia to hunt for the head of the Medellin Cartel, Pablo Escobar.
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January 12, 2021 • 2 mins
More spies, more Margo Martindale.
Hey there I Spy listeners, here's the trailer for season 3. We'll have eight new episodes starting January 19.
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June 16, 2020 • 30 mins
CIA analyst Sarah Carlson spent a year at the U.S. Mission in Libya after the attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi. When battles between rival Libyan militias edged closer and closer to the U.S. compound, she and the other personnel there were forced to flee the country in a harrowing overland journey. Carlson’s story wraps up Season 2 of I Spy. We’ll be back soon with more episodes.
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June 9, 2020 • 35 mins
Mubin Shaikh poses as a Muslim extremist to nab Canadians who planned to stage large-scale attacks on government targets. The group he infiltrated would come to be known as the Toronto 18.
This season, there’s more I Spy with I Spy Plus. Get ad-free I Spy episodes and access to weekly bonus episodes right in your favorite podcast app, plus more exclusive espionage content. Subscribe to I Spy Plus today at foreignpolicy.com/ispy.
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