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
December 9, 2025 • 53 mins
In the years following 9/11, the US launched the War on Terror to root out the most dangerous Al Qaeda operatives across the Middle East. Their determination to avenge those who lost their lives in the 2001 attacks was unrelenting, and they were willing to go to any lengths to win, even if that meant putting their trust into a jihadist turned Jordanian agent.
In this episode, David and Gordon continue their series on the 2009 Ca...
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December 7, 2025 • 55 mins
On 30 December 2009, an Al Qaeda terrorist detonated a bomb inside a CIA station in Afghanistan. This is the story of how a quiet doctor from Jordan became responsible for one of the deadliest days in CIA history.
Listen as David and Gordon chart the rise of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi from a doctor working in a Palestinian refugee camp to one of Al Qaeda’s most prolific online voices.
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December 2, 2025 • 42 mins
In 2017, former CIA officer Kevin Mallory was drowning in debt when a message landed in his LinkedIn inbox. A Chinese “headhunter” said he had consulting work. Mallory - fluent in Mandarin, seasoned in intelligence, and once trusted with some of America’s most sensitive secrets - replied.
In this episode, David and Gordon unpack how Chinese intelligence services used think-tank cover, tailored taskings, and a custom encrypted sm...
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November 30, 2025 • 42 mins
Earlier this month, MI5 issued a stark warning to Westminster: a “covert and calculated” Chinese espionage campaign was targeting parliament - and doing so at an industrial scale. Not with trench-coats and dead drops, but with something far more mundane: LinkedIn messages.
This week, Gordon and David look at two high-profile cases of alleged Chinese-backed spying in Britain. Those in the frame always denied the allegations - and...
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November 27, 2025 • 10 mins
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full series*
Vladimir Putin is on the cusp of becoming Russia's all-powerful leader, but how did a humble boy from St Petersburg reach such elite heights?
Listen as David and Gordon are once again joined by one of the world's leading experts on Russian organised crime, Mark Galeotti, to conclude their series on the rise of Putin.
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THE R...
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November 25, 2025 • 55 mins
Could this have been the day when Putin fell from power? In June 2023, Prigozhin marched on Moscow, threatening to bring Putin’s authoritarian regime to its knees.
In their final episode on the dramatic rise and fall of Yevgeny Prigozhin, David and Gordon take us back to the coup that almost toppled Putin and how the autocratic leader carried out the ultimate revenge.
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November 23, 2025 • 35 mins
It’s 2022 and Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine. But, for Putin, all is not going to plan. Enter: Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group.
Listen as David and Gordon tell the story of the disastrous first few months of the war in Ukraine and how Prigozhin’s force of cannibals and sex offenders were fed to the trenches in a desperate attempt to stay in Putin’s orbit.
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November 20, 2025 • 9 mins
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full series*
Vladimir Putin has left Soviet East Germany and is now back in St Petersburg, dipping his toe in the world of organised crime.
Listen as David and Gordon are once again joined by one of the world's leading experts on Russian organised crime, Mark Galeotti, to explore the rise of Russia's authoritarian overlord.
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THE REST ...
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November 18, 2025 • 38 mins
From St Petersburg to the Central African Republic, Yevgeny Prigozhin and the infamous Wagner Group are extending their grip across the Global South and leaving death and destruction in their wake.
In this episode, David and Gordon explore how the Wagner Group became embedded in the African military landscape and how their influence pervades to this day.
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November 16, 2025 • 45 mins
Prigozhin is now one of America’s most wanted but his star is only just on the rise. Realising Putin’s need for greater geopolitical power and influence, the Russian oligarch forms the Wagner Group, with the help of a neo-Nazi soldier.
Listen as David and Gordon chart the growth of one of the world’s most infamous mercenary groups as Prigozhin embeds himself in the Middle East, helping President Assad of Syria take on the CIA.
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November 13, 2025 • 9 mins
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full series*
How did Vladimir Putin rise from a nobody in St Petersburg to the most powerful man in Russia? Did he always crave the power of public office? Or was this relentless determination beaten into him by the KGB?
Listen as David and Gordon are joined by one of the world's foremost experts on Russian organised crime, author and podcaster, Mark Galeotti, to...
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November 11, 2025 • 44 mins
How did Donald Trump win the 2016 US election? Was Russian interference really behind his unlikely success? And how does one man rock the electoral system of the world’s most powerful nation?
In the second instalment of their series on Yevgeny Prigozhin, David and Gordon delve into the murky story of how the Internet Research Agency interfered in the 2016 election and changed the course of history.
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THE ...
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November 9, 2025 • 42 mins
From Putin’s chef to Putin’s butcher, this is the story of Prigozhin. A man on the brink of oligarchical power who flew a little too close to the sun…
Listen as David and Gordon begin a new series on the ill-fated life of the head of the infamous Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
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THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets HERE to see David and Gordon live on stage at London’s Southbank Centre on...
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November 4, 2025 • 51 mins
THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets HERE on Friday 7th November at 12pm GMT.
In the latter half of the twentieth century, the CIA and its German counterpart, the BND, were listening to the encrypted messages of at least 62 countries around the world. This intelligence was then passed to allies and used to win wars, depose leaders and influence the world order.
From sharing secrets with British forces fighting ...
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November 2, 2025 • 41 mins
Over the past seventy-five years, the United States has developed an insatiable appetite for global surveillance. The stories exposed by Edward Snowden in 2013 were only the tip of the mountain: the CIA had been spying on the world for decades.
For more than half a century, a Swiss‑based firm called Crypto AG built encryption machines and sold them to governments around the world. But what its customers didn’t know was that the ...
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October 30, 2025 • 10 mins
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full series*
Were the Cubans plotting to kill John F. Kennedy? Did Castro have it out for his American adversary? Or did they simply not have the resources to take on the US establishment?
Listen as David and Gordon conclude their exclusive mini-series on who was truly behind the assassination of JFK.
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October 28, 2025 • 53 mins
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. While Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested as the lone gunman , the political context - the intense anger of Cuban exiles, the deep resentment from parts of the CIA, and the agency's secret relationship with the mob - immediately fuels doubt.
Join Gordon and David as they explain why the case is absolutely not closed in the minds of most Americans. We ...
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October 26, 2025 • 65 mins
"It's personal now ." The CIA's failure at the Bay of Pigs does not end the fight with Cuba; instead, the heat's actually going to get turned up. The Kennedy brothers are now even more committed to defeating Castro.
Join Gordon and David as they detail the ongoing assassination attempts on Castro. This is the tense calm before a new, much larger crisis is about to engulf the Kennedy administration.
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Joi...
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October 23, 2025 • 10 mins
*Declassified Club exclusive: SUBSCRIBE to listen to the full series*
Was the assassination of John F. Kennedy a Mafia plot? Or is this just another bonkers conspiracy theory?
Listen as David and Gordon are joined by former White House Communications Director and host of The Rest Is Politics: US, Anthony Scaramucci, to discuss his theory on how the Mob killed JFK.
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October 21, 2025 • 52 mins
"We not only look like imperialists, we look like stupid ineffectual imperialists, which is worst of all."
That was the assessment of one of Kennedy's aides following the swift collapse of the Bay of Pigs invasion. The landings fall apart almost immediately: the beaches are laced with coral, winches are rusty and loud, and an exploding ship, the Rio Escondido, detonates the brigade's primary supplies and ammunition.
Join Gor...
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