SpyCast

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Roald Dahl: The Spy Behind the Storyteller Mar 03, 2026

Show notes

Children grew up reading Roald Dahl’s tales of giant peaches and chocolate factories. Adults know about the controversy surrounding the antisemitic statements he made in his later years. But before becoming one of the most successful children’s authors of all time, Dahl worked for MI6, seducing Washington socialites and cozying up to the First Family. He did this to gather intelligence and exert influence for Winston Churchill in the early days of World War II. Writer Aaron Tracy delves into Dahl’s complicated life in his new podcast, The Secret World of Roald Dahl, and sat down with Sasha to discuss Dahl’s forays into espionage.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org.

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

In Bed With Beijing: The Double Agent Who Seduced Her FBI Handler Feb 24, 2026

Show notes

Katrina Leung, code name Parlor Maid, received nearly two million dollars from the FBI for being their top China informant. But little did the Bureau know… she was a double agent, collecting intelligence for China’s Ministry of State Security. Not only that, she was also sleeping with her FBI handler, James J. Smith (J.J.). For nearly two decades, J.J. covered up reports that raised red flags about her. That’s where retired FBI agent Steven Conley comes in. He worked for J.J. in the LA field office and then became Katrina’s new handler, and soon realized she wasn’t exactly providing useful information. Ultimately, he helped extract two painful confessions in a case that damaged the FBI’s reputation for years.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org.

Exfiltrating María Corina Machado from Venezuela Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

Before Delta Force captured Nicolás Maduro, Bryan Stern went on a secret mission in Venezuela. The veteran and Purple Heart recipient was there to extract opposition leader María Corina Machado, who had been living in hiding for her own safety. Bryan was trying to get María to Oslo to accept her Nobel Peace Prize. This daring operation – named Operation Golden Dynamite after Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite – involved land, sea, and air. This is just one of many high-stakes evacuations Bryan has conducted through his nonprofit organization, Grey Bull Rescue. Sasha and Bryan sat down to discuss the operation, just a few days after he returned from Venezuela.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org.

Hezbollah’s Long Game in Latin America Feb 10, 2026

Show notes

A 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina opened the world’s eyes to Hezbollah’s presence in Latin America. But the Iranian proxy, a US-designated terrorist group, has operated in the region since the 1980s. This started in the Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, earning the nickname "the United Nations of crime." The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has said Hezbollah’s revenues in Central and South America fund its External Security Organization, which plans their terrorist plots overseas. Wes Tabor, a former DEA agent, knows all about it. He was part of a landmark case that exposed their ties to drug cartels and financial institutions. Wes takes us into the present, describing how the US’s removal of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela impacts Hezbollah’s presence in the Western Hemisphere.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org.

Building the US’s First Known Gang Intelligence Database in Latin America Feb 03, 2026

Show notes

As an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who later embedded with the CIA, Wes Tabor worked to dismantle criminal networks in Central and South America - think gangs like MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel, and Tren de Aragua. In 2006, he was stationed in Guatemala, a transit corridor for South American cocaine to enter the US. It was during this time that he created a gang intelligence system to help identify gang members, using biodata and records from regional prisons and police departments. As confirmed by two retired DEA agents, the FBI then took the database and made it their own. This is how it happened.

*Clarification: The US arrested Guatemala's anti-drug chief in 2009, while three high-ranking, anti-narcotics police officers were arrested by the U.S. in 2005.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org.

Looking Back on the US Invasion of Panama Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

This January marks the anniversary of the conclusion of Operation Just Cause, which began days before Christmas, on December 20th, 1989, when about 27,000 US troops deployed to Panama. Their mission was to capture Panama’s notorious dictator, General Manuel Noriega, whom the US had indicted for drug trafficking. Noriega had also been suppressing unarmed demonstrators, gathering intelligence on the local population, and harassing Americans- wielding weapons from the Soviet bloc. International Spy Museum Executive Director Chris Costa was an intelligence officer on the ground during the invasion, and he takes us from the first mortar to the moment when Noriega surrendered to US forces.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org,

This show is brought to you by Goat Rodeo, N2K Networks, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

Directing The Night Manager Jan 20, 2026

Show notes

When The Night Manager aired in 2016, it was an instant success. Based on the 1993 John le Carré novel of the same name, the series centered on former British soldier Jonathan Pine. In the show, Pine is recruited by MI6 to infiltrate the secret network of a notorious arms dealer. Ten years later, the series returns, despite the fact le Carré never wrote a sequel before he died. Georgi Banks-Davies, the director of this second season, gives us a behind the scenes look at how the series charts new territory for Pine in the world of espionage.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org,

Inside the CIA’s Most Covert and Dangerous Branch: The Special Activities Center Jan 13, 2026

Show notes

For SpyCast’s 20th year, we’re kicking off the season with Brian Carbaugh. After serving in the CIA for over two decades, he retired as Director of the Special Activities Center- the Agency’s arm for covert action, where some of the boldest and most dangerous work happens with authorization from the president. This is a world few know about firsthand, and even fewer can discuss. Brian sits down with Sasha to give an inside look at the job, which he held from 2017 to 2021-pivotal years in the United States and around the world.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org.

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum. in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

The Man Behind John le Carré Dec 23, 2025

Show notes

John le Carré, born David Cornwell in 1931, was a British novelist renowned for his morally complex spy fiction. Writing under a pen name gave him the freedom to publish while he worked in both MI5 and MI6, but after the breakthrough success of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, he left the intel community world for good. Le Carré’s work spanned the globe, covering terrorism and drug networks, private banking and pharmaceutical exploitation, arms trades and resource plundering- often drawing on the people and places he knew firsthand. Le Carré’s vast personal archive is all on display in the new John le Carré: Tradecraft exhibition at the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Historian and curator Jessica Douthwaite joins Sasha to talk about the exhibition and what it reveals about his life and work.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org,

This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

Inside Operation Odyssey Lightning in Libya Dec 16, 2025

Show notes

From August to December 2016, then Marine Special Operations Officer Ivan Ingraham lived on an assault ship off the coast of Sirte, a city in northern Libya that lies between Tripoli and Benghazi. It was the hometown of Muammar Gaddafi, who invested in Sirte before dying there during Libya’s first civil war. In the midst of a second civil war, ISIS had filled a power vacuum and overrun the city, sending its civilians fleeing. At the request of Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord, the United States provided support. Ivan led a five-man special operations team attached to a Marine Expeditionary Unit to help push ISIS out. The mission was known as Operation Odyssey Lightning.

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories:

https://sashaingber.substack.com/

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:

https://www.spymuseum.org/

And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org.

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