SpyTalk

Latest Episodes:

The Nord Stream Conspiracy Jul 31, 2026

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Wall Street Journal reporter Bojan Pancevski unveils the astounding story of Ukraine’s sabotage of the Russian pipeline.

Plus, Jeff and Michael discuss Jay Clayton, Todd Blanche, and more.

Read Bojan’s book

The Nord Stream Conspiracy

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Who’s Running US Intelligence? Jul 24, 2026

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Atlantic staff writer Shane Harris drills down on the changes roiling the ODNI and CIA.

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Trumpworld’s Dystopian World of Terror Jul 18, 2026

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Terrorism expert Colin Clarke fact-checks the administration’s claims on leftwing extremism and election security.

More from our guest: Colin P. Clarke

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The Reporter and the China Trap Jul 03, 2026

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Tom LoBianco answered an ad for a writer and then things went south.

Tom LoBianco is a veteran national politics reporter and editor of 24sight News, the independent news site on Substack.

24sight's scoops have been featured in The New York Times, CNN, ABC News, the Reddit front page, the Columbia Journalism Review and many other outlets.

Tom LoBianco

https://www.24sight.news/

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War-Ender Weapons Jun 26, 2026

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Seeing-eye bombs were supposed to limit civilian casualties. Jeffrey Stern, author of “The Warhead,” explains why they didn’t.

Jeffrey Stern

The Warhead

https://www.jeffreyestern.com/books

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Jeffrey E. Stern is an award-winning journalist and the author of five books, including his newest book The Warhead, The 15:17 to Paris, which was adapted as a major motion picture by Clint Eastwood and Warner Brothers, and The Last Thousand: One School’s Promise in a Nation at War, an honorable mention for best book of the year by Library Journal. Stern co-wrote and produced the award-winning independent film Yasmeen’s Element, which premiered at the SXSW film festival and was named a “best of the fest.” He has been named a graduate fellow at the Stanford Center for International Conflict and Negotiation and a grantee of the Pulitzer Center Fellow for Crisis Reporting. Stern’s reporting has appeared in magazines such as The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, and The Atlantic.

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Trump's Hatchet Man Atop US Intelligence Jun 20, 2026

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New York Times Intelligence Reporter Julian Barnes on the Rise of Bill Pulte.

More from Julian

Julian E. Barnes

Writes about the American intelligence community, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and other spy agencies, as well as broader national and international security issues. His stories seek to break news about what intelligence officials are thinking, and occasionally doing, and to explain the U.S. perspective on security matters.

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How Trump Broke the ODNI Jun 12, 2026

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Former senior CIA analyst David Kanin on the crises in US intelligence.

David Kanin is a retired CIA senior analyst and member of the Senior Intelligence Service.

https://commonsensecoalition.net/about-csc/

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How a Terror Case Fizzled Jun 05, 2026

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Former Gitmo prosecutor Michael Lebowitz takes us inside the nuclear plot that never was.

Mike Lebowitz is one of America’s few war-crimes prosecutors with front-line counterterrorism experience. A former senior attorney at the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, he spent nearly a decade prosecuting cases at Guantanamo Bay, including the 9/11, USS Cole, and top Al Qaeda commander trials. A US Army combat veteran and former Pathfinder unit paratrooper officer, Lebowitz also served as a senior legal advisor to US Army Cyber Command. He has been featured or quoted by the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NPR,Associated Press,and the Atlantic. He lives in Washington, DC.

Second Wave by Michael Lebowitz

In 2003, US intelligence uncovered evidence that al Qaeda had acquired nuclear materials, plotting to smuggle them into American ports. The “Second Wave” threat triggered one of the most urgent and secretive manhunts in US history.

With the cinematic intensity of Zero Dark Thirty and the investigative depth of The Looming Tower, Michael Lebowitz captures post-9/11 chaos and drama: agents risking everything to prevent another catastrophe, families torn apart, and the ethical fault lines still dividing US intelligence.

Readers meet Pakistani-American industrialist Saifullah Paracha, whose import- export business concealed ties to al Qaeda; Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, architect of 9/11; Majid Khan, a Baltimore gas-station clerk turned jihadist who mapped US targets; an FBI interrogator who broke suspects faster than any waterboard; and an Orthodox Jewish garment importer whose betrayal helped avert disaster. On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Lebowitz’s account reveals a global pursuit that tested America’s moral limits and asks: Are we as prepared today as we were then?

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Pod Save Our National Security with Tommy Vietor May 29, 2026

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Former Obama speechwriter Tommy Vietor talks about energizing Dems on vital US foreign policy issues.

Tommy Vietor | https://x.com/TVietor08 | https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-the-world/

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Is Havana Up For Grabs? May 22, 2026

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Cuba intervention expert Peter Kornbluh joins SpyTalk to discuss Trump’s pressure campaign.

Peter Kornbluh | National Security Archive

Peter Kornbluh, Senior Analyst, has worked at the Archive since April 1986. He currently directs the Archive's Cuba and Chile Documentation Projects. He was co-director of the Iran-Contra documentation project and director of the Archive's project on U.S. policy toward Nicaragua. From 1990-1999, he taught at Columbia University as an adjunct assistant professor of international and public affairs.

Cuba: Declassified Records on the Brothers to the Rescue Shootdown | National Security Archive

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