Dr. Kaeten Mistry, 'Exposure: How State Secret Disclosures Helped Construct and Undermine the Cold War Consensus'

About this episode

Dr. Kaeten Mistry discusses the history of secrecy and its implications for civil liberties and national security.

Dr Kaeten Mistry discusses his current research on the history of secrecy and the tensions it raises between civil liberties and national security. This draws from Chapter 2 of his current book project, The Secrecy Regime (working title), which traces U.S. state secrecy from its early twentieth-century origins to the present. Dr Mistry is a scholar of the United States and the world, specialising in foreign relations, the international and transnational history of the Cold War, and more recently, cultures of secrecy and intelligence. He has also worked on aspects of modern European history, in particular: Italy. This was recorded on 19/5/2025. Co-hosts: Megan Renoir (PhD Candidate) researches Indigenous sovereignty and land conflict. Megan’s recent publication looked at “Recognition as Resilience: How an Unrecognized Indigenous Nation is Using Visibility as a Pathway Toward Restorative Justice,”. Mary Foster (Megan's sister) is a third-year undergraduate student at McGill University, majoring in History with a minor in medieval studies. Production by Daisy Semmler (MPhil 2025). Thanks for listening.

People in this episode

Hosts: Megan Renoir, Mary Foster

Guest: Dr. Kaeten Mistry

Topics covered

• Cold War
• state secrecy
• civil liberties
• national security
• foreign relations
• cultures of secrecy
• intelligence

Keywords

• Cold War consensus
• secrecy
• civil liberties
• national security
• intelligence
• foreign relations
• U.S. history

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Secrecy Regime

More episodes of Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast

• Dr. Caroline Johnston, 'Rocky Mountain Extractivism in Washington' · May 20, 2026 · 41 min
• Dr. Patrick Griffin, 'The American Revolution and Global Empire' · May 13, 2026 · 40 min
• Annual Pitt Professor Beth Bailey, 'Making Change: Why the US Army Matters' · April 30, 2026 · 35 min
• Prof. David Farber, 'The War on Drugs' · April 15, 2026 · 30 min
• Dr. Erin Shearer, 'Enslaved Women, Infanticide, and a Feminist History of Harm: A New Direction in Slavery Studies' · April 1, 2026 · 32 min
• Prof. Eliga Gould, 'Union and Disunion: The Turbulent History of the United States' Founding Treaty' · March 6, 2026 · 42 min