CIA Files: True Stories of U.S Intelligence

British aristocrat Donald Maclean, as a member of the Cambridge 5, worked his way to the top of the British Foreign Office while secretly working as KGB spy. His wife was in on it the whole time. How did an extremely wealthy and noticeable couple successfully spy for so long, and why? Learn about their backgrounds, deeds, and fates. This is the fourth episode to deal with the Cambridge 5. The other episodes are: Episode 7: Secret Agent Super Spy: Harold Kim Philby: The 1st in a series on the Cambridge 5, Episode 10: Kim Philby Part 2: I Really Must Be Going; The second episode on our series on the Cambridge 5, & Episode 11: Guy Burgess: I Gotta Be Me! This is the third episode in our series on the Cambridge 5. (First 2 are episodes 7 & 10)

This is our second episode in a three part series on CIA Directors who shaped US policy towards the Soviet Union. I give an overview of the life of Robert Gates a proverbial and literal boyscout. We also give a brief news update about Wagner in Sudan and Armenia's frustration with Russia.

We're taking a break from our weekly conversations to focus on our proper episodes. Look out for Frank Wisner, part 2 in two weeks. Then we're taking a short break to get things prepped for what we're generously calling Season 2 of CIA Files. Meanwhile, for international news, check out This Week Explained, which does a great job of covering current events around the globe. And we're working hard on our upcoming show, Rise of Mammon, wherein we will discuss the rise of Christo-fascism and America's new Nationalist Christians, or Nat-Cs for short. You can follow us at these links: https://www.instagram.com/riseofmammon/ https://www.facebook.com/riseofmammon https://twitter.com/riseofmammon

In 1986, computers were still the domain of the wily nerd. They wouldn't become cool until the World Wide Web was invented. And even then, computers weren't really that much cooler until DSL connections came along. But Clifford Stoll, an unemployed astronomer, took an IT job at a university, where his superior nerdity would lead him to be the first IT person to discover and track down a computer hacker. That hacker was sniffing around private U.S. military and national defense databases, selling whatever information he could find to the KGB. Also, this week, Josh, whom you may recognize as the voice of our quotes, joins us to contribute to the commentary. It's a fun, light-hearted episode this week.  https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-mad-scientist-who-wrote-the-book-on-how-to-hunt-hackers/

On Monday, August 8th, the FBI conducted a search of Trump’s Mar A Lago mansion, seizing 11 boxes of documents. It was later disclosed that the boxes were classified material, including some labeled Top Secret, that the National Archives and the Department of Justice say Trump was not authorized to take with him after he left the White House.  In mid January, 2022, 15 boxes of presidential records were moved from Mar A Lago back to National Archives. Officials involved in the matter said Trump dragged his feet on the request for documents from his time in the White House, but eventually gave in. Mid-February, classified information was found in the documents retrieved from Mar A Lago. This raised concerns about what other classified material he might still have. It also raises the possibility that Trump broke federal law by bringing classified material to his Florida home.  Officials from the National Archive also noticed that there were a number of documents that should have been returned but were still missing. Around June, members of the DoJ and the FBI visited Mar A Lago to meet with Trump’s lawyers about the possibility that Trump still had classified material there. They issued a subpoena for more documents. Trump’s lawyers responded, saying any and all classified documents that Trump may have had were returned with the boxes turned over to the National Archives in January.  On Friday, August 5, a judge issues a search warrant for Trump’s Florida home, and the FBI exercises the warrant and searches Trump’s Mar A Lago mansion. Trump’s lawyers were apparently given about 45 minutes’ notice. It’s worth noting that the White House says it had no advanced knowledge about the raid, and the current FBI director, Chris Wray, was appointed by Trump.  The GOP and right-wing media immediately began crying foul. Trump supporters began protesting. Calls for violence against the FBI and other government organizations began flooding social media.  On Thursday, August 11, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that he initiated the request for the search warrant. That same Thursday, 42-year-old Navy veteran and Trump supporter Ricky Shiff attacked the FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was eventually killed by law enforcement.  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ohio-shooting-fbi-standoff-shiffer-latest-b2144460.html  The Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement saying the threat of more violence is extremely high at the moment.  https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi-dhs-warn-us-law-enforcement-threats-after-trump-search-2022-08-14/  https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/  https://thehill.com/policy/defense/515700-trump-disclosed-secret-weapons-system-to-woodward-book/  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/15/super-duper-missile-us-trump-military https://news.yahoo.com/trumps-mar-lago-security-nightmare-111008352.html

This week, we review CIA Director Bill Burns' track record so far. 

The 1950s might be regarded by some as the salad days of the CIA. No ideas were too wacky, and the money was flowing into research and development like a cool, clean mountain spring. So when CIA mad scientist Dr. Sidney Gottlieb decided to hire an up-close magician to write some instruction manuals on how to perform their own sort of magic --  the kind that might involve slipping a drug into someone's champagne or pick someone's pocket, no one batted an eye. Famed illusionist John Mulholland produced two top-secret manuals for the CIA, which were thought to be lost forever after Director Richard Helms ordered all material on MK Ultra destroyed. But a lucky CIA researcher named H. Keith Melton stumbled across old, forgotten Xerox copies of the manuals in 2007, and now we can get a glimpse at some of the inner workings of some of the CIA's operating procedures from the time. You can purchase a physical copy of the book here on Amazon, or you can download a free digital copy at  Archive.org.

Julian Assange began hacking in the 80s when he was just 16 years old. Now he's perhaps the most famous whistleblower in the world. The United States wants to put him on trial for espionage, but his defenders say he was simply working as a journalist to uncover injustices committed by the U.S. military, and what U.S. officials actually want is to punish him for exposing American crimes and to scare other journalists from reporting on American misdeeds. As his extradition to the U.S. approaches, we decided to take a look into his past and get into the details of who he is and what he's done.  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/06/07/no-secrets https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47907600 https://news.yahoo.com/kidnapping-assassination-and-a-london-shoot-out-inside-the-ci-as-secret-war-plans-against-wiki-leaks-090057786.html https://reason.com/2022/06/22/julian-assanges-case-frightening-omen-press-freedom/ https://www.newsweek.com/what-did-julian-assange-do-wikileaks-founder-faces-17-espionage-charges-1716860

Jim Angleton dedicated his life to building and maintaining the CIA. He spent years manipulating people and policy from his self-labeled "wilderness of mirrors," motivated by his own paranoia, and informed by an opportunistic Russian defector named Anotoli Golytsin. Eventually, despite his monumental efforts to cover his tracks, Angleton's chickens came home to roost.  Sources: The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton, by Jefferson Morley https://amzn.to/3xgHDfS https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2015/05/06/40-years-ago-church-committee-investigated-americans-spying-on-americans/ https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/church-committee-established-jan-27-1975-234079 https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/oct/19/angleton-return/ https://jfkfacts.org/what-angleton-told-jfk-investigators-behind-closed-doors/ https://www.thedailybeast.com/my-lunch-with-the-spider-who-nearly-wrecked-the-cia https://spartacus-educational.com/SSangleton.htm

More news from around the world -- an update on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a look at Ethiopia's record number of displaced people, and a discussion about the decline of democracy and the rise of autocracy and authoritarianism.

Finland wants in NATO. Elections in the Philippines go retro as the Marcos family gets back into the mix. Did Star Trek: The Next Generation correctly predict Irish reunification? Also, what's going on in Ukraine? Old Russian tanks enjoy more time in the spotlight. Speaking of old Russian things, times continue to be tough for old Russian oligarchs, especially if they visit shamans for toad venom hangover cures. 

I don't feel well, so imagine a clever blurb and insert that here.  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/reputed-federal-informant-whistleblower-found-dead-l-reported-missing-rcna26382 https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/valentin-broeksmit-federal-informant-whistleblower-dead-el-sereno-high-school/ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/28/yemen-saudi-arabia-to-release-163-houthi-prisoners https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/chinese-government-hunting-uyghurs-world-help-surprising-countries-rcna24987 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/20/the-deal-that-shocked-the-world-inside-the-china-solomons-security-pact https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/solomon-islands-pm-says-wont-accept-militarisation-pacific-2022-04-29/ https://intelnews.org/2022/04/29/01-3193/ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-failed-integration-immigrants-gang-violence-b2067626.html https://www.foxnews.com/world/putin-g20-summit-indonesia-zelenskyy https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-25/indonesia-pushed-to-ask-ukraine-to-g-20-summit-alongside-putin https://www.reuters.com/world/russian-spy-chief-says-us-poland-plotting-division-ukraine-2022-04-28/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/30/depleted-russian-units-that-failed-to-take-kyiv-ukraine-are-merging-says-mod https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-russia-stole-several-hundred-thousand-tonnes-grain-2022-04-30 https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/3472447-what-we-know-about-the-ghost-of-kyiv/

News of President Kennedy’s assassination sent shockwaves around the world. And at the epicenter of those shockwaves sat one Jim Angleton. His actions following Kennedy’s death would help stoke tales of conspiracies that, perhaps, people within the U.S. government had killed their own Commander-In-Chief, a concern the President himself expressed just before his untimely death. Angleton played a key role in the investigation of President Kennedy’s murder, though what that role was is still hard to say. Along the way, Angleton's paranoia and misplaced trust would destroy the careers of faithful CIA officers and sincere Soviet defectors. Eventually, Angleton would be forced out of the agency, and the extent of his secret empire would be uncovered, revealing the vast trove of secrets squirreled away in the floorboards of the intelligence agency he helped to build. Coming soon, the conclusion to the story of James Jesus Angleton, on CIA Files, True Stories of U.S. Intelligence.