About this episode

Newt Gingrich interviews former FBI agent Wayne Barnes about his career and his book detailing the hunt for a Russian mole within the FBI.

Newt talks with former FBI counterintelligence special agent Wayne Barnes, whose 29-year career included working KGB espionage, running double agents, recruiting hostile intelligence officers, and debriefing Cold War defectors before becoming a private investigator, signature expert, and specialist in recovering stolen impressionist paintings. Barnes recounts his path from inner-city Philadelphia through Penn State and Villanova Law into the FBI, where high scores on a language aptitude test led to Romanian training in Monterey and a Washington Field Office posting focused on Eastern Bloc counterintelligence. Barnes’ book, “A Traitor in the FBI: The Hunt for a Russian Mole,” documents his investigation to uncover an internal FBI spy for the Russians, Robert Hanssen. After he wrote the book, it was a seven-year struggle to get it through FBI pre-publication review. An initial submission in 2016 was returned almost entirely redacted except for half a page, leading to multiple trips to Washington, wording changes, and securing permission from 32 named individuals before final clearance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Newt

Guest: Wayne Barnes

Topics covered

• FBI
• espionage
• counterintelligence
• Cold War
• intelligence

Keywords

• A Traitor in the FBI
• Robert Hanssen
• KGB espionage
• double agents
• Cold War defectors
• FBI pre-publication review
• Romanian training
• Washington Field Office

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: A Traitor in the FBI

Places: Philadelphia, Monterey, Eastern Bloc, Washington

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