Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs

Before Bletchley Park, there was Reginald "Blinker" Hall, the Admiralty’s mercurial intelligence chief whose codebreakers read Germany’s wireless traffic during World War I, giving Britain a front-row seat to the plot behind the 1916 Easter Rising. His target was Sir Roger Casement: a diplomat knighted for exposing colonial atrocities, turned Irish rebel, caught after a U-boat put him ashore in Kerry. Rory Carroll, The Guardian’s Ireland correspondent and acclaimed author of Killing Thatcher, joins Chris to trace the manhunt — and Casement’s "Black Diaries," the still-contested record of his private life that Hall leaked to break a clemency campaign in an early act of information warfare. A century on, Casement’s bones and his reputation remain unfinished business between Britain and Ireland. Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs. Order Rory’s book, A Rebel and a Traitor: A Fugitive, the Manhunt and the Birth of the IRA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FS44H5RZ Find more about Rory on his website: https://www.rorycarroll.co.uk/ Take our audience survey: https://forms.gle/eFx59XntNtiKzNQa8 Support Secrets and Spies Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies Buy merchandise from our shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996 Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com Connect with us on social media Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social X/Twitter: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/ Music by Andrew R. Bird Photos by Hulton Archive, Bettmann Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

GPS is the rare piece of infrastructure most of us never think about until it fails — and it is failing more often, in more places, by design. In Little Blue Dot: How GPS Shaped the Modern World, journalist Katherine Dunn traces the system from its Cold War origins — wartime radio beams, Vietnam's precision-bombing problem, the Soviet shock of Sputnik — to its current role underpinning modern life, governing not just where we are but the precise time that keeps power grids, markets, and supply chains in sync. Chris talks with Dunn about how a taxpayer-funded military tool became invisible civilian scaffolding, and how it turned into a battlefield: Russian jamming and spoofing from the Black Sea to the Baltics, ships that appear at airports, a drone war fought over the electromagnetic spectrum, and what it means when certainty itself becomes a target. Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs. Order Little Blue Dot: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/little-blue-dot-how-the-global-positioning-system-shaped-the-modern-world-katherine-dunn/c5ae27c07c3864a5 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1639734317 Learn more about Katherine on her website: katherinedunn.me/ Connect with Katherine on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/katherine-dunn-journalist/ Take our audience survey: https://forms.gle/eFx59XntNtiKzNQa8 Support Secrets and Spies Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies Buy merchandise from our shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996 Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com Connect with us on social media Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social X/Twitter: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/ Music by Andrew R. Bird Photo by Katherine Dunn, Canva Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Amanda Mason, Senior Curator of Contemporary Conflict at the Imperial War Museums, joins Chris to discuss *Spies, Lies and Deception*, the IWM's major exhibition exploring the history of espionage and military deception. From Operation Mincemeat and Noor Inayat Khan to Cold War spy rings, Bellingcat's investigation into the Salisbury poisoners and the rise of deepfakes, the conversation examines how deception has shaped conflict and intelligence from the First World War to the present day.

Two months into Operation Epic Fury, the US and Iran remain locked in an uncomfortable limbo: a ceasefire is technically holding, the Strait of Hormuz is still contested, and diplomacy has collapsed over the question of nuclear enrichment. Chris and Matt assess the war's compounding costs—severely drawn-down munitions stockpiles with implications stretching from Taiwan to NATO, and reporting that JD Vance has privately challenged whether the Pentagon is telling the president the truth about how the war is going. Then: Viktor Orbán is out in Hungary after sixteen years, replaced by Peter Magyar in a cleaner democratic handover than many expected—but nativist politics didn't leave with him. Finally, two CIA officers killed in a car crash in the mountains of Chihuahua pull back the curtain on a quietly expanding American intelligence footprint in the cartel fight, and the pointed question of what Mexican authorities actually knew. Please share this episode using these links Audio: https://pod.fo/e/40c0f2 YouTube: https://youtu.be/2hbLmHsqVVg Support Secrets and Spies Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies Buy merchandise from our Redbubble shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996 Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com Articles discussed in today’s episode "US-Iran ceasefire and nuclear talks in 2026" by Philip Loft | House of Commons Library: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10637/ "The Pentagon May Not Be Telling Trump the Full Picture About the War" by Missy Ryan, Vivian Salama, Michael Scherer, & Nancy A. Youssef | The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/04/iran-war-vance-hegseth-trump/686905/ "Illiberalism is not Inevitable" by Anne Applebaum | Open Letters Substack: https://anneapplebaum.substack.com/p/illiberalism-is-not-inevitable "Orbán may be gone, but his prejudices are now baked into the European political mainstream" by Shada Islam | The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/27/orban-europe-eu-racism-migration-border "2 Americans Killed in Mexico Crash Were C.I.A. Officers" by Maria Abi-Habib, Dustin Volz, Adam Goldman & Paulina Villegas | The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/world/americas/americans-cia-mexico-crash.html "Mexico’s Sheinbaum rules out a conflict with US over 2 CIA agents killed in Chihuahua accident" by Associated Press | Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/27/mexicos-sheinbaum-rules-out-a-conflict-with-us-over-2-cia-agents-killed-in-chihuahua-accident-00894034 Connect with us on social media Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/ Music by Andrew R. Bird Photos by Getty/AP Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In today’s episode, former Special Forces Detachment A operator James Stejskal shares his extraordinary insights into Berlin's role as the epicenter of Cold War espionage. From his personal experiences in the city to the strategic importance of intelligence operations, James explains how Berlin became the world's most notorious spy hub. Whether you're a history buff or an espionage enthusiast, this conversation unveils the secrets behind Berlin's legendary status in covert warfare. Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs. More on Cold War Berlin Spy's Guide to Berlin: James Stejskal's book exploring Berlin’s Cold War espionage history Markus Wolf Biography: On Amazon for deeper insights into Germany's top spy Teufelsberg NSA Listening Station: Historical overview of one of Berlin’s key signals intelligence sites Berlin Wall Museum: Experience the history of the Berlin Wall firsthand Stasi Museum Berlin: Dive into the secret world of East Germany’s secret police Checkpoint Charlie Museum: Discover stories of espionage and escape in Cold War Berlin Learn more about James on his webiste: https://jamesstejskal.wordpress.com Follow James on X/Twitter: https://x.com/jamesstejskal Support Secrets and Spies Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies Buy merchandise from our shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996 Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com Connect with us on social media Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net Secrets and Spies is produced by F & P LTD. Music by Andrew R. Bird Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.