From Cartels to Terrorists, the CIA, FBI, and White House: The Vast Career of Karen Schaefer

About this episode

Karen Schaefer discusses her extensive career in intelligence, including her experiences at the CIA and FBI, and the challenges of being a woman in the field.

Karen Schaefer retired from the CIA in 2019, after 26 years of service. She started out in Latin America and ended with a stint at the FBI. In between, she earned numerous intelligence awards and held key positions that spanned operational, supervisory, and policy roles. Her many job titles included Chief of Base in Iraq and Director of Intelligence Programs in the White House's National Security Council. But what was it all really like? Sasha sat down to talk about how Karen's career began, how she navigated being one of the few women in the room, and how she brought different intelligence agencies together. Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: https://www.spymuseum.org/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org. This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video…

People in this episode

Host: Sasha

Guest: Karen Schaefer

Topics covered

• intelligence
• CIA
• FBI
• women in intelligence
• national security
• career paths

Keywords

• Karen Schaefer
• CIA
• FBI
• intelligence career
• women in intelligence
• national security
• intelligence awards

Sponsors

N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CIA, FBI, National Security Council, International Spy Museum

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