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.

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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

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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.

In the fall of 1983, NATO's annual nuclear war exercise, Able Archer 83, brought the United States and the Soviet Union closer to catastrophe than almost anyone in Washington understood at the time. Brian J. Morra—decorated former Air Force intelligence officer, aerospace executive, and author of the historical thriller The Able Archers—was inside those events: stationed in Tokyo during the KAL 007 shootdown, transferred to Washington just as the crisis peaked, and present in Germany as Soviet nuclear alerts reached levels never seen before or since. He walks Chris through the paranoia that drove Operation RYAN, the Kremlin's vast intelligence collection effort premised on the certainty of a NATO first strike; why mirror imaging at CIA left Reagan largely uninformed; and how three individuals—General Charles Donnelly, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, and General Leonard Perutz—each exercised the kind of cool judgment that kept the crisis from tipping into war. Morra draws the line from 1983 to the present: when leadership on opposing sides stops talking directly, the system fails—and that failure, he argues, looks familiar today.

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Learn more about Brian and his work: https://brianjmorra.com/

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Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Photo by US National Archives/Getty

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.

#Espionage #ColdWar #Spy

John Sipher and Jerry O'Shea, former senior CIA officers and co-founders of Spycraft Entertainment, return to the show for a conversation with Matt and Chris about what Hollywood gets wrong about espionage—and what they're trying to do about it. They dig into the tropes that break the spell (the lone hero, the ditched tail, the torture-porn shortcuts), why real intelligence work is quieter, more bureaucratic, and more character-driven than the screen suggests, and how lazy spy fiction feeds the conspiracy theories they now debunk on their podcast Mission Implausible. Their conversation ranges across the economics of pitching subtlety to risk-averse studios, the moral gray zones that make for better drama than propaganda ever could, the "deep state" as misnomer, and the unsung assets who are the real heroes of most operations. Along the way: a bubble in Moscow for marital fights, a 16-year-old Yazidi girl who helped bring down ISIS, and why the Glomar Explorer remains the great white whale of the genre.

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Learn more about Spycraft Entertainment: https://spycraftentertainment.com/

Listen to John and Jerry’s podcast, Mission Implausible: https://podcasts.apple.com/fm/podcast/mission-implausible/id1728340033

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Audio: https://pod.fo/e/401167
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Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Photo by Spycraft Entertainment

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.

Sean Wiswesser spent three decades in the U.S. intelligence community, much of it running operations against Russia for the CIA. His new book, Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks, dissects of how the FSB, SVR, and GRU actually do their work: dead drops, signal sites, surveillance detection routes, and the street tradecraft that protected agents like Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen for years. Wiswesser explains why Russian services keep returning to Cold War–era methods, breaks down the operational differences between the SVR and GRU, and assesses elite units like Alpha, Vympel, and Spetsnaz whose mythology often outpaces their record. He also charts the sharp escalation in Russian sabotage across Europe, the mafia-like culture driving increasingly reckless operations, and Moscow's use of AI-enhanced active measures to deepen division in Western democracies.

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Order Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks: https://www.usni.org/press/books/tradecraft-tactics-and-dirty-tricks

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Audio: https://pod.fo/e/3fb9a1
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Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Photo by Dmitry Astakhov / REX

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.

Pastor Louis Florio—Lutheran pastor, former military intelligence officer, and police chaplain in Virginia—joins Chris to explain the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR): what it actually is, where it came from, and why it matters beyond the pews. Florio traces the movement's roots in the mid-20th-century Latter Rain revival, unpacks its core doctrines of dominionism and post-millennialism, and explains how its network of self-proclaimed apostles and prophets has embedded itself inside American evangelical politics largely without recognition. The conversation covers the five-fold ministry structure, NAR's proprietary Bible translation, its links to Christian nationalism, cult-like abuse dynamics, and the theological distance between NAR and mainstream Christianity. Florio also offers practical guidance for families navigating a loved one's radicalization, and closes with resources for listeners who want to track these movements.

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Follow Pastor Lou's Two Penny Blog at https://2-penny-blog.com/
Follow Pastor Lou's police-related blog, Midnights LEO: https://midnightsleo.com/
Follow Pastor Lou's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lou-florio-04475232/

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Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty

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.

Chris speaks with intelligence historian and journalist Trevor Barnes about the Bulgarian spy ring trial at the Old Bailey, one of the most significant espionage cases in the UK since the Cold War. Barnes attended the proceedings and walks Chris through how a network of Bulgarian nationals, allegedly directed remotely by fugitive Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek from Moscow, was tasked with surveilling journalists and dissidents across Europe — including Bellingcat investigator Christo Grozev — in operations that prosecutors suggested could have enabled kidnapping or assassination. The case cracked open after a US intelligence tip-off, was jointly handled by MI5 and the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, and ultimately turned on roughly 200,000 encrypted Telegram messages. Barnes unpacks what the trial revealed about Russia's growing reliance on proxy networks and criminal cut-outs in place of traditional deep-cover officers, and what it signals for Western counter-intelligence in an era of mounting state-sponsored threats.

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Read Trevor’s article about the trial: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/trevorwbarnes_britain-russia-bulgarian-activity-7440003523754459136-Pscm

Connect with Trevor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevorwbarnes/

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Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Photo by Getty, Metropolitan Police/AP

Special Thank you to Mark Vaile

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.