"Black Ops: The Life of a Legendary CIA Shadow Warrior" - with Ric Prado
SpyCast28 Helmi 2022

"Black Ops: The Life of a Legendary CIA Shadow Warrior" - with Ric Prado

Summary Enrique “Ric” Prado (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his new memoir “Black Ops.” One of the most renowned CIA officers of his generation tells his story. Book You can buy Ric’s book, Black Ops, and support the International Spy Museum’s mission here. What You’ll Learn Intelligence His time as CIA Counterterrorist Chief of Operations which included 9/11 His career battling communist insurgents and Islamic terrorists on multiple continents His experience living in “Contra” camps during the Nicaraguan Revolution His time as Dep. Chief of Station and co-founding member of the Bin Laden Task Force Reflections Conquering your emotions to stay focused in a crisis His journey fleeing the Cuban Revolution as a young boy to CIA via USAF Pararescue And much, much more… Episode Notes Ric Prado spent twenty-four-years in the CIA – and what a twenty-four years it was. His first 36 months were in the jungles of Central America as the first CIA officer to live among the “Contras,” including a period with the Miskito Native people; indeed, the photos he took ending up on the desk of CIA Director Bill Casey. So, what was it like at the pointy end of the Reagan Doctrine’s anti-communist spear, or as CIA Counterterrorist Center Chief of Ops during 9/11? To find out, and to hear more about Ric’s storied career, Andrew sat down with him for this week’s episode. One of the meanings of the noun “legend” is “a story coming down from the past.” Many people who were in the business at the CIA and elsewhere will have heard the stories that come down from the past re Enrique “Ric” Prado, but now we all have a chance to hear Ric set the record straight in his own words. And… If Ric’s communist uncle hadn’t alerted the family that his school intended to send him off to the Soviet Union as a promising student for further education…if he hadn’t taken an Oceanography class at Miami Dade College and met someone who led him to USAF Pararescue…if he hadn’t been tipped off that he was to be killed in a Contra camp during the night and extricated himself from the situation…as Bob Dylan said, summing up so much of the human condition, “one more time, for a simple twist of fate.” Quote of the Week "The wiring was there and the mentoring from my dad…then the trip to the orphanage. And then definitely when I got into pararescue…being one of our special operations forces, the training is very, very intense…And making it through SERE school, making it through mountain climbing school. There's a certain level of conquering your emotions that you have to do…But I think that the most important thing was that I believed in what I was doing." – Ric Prado Resources SpyCast Episodes In the CT Center on 9/11, C. Storer A Life in the CIA, Hank Crumpton Interview with Cofer Black CT, Nicholas Rasmussen CT Strategy: P. Bergen & C. Costa Rethinking CT: J. Blazakis Books The Reagan Doctrine, J. Scott (DUP, 1996) The Real Contra War, T. Brown (UOP, 2001) Insurgency to Stability, “The Philippines,” Rabasa et al., (RAND, 2011) Shining Path’s Politics of War, C. Degregori (UWP, 2012) Red Revolution: Philippine Guerillas, G. Jones (Routeledge, 2019) The Shining Path, Starn & Serna (Norton, 2019) US Relations with Latin America (Five Books) Articles “Shining Path Leader Dead,” BBC (2021) “Nicaragua Veers to Dictatorship,” J. Cordoba, WSJ (2021) Documentaries Nicaragua Was Our Home (L. Shapiro, 1985) Ballad of the Little Soldier (W. Herzog, 1985) Primary Sources President Carter to Somoza (Brown, 1979) Reagan Covert Ops. Nicaragua (NSA, 1981) US Aid to Nicaragua (1982) Reagan Covert Ops. Nicaragua (Brown, 1983) Goldwater to Casey, “I’m Pissed Off” (Brown, 1984) Reagan State Of The Union (APP, 1985) Reagan Address Nicaragua (ReaganLib, 1986) Contras Lost Congress (WaPo, 1986) 25 Years of the NPA (Hartford, 1994) Wildcard Resource The Clash, Sandanista (Album, 1980) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jaksot(726)

From the SpyCast Vault: Escaping Tehran with The CIA Pt. 2

From the SpyCast Vault: Escaping Tehran with The CIA Pt. 2

We return to November, 1979 when radical Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took dozens of Americans hostage.  Mark and Cora Lijek were two American officials stuck in Tehran, and in 2008 they shared their story with the late Peter Earnest, the founding director of the International Spy Museum. And this time they were joined by retired CIA officer Tony Mendez, who passed away in 2019. Tony helped plan and execute an elaborate deception and disguise operation, exfiltrating the diplomats before the Iranians figured it out. Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts.  Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/  And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org.  This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

26 Elo 29min

From the SpyCast Vault: Escaping Tehran with The CIA

From the SpyCast Vault: Escaping Tehran with The CIA

We'll go back in time to November, 1979 when radical Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took dozens of Americans hostage. Six US officials managed to find refuge with Canadian embassy staff, and 11 weeks later, the CIA led a daring operation to sneak them out of Iran disguised as a Hollywood film crew. Mark and Cora Lijek were two of those officials, and in 2008 they shared their story with the late Peter Earnest, the founding director of the International Spy Museum. Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts.  Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/  And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org.  This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Elo 30min

Catching an Iranian-American Missile Broker

Catching an Iranian-American Missile Broker

Reza Olangian, a dual US-Iranian citizen, left behind his life in Silicon Valley to spy for Iran in the capital. And by the time DEA special agent Jeffrey James Higgins found out about him in 2011, Olangian was trying to acquire hundreds of surface-to-air missiles. That kicked off an elaborate, multi-country sting operation… and a 25-year prison sentence. Jeffrey believes the Iranians are using more surrogates to acquire weapons today.  Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts.  Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/  And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org.  This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Elo 35min

Lethal Dissent: Iran’s Spy Games in Turkey

Lethal Dissent: Iran’s Spy Games in Turkey

Washington and Tehran have a long and complicated history, with tensions that rise, fall and then rise again. Just this summer, we watched the U.S. and Israel strike Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. This month, SpyCast is bringing you a series of special episodes on Iran, looking back and forward, to unveil the country’s intelligence priorities, capabilities, and tactics. First in our series is Fariba Nawa. She's a journalist who shows us that if you want to learn about Iranian intelligence, one of the best places to look is Turkey. It may be a member of NATO, but it's also a country where Iranian dissidents flee because of their shared border. And as Tehran tries to lure certain Iranians back, Israel tries to recruit them. It's a complex, deadly game that Fariba has been bravely documenting through the podcast Lethal Dissent. Listen to Lethal Dissent here or wherever you get your podcasts.  Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts.  Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/  And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org.  This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Elo 29min

Agent 202: New Secrets Emerge on an American Who Spied for Cuba

Agent 202: New Secrets Emerge on an American Who Spied for Cuba

Codenamed "Agent 202," Kendall Myers went undetected as a spy for Cuba for nearly 30 years. He worked at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, secretly spying for Cuba out of an earnest love for the island, its people, and their leader Fidel Castro.  Myers was caught in 2009, after he retired. State Department Security Specialist and former Diplomatic Security Special Agent Bill Stowell was part of the team that worked the case. He shared new exclusive details with SpyCast, as Myers continues to serve a life sentence for espionage.  If you liked this episode, check out these links: Queen of Cuba with Peter J. Lapp The Skinny on Cuban Intelligence with Ean Forsyth | SpyCast Caught in the Act : Catching Che Guevara (Cuba and the CIA) Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts.  Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/  And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org.  This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 Heinä 30min

Agent of Chaos: The Austrian Fugitive Running Russia’s Global Spy Networks

Agent of Chaos: The Austrian Fugitive Running Russia’s Global Spy Networks

Today he’s one of the most wanted men in the world, but before Jan Marsalek fled to Russia, he was the COO of payment-processing firm Wirecard.  Officials and investigators say Marsalek used the company to finance Moscow’s covert operations and spy networks in Africa and Europe. In 2020, nearly €2 billion vanished from Wirecard, along with Marsalek. Financial Times reporter Sam Jones has been uncovering new details through his reporting on Season 3 of Hot Money: Agent of Chaos.  To hear more, listen to Season 3 of Hot Money: Agent of Chaos on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you liked this episode, check out these links: Russia's Fake Identity Assembly Line in Brazil | SpyCast "The Minions": Putin's Expendable Spies | SpyCast Russian Assassinations in the UK: Inside Three Notorious Cases with Historian Nigel West Curator's Corner: Kevin P. Riehle on Russian Intelligence Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts.  Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/  And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org.  This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 Heinä 31min

From Intel Officer to White House Adviser: A Chat with The Museum’s Executive Director

From Intel Officer to White House Adviser: A Chat with The Museum’s Executive Director

This week we spoke with the International Spy Museum's Executive Director, Colonel Chris Costa. His decades-long career in the intelligence community spanned multiple continents, running sensitive operations in Panama, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, where he earned two Bronze stars for his human intelligence contributions. Later, Costa advised Navy Seals as a civilian and eventually assumed the role of Executive Director here at the International Spy Museum. In this interview, we zeroed in on 2017 when he was detailed to the White House as the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism. Looking for more thoughtful analysis of contemporary intelligence issues? Check out our program Spy Chat – Each month, Chris sits down with a special guest for a live online discussion of the latest intelligence, national security, and terrorism issues in the news. Check our program calendar to register!  If you liked this episode, check out these links: Spy Chat with Chris Costa | Special Guest: Tal Sullivan An Evening with H.R. McMaster Operación Jaque - The Daring Rescue Mission That Freed 15 Hostages Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts.  Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/  And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org.  This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Heinä 33min

“America’s Gatekeeper”: A Conversation with DCSA’s Director David Cattler

“America’s Gatekeeper”: A Conversation with DCSA’s Director David Cattler

Born out of a major Chinese cyberattack that stole personal information from millions of federal government employees, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency calls itself ‘America’s Gatekeeper.’  Now five years into its existence, it’s responsible for overseeing most of the security clearances for government personnel and contractors. DCSA’s director David Cattler, formerly NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security, assesses the current threats.  If you liked this episode, check out these links: DOGE Layoffs and the Counterintelligence Threats They Pose | SpyCast Dir. of National Intelligence Roundtable: 2025 Society for Intelligence History Panel Spy Chat with Chris Costa | Guest: Carol Rollie Flynn Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts.  Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/  And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org.  This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Heinä 29min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

aikalisa
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
tervo-halme
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
otetaan-yhdet
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-kuka-mina-olen
aihe
the-ulkopolitist
rss-podme-livebox
rss-tasta-on-kyse-ivan-puopolo-verkkouutiset
radio-antro
rikosmyytit
rss-raha-talous-ja-politiikka
eevan-politiikkapodi-totuuksia-suomesta
rss-mina-ukkola
rss-pykalien-takaa
rss-kaikki-uusiksi