Inside Operation Odyssey Lightning in Libya
SpyCast16 Des 2025

Inside Operation Odyssey Lightning in Libya

From August to December 2016, then Marine Special Operations Officer Ivan Ingraham lived on an assault ship off the coast of Sirte, a city in northern Libya that lies between Tripoli and Benghazi. It was the hometown of Muammar Gaddafi, who invested in Sirte before dying there during Libya’s first civil war. In the midst of a second civil war, ISIS had filled a power vacuum and overrun the city, sending its civilians fleeing. At the request of Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord, the United States provided support. Ivan led a five-man special operations team attached to a Marine Expeditionary Unit to help push ISIS out. The mission was known as Operation Odyssey Lightning. 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 E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org. This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, 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 editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

Episoder(736)

When the CIA Lost a Nuclear Device in India

When the CIA Lost a Nuclear Device in India

In the 1960s, the CIA lost a plutonium-fueled generator on top of a mountain in India. The generator was supposed to power an unmanned listening station, intended to pick up signals from China’s missi...

17 Mar 40min

AI Companions May Be China's Next Recruitment Tool

AI Companions May Be China's Next Recruitment Tool

When you’re sitting alone, and you want company or advice, have you ever turned to Artificial Intelligence? Chip Usher, who spent 32 years in the CIA, has been looking at AI companions. The tech compa...

10 Mar 40min

Roald Dahl: The Spy Behind the Storyteller

Roald Dahl: The Spy Behind the Storyteller

Children grew up reading Roald Dahl’s tales of giant peaches and chocolate factories. Adults know about the controversy surrounding the antisemitic statements he made in his later years. But before be...

3 Mar 39min

In Bed With Beijing: The Double Agent Who Seduced Her FBI Handler

In Bed With Beijing: The Double Agent Who Seduced Her FBI Handler

Katrina Leung, code name Parlor Maid, received nearly two million dollars from the FBI for being their top China informant. But little did the Bureau know… she was a double agent, collecting intellige...

24 Feb 41min

Exfiltrating María Corina Machado from Venezuela

Exfiltrating María Corina Machado from Venezuela

Before Delta Force captured Nicolás Maduro, Bryan Stern went on a secret mission in Venezuela. The veteran and Purple Heart recipient was there to extract opposition leader María Corina Machado, who h...

17 Feb 33min

Hezbollah’s Long Game in Latin America

Hezbollah’s Long Game in Latin America

A 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina opened the world’s eyes to Hezbollah’s presence in Latin America. But the Iranian proxy, a US-designated terrorist group, has operated in the r...

10 Feb 36min

Building the US’s First Known Gang Intelligence Database in Latin America

Building the US’s First Known Gang Intelligence Database in Latin America

As an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who later embedded with the CIA, Wes Tabor worked to dismantle criminal networks in Central and South America - think gangs like MS-13, the S...

3 Feb 35min

Looking Back on the US Invasion of Panama

Looking Back on the US Invasion of Panama

This January marks the anniversary of the conclusion of Operation Just Cause, which began days before Christmas, on December 20th, 1989, when about 27,000 US troops deployed to Panama. Their mission w...

27 Jan 40min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
i-retten
stopp-verden
popradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-gukild-johaug
nokon-ma-ga
fotballpodden-2
det-store-bildet
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-ness
aftenbla-bla
hanna-de-heldige
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-utenrikskomiteen-med-bogen-og-grasvik