From Intel Officer to White House Adviser: A Chat with The Museum’s Executive Director
SpyCast15 Jul 2025

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.

Episoder(731)

The Psychology of Espionage: An Interview with Dr. Ursula Wilder

The Psychology of Espionage: An Interview with Dr. Ursula Wilder

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with CIA clinical psychologist Dr. Ursula Wilder, who in her over two decades at CIA has worked within the Counterintelligence Center, the Counterterrorism Center...

26 Des 20171h 22min

Inside Naval Intelligence: An Interview with Deputy Director B Lynn Wright

Inside Naval Intelligence: An Interview with Deputy Director B Lynn Wright

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Lynn Wright, the current Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence and the Head of the Naval Intelligence Activity.

19 Des 201755min

A Little Bit of Everything: An Interview with Kristin Wood

A Little Bit of Everything: An Interview with Kristin Wood

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Kristin Wood, who spent more than two decades with CIA in a number of roles – from the briefer to the Vice President, to intelligence analyst, to the Nationa...

12 Des 20171h 15min

View from the Top: An Interview with Michael Morell

View from the Top: An Interview with Michael Morell

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with former CIA Deputy Director and Acting Director Michael Morell to discuss his career at the Agency, and his role in some of the most momentous intelligence ev...

5 Des 20171h 29min

Follow the Money: An Interview with Nitsana Darshan-Leitner

Follow the Money: An Interview with Nitsana Darshan-Leitner

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Israeli activist and attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner to discuss the ongoing campaign to disrupt terrorist finance, and her new book Harpoon: Inside the Cove...

28 Nov 20171h 4min

Speaking Truth to Power: An Interview with Ned Price

Speaking Truth to Power: An Interview with Ned Price

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Ned Price, former CIA analyst and Special Assistant to President Obama on the National Security Council staff, where he also was the Spokesperson and Senior ...

21 Nov 20171h 9min

Everything You Wanted to Know About GEOINT but Were Afraid to Ask: An Interview with Keith Masback

Everything You Wanted to Know About GEOINT but Were Afraid to Ask: An Interview with Keith Masback

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Keith Masback, the CEO of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, to talk all things GEOINT.

14 Nov 20171h 3min

The Woman Who Smashed Codes: An Interview with Jason Fagone

The Woman Who Smashed Codes: An Interview with Jason Fagone

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with author Jason Fagone to discuss the history of American codebreaking and his book, The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely ...

7 Nov 20171h 1min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
stopp-verden
forklart
aftenpodden-usa
i-retten
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
popradet
nokon-ma-ga
det-store-bildet
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-gukild-johaug
rss-ness
fotballpodden-2
hanna-de-heldige
aftenbla-bla
e24-podden
frokostshowet-pa-p5
unitedno
rss-dannet-uten-piano