True Life Spy Stories

James W Hall | The Spy From Devil's Mountain 19.06.2026 24λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠In 1982, an American signals intelligence sergeant walked past the Soviet consulate in West Berlin and dropped a letter through its mail slot, offering his services to the KGB. Within weeks he had opened a second channel to the East German Stasi, selling the same secrets to both.For six years, James W. Hall III operated out of Field Station Berlin — one of the most sensitive NSA listening posts in Cold War Europe — passing material an NSA official later estimated cost three billion dollars in damage. He was paid roughly three hundred thousand dollars for it.This episode tells the story of how he did it, what he sold, and how an unrelated shoplifting arrest in West Berlin set the chain of events in motion that would end his career in a motel room outside Savannah, Georgia.📚 Sources & Further Reading (affiliate link):📕 Traitors Among Us: Inside the Spy Catchers World by Stuart A. Herrington - https://amzn.to/4uVZXac

Intel Dossier | A Russian Illegal Spy Goes to Jail 16.06.2026 12λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Welcome to Dead Drop.In this week's dossier:FSB operative Zarubina jailed 14 months in New York;the Pentagon raises Israel's espionage threat rating to critical;Tulsi Gabbard resigns as US Director of National Intelligence; and China arrests US Myanmar scholar on suspicion of espionage.

John Walker | The Worst Spy Ring In US History 12.06.2026 41λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠John Anthony Walker Jnr. ran the largest and most damaging espionage ring in Cold War history. For nearly 18 years he and his co-conspirators sold US Navy secrets to the Soviets.Yet things inevitably got too big and too messy. John Walker’s contempt for his wife and those around him meant that it was only a matter of time before his house of cards went tumbling down.In the year of the spy, John Anthony Walker Jnr. was the spy of the decade.#philipthompson #truelifespystories #johnwalkerPrimary sources and further reading (afiiliate links):📕 Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring, Pete Earley - Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring - https://amzn.to/4v0Sgjw📘 Spy Hunter: Inside the FBI Investigation of the Walker Espionage Case, Robert W. Hunter - https://amzn.to/4ekCCYq📕 Breaking the Ring, John Baron - https://amzn.to/3VgiKgoMedia shown in this video (affiliate links):🎞️ On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - https://amzn.to/4b4L9vQ🎞️ The Vietnam War (2017) - https://amzn.to/3VqClux

Intel Dossier | CIA Officer Found With $40m Stash of Gold Bars 09.06.2026 14λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Welcome to Dead Drop.In this week's dossier: A former CIA officer steals gold bars worth more than 40 million dollars; Former MI6 chief, Sir Alex Younger, dies at the age of 62; IRA spy asks a judge if she can take off her ankle tag to go wedding dress shopping; and Former MI6 chief reveals how his cover was blown by a Christmas card.

Monica Witt | The Most Wanted Woman in America 02.06.2026 12λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠On 28 August 2013, a woman named Monica Witt sent an email from Dubai. She was about to board a flight to Tehran. The message went to a contact in Iran who had been managing her movement for months. "I'm signing off and heading out!" she wrote. "Coming home." She included a smiley-face emoji.Witt was a former U.S. Air Force cryptologic language analyst who had held a Top Secret clearance and access to some of America’s most sensitive counterintelligence programmes.In February 2019, a federal grand jury indicted Monica Witt on charges of conspiracy to deliver national defence information to a foreign government and two substantive counts of delivering that information. Each count carries a potential life sentence. An arrest warrant was issued, but only on 14 May 2026 was a $200,000 bounty placed on her head.But who is she, and why does the FBI now, 13 years later, want her back so badly?

Intel Dossier | Verdict In On Austrian Spy Trial Of The Century 29.05.2026 10λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠Welcome to Dead Drop.In this week's dossier: 1. CIA conducts covert operations Mexican cartel;2. Russia hijacks 18,000 home routers across 120 countries to silently steal credentials;3. Austria hands down a unanimous guilty verdict in its spy trial of the century; and4. the FBI posts a 200,000-dollar bounty for a defector to Iran.

Clyde Conrad | The Ice Cold Spy Who Sold Out America 23.05.2026 32λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠In 1990, a German court made a finding that sent shockwaves through the Western intelligence community. If the Cold War had turned hot, NATO would have been forced to choose between capitulation and launching nuclear weapons on German soil. The man responsible was not a senior official, a diplomat, or a career intelligence officer. He was a U.S. Army sergeant from Ohio named Clyde Conrad.For thirteen years, Conrad walked into one of the most sensitive offices in NATO's European command and sold its most secret war plans to the other side. By the time investigators found him, the damage was done. A German judge would describe him as standing at the top of the worldwide list of all known spies.This is the full story of Clyde Conrad — his recruitment by a Hungarian-American mole inside his own unit, the thirteen-year operation that followed, the decade-long hunt to find him, and the undercover sting that finally brought him down.📚 Sources & Further Reading (affiliate link):📕 Damian and Mongoose: How a U.S. Army Counterespionage Agent Infiltrated an International Spy Ring by Danny L Williams - Danny L Williams📕 Traitors Among Us: Inside the Spy Catchers World by Stuart A. Herrington - https://amzn.to/4uVZXac

Intel Dossier | Iran Purges Alleged CIA & Mossad Spies 14.05.2026 13λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠Welcome to Dead Drop.In this week's dossier: 1. Iran hangs three men for alleged Mossad and CIA espionage as the post-war ceasefire teeters on the edge; 2. Britain records its first-ever convictions for Chinese espionage;3. Norway seizes a 22-ton satellite receiver in a suspected Chinese plot to intercept NATO intelligence from the Arctic;4. a leaked investigation exposes the GRU's secret hacker school embedded inside Russia's most prestigious university; and 5. two Americans are sentenced for running North Korean IT workers inside US companies.

Project Azorian | The CIA's Deep-Sea Submarine Heist 09.05.2026 24λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠In 1968 a Soviet nuclear submarine sank in the North Pacific with 98 men aboard. The Soviets never found it. The Americans did — and they spent six years and half a billion dollars trying to secretly raise it from three miles down. This is the story of Project Azorian: the CIA's deep-sea submarine heist.📚 Sources & Further Reading (affiliate links):📕 Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of the K-129 by Norman C. Polmar - https://amzn.to/4u7ovxg📕 Project Azorian: The History of the CIA Operation to Recover a Sunken Soviet Submarine by Charles River Editors, KC Wayman - https://amzn.to/3ORHbSj

Intel Dossier | Russia's Secret Hit Squad Unmasked 03.05.2026 11λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠Welcome to Dead Drop. In this week's dossier:Russia's secret unit for assassinations and sabotage finally unmasked — after one of its operatives used Google Translate to arrange a murder and was arrested in Colombia;A former Google engineer becomes the first person convicted in the US on AI-related economic espionage charges, after stealing thousands of pages of proprietary AI technology for China; andA FOIA lawsuit extracts internal emails revealing how America's top intelligence office quietly wiped hundreds of its own public records from the internet.

Bogdan Stashinsky | Diary Of A KGB Assassin 30.04.2026 25λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠In October 1957, a young Ukrainian man walked into a Munich office building, passed a stranger on a stairwell, and killed him with a weapon that left no trace. Two years later, he did it again. Both deaths were recorded as heart attacks.On 13 August 1961, as the Berlin Wall was being erected, Bogdan Stashinsky walked into a West Berlin police station and confessed to both murders.This is the story of a KGB assassin recruited and trained to kill with a Soviet poison gun concealed in a rolled newspaper, and ultimately broken by the weight of what he had done. It is also the story of the two men he killed, Lev Rebet and Stepan Bandera, leaders of the Ukrainian nationalist movement in exile, hunted by Moscow across Western Europe throughout the 1950s.Stashinsky's trial in Karlsruhe in 1962 exposed the Soviet Union's use of state-sponsored assassination to the world. His memoirs, written before the trial and lost in an archive for sixty years, were published in 2024.His whereabouts today, should he still be alive, are unknown.📚 Sources & Further Reading (affiliate link):📕 The Man with the Poison Gun: A Cold War Spy Story by Serhii Plokhy - https://amzn.to/4cHLecS📕 Erinnerungen eines KGB-Agenten: Kontexte des Mordes an Stepan Bandera und Lew Rebet by Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe

Lily Sergueiew | The D-Day Spy That History Forgot 25.04.2026 35λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠She walked 1,400 kilometres across Europe. Cycled through Nazi Germany as Hitler rose to power. And then, in the middle of the most elaborate deception operation in history, she made a decision that would cost her everything.Nathalie Sergueiew, known to everyone as Lily, was one of just five double agents entrusted with feeding Adolf Hitler's high command the lie that saved D-Day. The Germans trusted her completely. MI5 codenamed her Treasure. She had one condition. She wanted her dog.What followed threatened to unravel Operation Fortitude and erase Lily from the history books entirely. This is her story.📖 This video is based on Codename TREASURE: The Life of D-Day Spy, Lily Sergeiev by Peter Winnington, published by Pen & Sword Books. A superb read, highly recommended (affiliate links): 📖 Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3KBK5VR📖 Pen & Sword Books: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Codename-TREASURE-Hardback/p/23441/aid/1237Peter Winnington's website: https://gpeterwinnington.com/

Intel Dossier | Russian Spy Fleet Stalks the North Atlantic 24.04.2026 14λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠Welcome to Dead Drop. In this week's dossier:Russian spy fleet caught stalking the undersea cables that carry the West's internet and power;Iran's wartime spy ring penetrates the Israeli Air Force — and its hackers hit American hospitals and water systems;A Delta Force employee is arrested for leaking classified secrets to a journalist; andUkraine kills 12 FSB officers in a devastating drone strike in Donetsk .

Into The KGB Archive | What Mitrokhin Taught Us About The KGB 20.04.2026 25λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠When Vasili Mitrokhin defected to Britain in 1992, he brought with him six cases of handwritten notes copied from the KGB's most secret files — material spanning from the October Revolution to the eve of the Gorbachev era. The FBI called it the most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source. In this members episode, we go beyond the story of the man himself and into what the archive actually revealed: the operational detail of the Cambridge Five, the atom spy network, the KGB's assassination programme, its signals intelligence operations against Washington, its war against the Soviet dissidents, and — in Volume Two — the full sweep of Soviet operations across Cuba, Nicaragua, the Middle East, India and Afghanistan. This is what Mitrokhin risked his life to expose.📚 Sources & Further Reading (affiliate links):📕 The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin📘 The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB in the World by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin📕 The Spy in the Archive by Gordon Corera

Vasili Mitrokhin | A KGB Spy's Ultimate Revenge 12.04.2026 33λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠In 1972, the KGB exiled Vasili Mitrokhin to the archives. It was meant to be the end of his career. Instead, it gave him access to everything. For the next twelve years, the failed spy read every classified file that passed through his hands, took secret notes in a code only he could read, and buried the results under the floorboards of his dacha outside Moscow. When he finally brought his archive to the West, the CIA called it the biggest counterintelligence bonanza of the entire post-war period. This is the story of how a punishment became a catastrophe, and why the man who caused it died believing his warning had gone unheard.📚 Sources & Further Reading (affiliate links):📕 The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin - https://amzn.to/48IEcSD📘 The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB in the World by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin - https://amzn.to/4eb5JzK📕 The Spy in the Archive by Gordon Corera - https://amzn.to/3NWndp1

Intel Dossier | CIA Runs Deception Campaign to Save Downed US Airman 09.04.2026 10λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠Welcome to Dead Drop. In this week's dossier:The CIA runs a live deception campaign inside Iran to rescue its down F15 airmen;Israel assassinates the head of the Iranian spy chief, againThe Russian FSB publicly names and expels another British diplomat; andAnd North Korea steals 285 million dollars from a cryptocurrency exchange.

Jeffrey Epstein | Was Epstein A Mossad Spy? 02.04.2026 17λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠Was Jeffrey Epstein a spy? It's a question that has migrated, with the release of more than 3.5 million pages of investigative records under the 2026 Epstein Files Transparency Act, from internet speculation into a credible hypothesis. In this episode I examine the evidence: the Robert Maxwell nexus and what it tells us about how Epstein entered Israeli intelligence circles, his documented operational relationship with former Israeli Prime Minister and military intelligence chief Ehud Barak, the state-level surveillance deals they brokered together across three continents, an Israeli intelligence officer living under Epstein's roof for weeks at a time, and a 2020 FBI memorandum in which a confidential informant told federal investigators that Epstein had been trained as a spy under Barak's direction. Yet, much of the evidence remains contested, or circumstantial. Even if he was a spy, what sort of spy was he?

Ukraine's Secret War | The Spies Taking The War To Russia 25.03.2026 18λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠On the morning of 17 December 2024, a bomb concealed inside an electric scooter killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov outside his Moscow apartment building. The man who planted it had no idea who he was really working for. This episode tells the story of how Ukraine's intelligence services transformed from Soviet-era relics into one of the most consequential covert warfare machines of the modern era, responsible for sinking Russia's Black Sea flagship, bombing the Kerch Bridge, and striking irreplaceable strategic bombers deep inside Russian territory with drones. It is also an honest account of the failures, the moles, and the political compromises that complicate the cleaner version of the story.

Noor Inayat Khan | The Spy Princess's Fatal Mistake 18.03.2026 27λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠13 October 1943. For four months, the Gestapo in Paris had been hunting a British wireless operator codenamed Madeleine. She changed her appearance and safe houses constantly, vanishing every time the German direction-finding vans closed in on her signal. She was the only Allied radio link left in the city. Every other operator was locked up, or dead.But her luck had sadly run out. On the thirteenth of October, the Gestapo set a trap. They had a name. They had an address. And they were waiting. What happened next would determine the fate of the entire Allied network in Paris.The Germans had finally caught their ghost. She was the most unlikely of secret agents - she was a pacifist and the daughter of a Sufi mystic descended from Indian Muslim royalty. Post-war accounts referred to her as the Spy Princess.Her name was Noor Inayat Khan, and this is her story. 📚 Sources & Further Reading (affiliate links):📕 Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan by Shrabani Basu - https://amzn.to/4bNhvP9📘 Agent Noor: The World War II Spy Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice by Ethan Quinn - https://amzn.to/4dlXIri📕 A Forgotten Woman: The Story of the Unsung Heroine of the SOE Noor Inayat Khan by Iris Jenkins - https://amzn.to/3N7rLbJ📘 A Life In Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE by Sarah Helm - https://amzn.to/4lvxwfM📕 Between Silk and Cyanide: A Code Maker's War, 1941-45 by Leo Marks - https://amzn.to/3NFxsOc

Super Embassy | China's Spy Fortress On The Thames 10.03.2026 19λ

Ways to support the podcast:Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate via PayPal: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠In January 2026, Britain approved plans for the largest Chinese embassy in Europe; a 5.4-acre fortress opposite the Tower of London with 208 underground rooms and a concealed chamber sitting one metre from critical financial data cables. Beijing refused to explain the redacted blueprints. Britain said yes anyway. This episode asks the question intelligence analysts are asking: what exactly are they building down there, and why are Britain's leaders so willing to cave in to Chinese pressure?