Today, Justin talks with Joe Kent. Joe spent 20 years in the United States Army, serving in the Ranger Regiment, Army Special Forces, and later other elite units within Joint Special Operations Command, before retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer III. His time in the service included 11 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. It was during one of those deployments that he first met Shannon Smith, the woman he would later marry.  Shannon was a trailblazer within the special operations community who excelled at everything she put her mind to and made an unforgettable impact on the lives of everyone around her. Today Joe discusses his book, Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War. It's the story of Shannon Kent's life, her family, her career, and her tragic death in northern Syria in January, 2019.

Connect with Joe:
joekentforcongress.com
IG: @joekent16jan19
Check out Joe's book on Shannon, Send Me, here.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0063039893/keywords=biography?tag=harpercollinsus-20

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
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Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

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This week Justin talks with Patrick K. O'Donnell. Patrick is a combat historian who has covered the war in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, where he was armed and participated in the battle alongside U. S. Marines. He is an expert on special operations units and irregular warfare. He's published 13 books so far on combat history, covering stories from the American Revolution, World War II. The Global War on Terror and more. He's also the author of the Brenner Assignment, related to episode 90 of the podcast with Jack Chappell, the son of OSS officer Howard Chappell, who was one of the primary subjects of Patrick's book. Today Patrick discusses his newest book, The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln's Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby's Rangers, and the Shadow War that forged America's Special Operations. It's the story of some of the most fascinating figures from both sides of the American Civil War and how their contributions shaped that conflict and its aftermath.

Connect with Patrick:
Unvanquished comes out May 7th. Check it out it out here.

https://www.amazon.com/Unvanquished-Lincolns-Special-Americas-Operations/dp/080216286X

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com
Patreon: Spycraft 101

Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

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This week, Justin speaks with Bill Mills. Bill holds a B.A. in History from Framingham State University and has written four nonfiction books about espionage during the First World War. Along the way, he has amassed a significant private collection of original documents, photos, and artifacts related to espionage during that war. Today he shares story of Germany's highly-coordinated and highly-effective sabotage campaign against the United States during World War I.  Ships, warehouses, and factories across the country were damaged or destroyed by brand new types of destructive devices and a skilled team of saboteurs who evaded capture time and time again until they met their match facing a handful of world class agents from the U. S. Army's Military Intelligence Section.

Connect with Bill:
Check out Bills most recent book, Agent of the Iron Cross, here.

https://amzn.to/3WdLRTG

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com
Patreon: Spycraft 101

Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

Support the Show.

This week Justin interviews Vince Houghton and Eric Driggs. Vince grew up in Miami, Florida, and is a veteran of the U. S. Army, where he served in The Balkans. He went on to receive a master's degree and PhD in Diplomatic and Military History from the University of Maryland. He spent more than six years as the historian and curator for the International Spy Museum in Washington, D. C., and is now the director of the National Cryptologic Museum, located on the National Security Agency campus at Fort Meade, Maryland. 

Eric also grew up in Miami and earned his bachelor's degree from Brown University and his Master's degree from Harvard Kennedy School.  He has worked as a Cuba analyst at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies and later served in the US Coast Guard as a Governmental and External Affairs officer. He's currently a congressional liaison for the United States Southern Command, which oversees all US military activities and operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

They're here today to tell the story of Miami, Florida in the second half of the 20th century and beyond, and how much the city itself was shaped by the CIA, the CIA. By Cuban exiles, and by the conflicts that define the Cold War.

Listen to Vince's first episode, number 130: Nuking the Moon with Vincent Houghton

Connect with Vince and Eric:
Vince on Twitter/X: @IntelHistorian

Check out Vince and Eric's book, Covert City, here. Dropping Tuesday, April 23rd.
https://amzn.to/4d70HRM

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com
Patreon: Spycraft 101

Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

Support the Show.

Today just chats with Nick van der Bijl. Nick served for 24 years as a regular in the British Army in military intelligence, security, and later as an infantry officer in the Territorial Army. He saw active service in Northern Ireland, Belize, and with the 3 Commando Brigade during the Falklands Conflict. Since leaving the service, Nick has published 23 books on military history, covering several different conflicts and eras. This week he discusses his experiences during the Falklands war between Argentina and the United Kingdom, which lasted for 74 days, beginning in April, 1982. Nick was on the ground as a non commissioned officer in the intelligence section of the 3 Commando Brigade as British forces fought to retake the islands and worked to build the intelligence picture for commanders making life and death decisions every day.

Check out Nick's book, My Friends, The Enemy, here.

https://www.amazon.com/My-Friends-Enemy-Intelligence-Falklands/dp/1445694182

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com
Patreon: Spycraft 101

Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

Support the Show.

This week Justin sits down with Phillip Tourney. Phil enlisted in the U. S. Navy in February 1964. He served two tours on the USS Mauna Kea in the waters off Vietnam, then transferred to the USS Liberty, where he served three more tours. In June 1967, he was aboard the Liberty as a petty officer third class when the ship came under attack by Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. For his actions that day, he received a Bronze Star with "V" Device and a Purple Heart.  Since then, Phil has published three books about the attack on the USS Liberty. He is currently serving as the President of the USS Liberty Veterans Association.  Today Phil discusses the events of June 8, 1967 and their aftermath, and the cover up that soon followed from both the U.S. and Israeli governments.

Connect with the Liberty Veterans Association:
usslibertyveterans.org

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com
Patreon: Spycraft 101

Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

Support the Show.

This week Justin talks with returning guest Aaron Stark. Aaron served in the U S army as an Apache helicopter pilot, including on two tours in Afghanistan. He finished his term of service teaching at his alma mater West Point Military Academy as an assistant professor of economics after completing his master's in business administration at Harvard University. Today he discusses Benedict Arnold, the most famous traitor in American history. Arnold served as a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War until his shocking defection to the British Army.

Listen to Aaron's first appearance on episode 99: Industrial Espionage: The Downfall of a Great American Company with Aaron Stark

See Arnold and Andre's meeting sites here:
https://www.aaronstarkbooks.com/arnold-andre/project-three-sng7y-3tr4l

Connect with Aaron:
aaronstarkbooks.com
LinkedIn: Aaron Stark
Twitter: @DisruptingTime

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com
Patreon: Spycraft 101

Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

Support the Show.

This week Justin talks with Ann Hagedorn. Ann is a former staff writer for the Wall Street Journal and an award winning author of six narrative nonfiction books ranging in topics from thoroughbred horse racing to international kidnapping to unsung heroes of America's anti slavery movement and to the high drama of the tumultuous year 1919.  She's a graduate of Denison University and holds a master's degree from the University of Michigan and Columbia University, plus an honorable honorary doctorate from Denison.  Today, Ann tells the story of an almost completely unknown Soviet spy who infiltrated the Manhattan Project facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Dayton, Ohio and did so without raising any major suspicions for several years after his return to the Soviet Union.

Connect with Ann:
annhagedorn.com
Check out her book, Sleeper Agent, here.

https://www.amazon.com/Sleeper-Agent-Atomic-America-Away/dp/1501173944

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com
Patreon: Spycraft 101

Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

Support the Show.

This week Justin talks with Richard "Ricky" O'Rawe, a former member of the Irish Republican Army. Since leaving the IRA, Ricky has worked as a peace advocate and has written several nonfiction books as well as two novels about The Troubles.  Today Ricky shares the story of Britain's greatest intelligence coup during The Troubles: the recruitment of Freddie Scappaticci, the man who ran the IRA's internal security unit. He vetted all the IRA recruits and hunted down informants within the ranks, all while reporting everything he saw, did, and learned to British intelligence.

Connect with Ricky:
Check out his book, Stakeknife's Dirty War, here.

https://www.amazon.com/Stakeknifes-Dirty-War-Scappaticci-Nutting/dp/1785374478

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com
Patreon: Spycraft 101

Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

Support the Show.

This week Justin sits down with Dr. Kathryn Olmsted.  Kathryn is a professor of history at the University of California, Davis, where she has taught since 2001. She's published five books and many journal articles focusing on the political and cultural history of the United States since World War I. Today she discusses the story of Elizabeth Bentley, a spy and agent handler for the Communist Party of the United States and for the Soviet Union from the late 1930s through World War II.  But in 1945, she broke ties with both organizations and walked into an FBI field office to alert them to the presence of a massive and almost completely unknown espionage ring that had penetrated the U.S. government at many different levels.  She became a media sensation and helped to alert Congress and the American public to the new Cold War that they found themselves in with the USSR.

Connect with Kathryn:
Check out her book, Red Spy Queen, here.

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Spy-Queen-Biography-Elizabeth/dp/0807827398

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com
Patreon: Spycraft 101

Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

Support the Show.

This week, Justin sits down with Ray Martinez. Ray served three consecutive terms as mayor of the city of Fort Collins, Colorado between 1999 and 2005. He was later elected to the Fort Collins City Council, serving a term from 2015 through 2019.  Ray is an active member of several local advisory boards in the Fort Collins area. He's also the author of 15 books and he is the founder of RM Consulting Inc., where he provides consulting services in many different areas, including writing and publishing, business development, marketing, public relations, and more. 

But long before Ray began his service as an elected official, he was a police officer and detective with the Fort Collins police department for 25 years beginning in 1974. Today, he's here to discuss what was arguably the biggest case of his career, which began one night in October, 1980 with a wife's frantic call reporting that her husband had been shot in their apartment. From there, it spiraled into a massive story involving international arms traffickers, an ex-Army Special Forces hitman, and a North African dictator and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Connect with Ray:
raymartinez.com

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com
Patreon: Spycraft 101

Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

Support the Show.