473 episodes listed below
Spycraft without the smoke machine.
Secrets and Spies treats intelligence work as both craft and consequence. Through interviews with former officers, journalists, historians, and other guests, it connects spycraft, terrorism, propaganda, and state power to the stories behind current affairs.
PRESS PLAY
Secrets and Spies is an interview-centered current affairs show with espionage as its home ground. It treats intelligence not as a cinematic fantasy, but as a set of institutions, habits, incentives, and failures. The format is direct. A host frames the problem, then a guest builds the argument through history, examples, and operational detail. Former CIA officers explain why Hollywood gets cover, conspiracy, and clandestine work wrong. Intelligence writers and journalists map spy trials, terrorist plots, and the gap between what agencies know and what the public later learns. The show is especially strong when it compares popular myths with the messier reality of human sources, state policy, and bureaucratic limits. It can be dryly funny, but the humor usually arrives after the serious work has been done. Episodes on Russian intelligence discuss dirty tricks, internal culture, and the difference between toughness and effectiveness. Conversations about China focus on cyber intrusions, insider threats, technology transfer, and the pressure placed on people who may not think of themselves as spies. Other episodes widen the lens. The New Apostolic Reformation becomes a story about authority, belief, and political influence. Failed UK terror plots become a way to examine surveillance, closed investigations, and the difficulty of judging risk before violence occurs. Iran-focused conversations bring proxy networks, militia signaling, and regional power into view. The pace is brisk without flattening complexity. Acronyms and specialist terms are usually translated before the conversation moves on. Guests often carry the substance, while the questions keep the route visible. The result is informed, sober, and accessible. It is for people who like spy stories better when the machinery is shown.
Made for: For listeners interested in intelligence, terrorism, geopolitics, propaganda, and the real-world systems behind headline events. It suits people who want expert context without sensational framing.
What sets it apart: Secrets and Spies pairs former intelligence voices with journalists, historians, and subject specialists, then lets the conversation slow down around mechanisms. It is less about spy glamour than about how operations, narratives, institutions, and mistakes actually behave.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Detailed guest interviews connect espionage, political movements and security crises to the institutions and methods shaping events.
Secrets and Spies makes covert power legible by asking how intelligence work, militant networks, state strategy and political belief operate in practice.
A fake job title beats a sprawling conspiracy when your spy curiosity gets specific.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Former CIA officers bring Hollywood spy conspiracies back down to the realities of cover, policy, and family protection.
Hollywood spy stories meet a cool reality check from two former senior CIA officers, who make the case that the biggest conspiracies are usually the hardest to believe.
A former CIA officer gives a focused look at Russian intelligence failures, blame, and GRU Spetsnaz tradecraft.
Former CIA officer Sean Wiswaster brings 28 years in government, multiple overseas tours, and senior leadership experience, including chief of station, to a focused discussion of Russian intelligence and Putin's secret war.
A focused conversation on prophecy, spiritual warfare, and religious influence in American politics.
The episode centers on the New Apostolic Reformation and its growing place in U.S. politics, with Chris Carr and Pastor Lou Florio tracing the movement's history, beliefs, and claims of spiritual authority.
A broad, unsettling look at how access and obligation can become strategic advantage.
This single-episode review follows a hard-edged argument: China's Communist Party has spent decades trying to erode America's technological and military advantage through a state-directed campaign.
A close, uneasy briefing on how Iran's proxy networks may respond when its command structure is in doubt.
This Secrets and Spies episode examines the uncertainty around Iran's command structure after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with close attention to the proxy networks built to extend Tehran's reach.
Lizzie Dearden examines when closed UK counterterrorism cases should be revisited and how far prevention law should reach.
Failed terrorist plots in the UK frame Chris Carr's conversation with journalist Lizzie Dearden about a hard judgment: when should someone whose case was closed be investigated again? Dearden describes the surveillance and covert measures a full operation can involve.
A grounded read on why ISIS has not yet filled Syria's post-Assad vacuum.
The episode frames Syria after Assad's fall as a security test: whether Islamic State can exploit the temporary vacuum before rival forces close the space. It is clearest when it tracks the counterpressure already in motion.
The Calvi mystery leads to a careful account of what Mainoni could establish.
Roberto Calvi's life and mysterious death bring Niccolo Mainoni to Secrets and Spies for a discussion of God's Banker, the first season of his Shadow Kingdom series.
Moral questions with consequences for minds, machines, and power.
WSJ reporters unpack the Epstein files, surrogacy industry abuses, and true-crime court battles.
Dan Carlin's solo essays connecting executive power, historical collapse, and American democracy.
Counterterrorism expert Aaron Zelin joins Secrets and Spies to analyze ISIS's resurgence after its 2017 territorial defeat.
An interview with David Tuch about the life of spy and drug trafficker Harold Derber.
Terrorism researcher Jacob Ware discusses the rise of nihilistic violent extremism and attacks on Jewish communities, exploring radicalization in the digital age.
Federico Varese discusses his collaborations with John le Carré, the tradecraft exhibition at the Bodleian Library, and his expertise on the Russian mafia.
Author Mike Rothschild discusses the QAnon conspiracy theory, its evolution into a movement, and its mainstreaming in politics and culture.
Matt Fulton interviews Niccolo Mainoni about his podcast series 'God's Banker,' which investigates the 1982 death of Vatican banker Roberto Calvi.
Sam Lichtenstein’s RANE forecast through 2035 expects turbulence as U.S.
John Seifer and Jerry O'Shea, former senior CIA officers and Spycraft Entertainment co-founders, explain why Hollywood spy stories keep collapsing into Bond-style action instead of tradecraft.
Sean Wiswesser says Russian intelligence still depends on dead drops, chalk marks, and electric tape because those methods survive hostile counterintelligence.
Chris Carr speaks with Pastor Lou Florio about the New Apostolic Reformation, a loose Pentecostal network Florio says is growing in U.S.
Chris Carr and Matt Fulton discuss current events including boots in Iran, Putin's war plans, and China in orbit, while also announcing a change to monthly episodes.
Journalist Trevor Barnes discusses the Bulgarian spy ring trial at the Old Bailey, the most significant UK espionage trial since the Cold War.
Former acting DIA Director David Shedd and former DIA case officer Andrew Badger, co-authors of 'The Great Heist: China's Epic Campaign to Steal America's Secrets,' explain how China's Ministry of State Security has run a systematic, state-directed campaign to strip U.S.
Philip Smyth, a researcher who has spent nearly 20 years mapping Iran's Shia proxy networks, joins host Matt Fulton to analyze the aftermath of Israeli F-15s killing Supreme Leader Khamenei at his Tehran residence on February 28th, with nearly 2,000 U.S.-Israeli strikes following and the CIA arming Kurdish forces along the Iraq-Iran border.
Journalist Lizzie Dearden, security correspondent for the New York Times and author of 'Plotters,' discusses failed and foiled UK terror plots with host Chris Carr on Secrets and Spies.
Mike Rothschild discusses how QAnon has moved from fringe to mainstream and the implications of extremist ideas entering public discourse.