Épisodes

  • 226. Biologics, Guns, and Secrets: A Deep Dive into the Larry Ford Case with Sheldon Fung
    Dec 15 2025

    Today Justin talks to retired FBI Special Agent Sheldon Fung. Sheldon has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biochemistry from the University of California Davis, and a Master's Degree in Criminology and Weapons of Mass Destruction from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. spent more than 21 years with the FBI as a bomb technician and a WMD coordinator. He's here to discuss one of the biggest WMD cases he ever worked on, which began in Irvine, California in March, 2000, after a local man named Dr. Larry Ford attempted to have his business partner killed in a professional hit. Sheldon and his team became involved when the investigation took a shocking turn when biological agents and a buried arms cache were discovered in his home, along with evidence that connected Ford to the South African government and even the Central Intelligence Agency. Justin covered this case himself already for episode 93 of the podcast back in May 2023, which you might remember if you're a longtime listener, but today we'll hear from one of the primary investigators.

    Connect with Spycraft 101:
    Get Justin's latest book, Murder, Intrigue, and Conspiracy: Stories from the Cold War and Beyond, here.
    spycraft101.com
    IG: @spycraft101
    Shop: shop.spycraft101.com
    Patreon: Spycraft 101
    Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
    Check out Justin's second book, Covert Arms, here.
    Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

    Kruschiki
    The best surplus military goods delivered right to your door. Use code SPYCRAFT101 for 10% off!


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    1 h et 9 min
  • 225. How the FBI Caught China's Most Prolific Spy Family with James Gaylord
    Dec 8 2025

    Today, Justin welcomes retired FBI supervisory special agent James Gaylord. Jim spent nearly 32 years with the FBI, including six years supervising a counterintelligence squad at the Los Angeles Field Office's Santa Ana Resident Agency. If you're a longtime listener of the podcast, you might remember Jim as one of our earliest guests from episode 12, recorded nearly four and a half years ago. Today he's back to talk about two of the most famous cases he ran as case agent. It's the story of The FBI's hunt for China's most prolific spy family. Chi Mak, his family, and Greg Chung were US citizens operating at the behest of the People's Republic of China government and its intelligence services, targeting some of the most sensitive American military knowledge in use at the time.

    Catch Jim's original appearance on Ep 12: Life in FBI Counterintelligence here.

    Connect with Jim:
    chasingchibook.com
    LinkedIn: James Gaylord
    Check out the book: Chasing Chi, here.

    https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Chi-Groundbreaking-Pursuit-Prolific/dp/1493091964

    Connect with Spycraft 101:
    Get Justin's latest book, Murder, Intrigue, and Conspiracy: Stories from the Cold War and Beyond, here.
    spycraft101.com
    IG: @spycraft101
    Shop: shop.spycraft101.com
    Patreon: Spycraft 101
    Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
    Check out Justin's second book, Covert Arms, here.
    Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

    Kruschiki
    The best surplus military goods delivered right to your door. Use code SPYCRAFT101 for 10% off!


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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    1 h et 24 min
  • 224. Secrets, Scandals, and Salvation: Spying for China with Gregg Bergersen
    Dec 1 2025

    Today Justin sits down with Gregg Bergersen. Gregg spent 19 years in the Department of Navy's office of Naval Intelligence as an intelligence research specialist. He was then asked to join the Department of Defense as a weapons systems policy analyst at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency in Arlington, Virginia, where he oversaw complex command control, communication, computer intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance foreign military sales programs managed by the Army, Navy, and Air Force. In February, 2008, Gregg was arrested on charges of espionage for which he was later sentenced to 57 months in prison.

    While serving his sentence, Gregg dedicated his life to the Lord and now works to provide hope to prisoners through spiritual development courses. Over the past 10 years, he served as the director of a Texas prison ministry with nearly 100 volunteers providing hope to the lost and the least in our society at dozens of prisons. Over 20,000 prisoners have graduated from his courses. Gregg is here today to discuss his work as a civilian analyst for the Office of Naval Intelligence, Navy International Programs, and Defense Security Cooperation Agency, as well as the personal relationship which slowly transformed into espionage and incarceration that changed his life for the better.


    Connect with Gregg:

    houstonprisonministries.com

    Connect with Spycraft 101:
    Get Justin's latest book, Murder, Intrigue, and Conspiracy: Stories from the Cold War and Beyond, here.
    spycraft101.com
    IG: @spycraft101
    Shop: shop.spycraft101.com
    Patreon: Spycraft 101

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



    Support the show


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    1 h et 25 min
  • 223. A Former Marine Held Hostage in Yemen with Sam Farran
    Nov 24 2025

    Today Justin sits down with Sam Farran. Sam moved to United States from his birth place in Lebanon and joined the US Marine Corps in 1978. He was later trained as an interrogator and worked on orders with the Defense Intelligence Agency and as an at attache officer. After retiring from the Marine Corps, he worked as a civilian contractor all over the Middle East and in particular in Yemen. In 2015, Sam was captured by Houthis Fighters in Sanaa shortly after they took over the capital city. He was held for nearly six months before finally being released to return home. Sam is here discuss his work all over the Middle East and his months of captivity by the Houthis in Yemen in 2015, which he wrote about in his book.

    Connect with Sam:

    Facebook: Sam Farran

    LinkedIn: Sam Farran

    Check out his book, The Tightening Dark, here.

    https://a.co/d/cAlX6il

    Connect with Spycraft 101:
    Get Justin's latest book, Murder, Intrigue, and Conspiracy: Stories from the Cold War and Beyond, here.
    spycraft101.com
    IG: @spycraft101
    Shop: shop.spycraft101.com
    Patreon: Spycraft 101

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

    Kruschiki
    The best surplus military goods delivered right to your door. Use code SPYCRAFT101 for 10% off!

    Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

    Support the show


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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    1 h et 58 min
  • 222. Russian Sabotage: Inside The Wagner Trial with Trevor Barnes
    Nov 17 2025

    Today Justin is joined by repeat gues Trevor Barnes, who writes on national security issues for the London Standard Newspaper and is a former senior reporter for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He is the author of Dead Doubles The Extraordinary Worldwide Hunt for One of the Cold War's Most Notorious Spy Rings. That was the story of the infamous KGB Portland spying, which operated in England in the 1950s. If you're a longtime listener, you may remember Trevor from his previous appearances here on the podcast for episode 33 when we discussed the Portland spying, and more recently in episode 192 when we discussed the recent trial of a Bulgarian spy ring operating in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. He's here to discuss a very recent and serious case of Russia-linked sabotage in London, directed by the Wagner Private Military Corporation that targeted a warehouse shipping supplies to Ukraine. That trial just ended in the sentencing of five defendants, and Trevor attended the trial in person.

    Check out Trevor's previous appearances on episode 33: The True Story of the Portland Spy Ring here and episode 192: Inside the Bulgarian Spy Ring here.


    Connect with Trevor:
    Twitter/X: @trevorwbarnes
    LinkedIn: Trevor Barnes

    Connect with Spycraft 101:
    Get Justin's latest book, Murder, Intrigue, and Conspiracy: Stories from the Cold War and Beyond, here.
    spycraft101.com
    IG: @spycraft101
    Shop: shop.spycraft101.com
    Patreon: Spycraft 101

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

    Support the show


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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    1 h et 21 min
  • 221. Japan's Intelligence Journey in the Modern Era with Dr. Brad Williams
    Nov 10 2025

    Today Justin talks with Dr. Brad Williams. Brad is an associate professor in the Department of Asian and International Studies at the City University of Hong Kong. He has studied, taught and conducted research in Australia, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Taiwan, and the United States. He is the author of Resolving the Russo-Japanese Territorial Dispute, which was published in 2007 and has published on a diverse range of issues in Japanese politics and foreign policy such as arms procurement, civil society, humanitarian assistance, human security, north Korean abductions, nuclear proliferation and secrecy laws. He's here today to discuss the development of Japan's counterintelligence community from the immediate aftermath of World War II up through the early 2020s.


    Connect with Brad:

    scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/persons/bwilliam/

    Check out the book, Japanese Foreign Intelligence and Grand Strategy: From the Cold War to the Abe Era, here.

    https://a.co/d/e4ohfPV


    Connect with Spycraft 101:
    Get Justin's latest book, Murder, Intrigue, and Conspiracy: Stories from the Cold War and Beyond, here.
    spycraft101.com
    IG: @spycraft101
    Shop: shop.spycraft101.com
    Patreon: Spycraft 101

    Subtack: spycraft101.substack.com

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


    Kruschiki
    The best surplus military goods delivered right to your door. Use code SPYCRAFT101 for 10% off!

    Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

    Support the show


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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    42 min
  • 220. Real Life Narcos: Toppling the Cali Cartel with Chris Feistl
    Nov 3 2025

    Today Justin talks with Chris Feistl. Chris worked for 26 years as a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He spent much of his career in Columbia beginning in 1994. Since then, he's been featured in several different documentaries, including the Discovery series Finding Escobar's Millions, plus German Cocaine Cowboy and Narco Wars. He's here today to discuss his book, After Escobar. It's the story of his time in Columbia in the mid 1990s, working with his partner, Dave Mitchell, to dismantle the Cali cartel led primarily by the brothers, Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez. Chris and Dave's work in Columbia was the basis for season three of the Netflix series, Narcos.


    Connect with Chris:

    afterescobar.com

    IG: @afterescobar

    Check out the book here.

    https://a.co/d/6p7V6jq

    Connect with Spycraft 101:
    Get Justin's latest book, Murder, Intrigue, and Conspiracy: Stories from the Cold War and Beyond, here.
    spycraft101.com
    IG: @spycraft101
    Shop: shop.spycraft101.com
    Patreon: Spycraft 101

    Subtack: spycraft101.substack.com

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



    Kruschiki
    The best surplus military goods delivered right to your door. Use code SPYCRAFT101 for 10% off!

    Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

    Support the show


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Voir plus Voir moins
    57 min
  • 219. Digital Intelligence, Phishing Scams, and North Korea with Aidan Raney
    Oct 27 2025

    Today Justin sits down with Aidan Raney. Aidan is the founder of Farnsworth Intelligence, a digital intelligence service, which he founded after unmasking a phishing network online which was harvesting credentials from unwitting Facebook users on a massive scale. Aidan is here to discuss his work at the forefront of digital intelligence, and in particular, his interactions with North Korean IT workers attempting to infiltrate American companies employing remote workers.


    Connect with Aidan:

    farnsworthintelligence.com

    alerts.bar - Darknet monitoring for infected computers and stolen data

    Get the OSINT Newsletter: osintinsider.com

    Connect with Spycraft 101:
    Get Justin's latest book, Murder, Intrigue, and Conspiracy: Stories from the Cold War and Beyond, here.
    spycraft101.com
    IG: @spycraft101
    Shop: shop.spycraft101.com
    Patreon: Spycraft 101

    Subtack: spycraft101.substack.com

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

    Kruschiki
    The best surplus military goods delivered right to your door. Use code SPYCRAFT101 for 10% off!

    Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

    Support the show


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Voir plus Voir moins
    57 min