The best operatives never get caught—but some spies and insurgents did. They were people who had big plans, but were stopped in their tracks: caught in the act…rolled up…shut down…and even terminated.
A fascinating 4-part series shares the stories of notable arrests, captures, executions, and expulsions from the 1960s through today. Explore ingenuous entrapments and false-flag operations with the people who developed and used them, as well as experts familiar with these maneuvers. Discover how far-reaching some operations are and the lengths both the good guys and the bad will go to outwit their adversaries.
Please note: Individual sessions are available for separate purchase.
Sept. 26 Catching Che
When Che Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to spread the doctrine of Communism, the United States took notice. As a key thinker and actor in the Cuban Revolution, his plans to inspire insurgency and defeat capitalism on a global scale were viewed as deeply threatening. He was unsuccessful in Africa, but when he headed to Latin America, the U.S. decided to act. Vince Houghton, Spy Museum curator and historian, explains how the CIA used covert action, paramilitary forces, and Cuban exiles to hunt down Guevara and the implications of this operation.
Oct. 3 The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell
Before Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, the largest theft of government secrets was committed by an awkward, unassuming American intelligence agent, Brian Patrick Regan. Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, author of The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI’s Hunt for America’s Stolen Secrets, reveals how the FBI rolled up Regan despite his brilliant, multi-layered encryption system to mask his communication with foreign governments and his unusual “document storage” plan.
Oct. 10 Uranium Centrifuges “R” Us
Marc Ruskin knows a trapped spy when he sees one: He was essential to many FBI operations that snared traitors and other criminals. Author of The Pretender: My Life Undercover for the FBI, Ruskin spent more than 20 years as an undercover agent, employing his unique skills to infiltrate criminal organizations, including a New York Mafia family. Ruskin describes how the FBI assembles a false-flag operation—and specifically how it worked to ensnare traitor Roy Lynn Oakley. Oakley was seeking to sell secret materials utilized for enriching uranium, making it suitable for manufacturing nuclear weapons.
Oct. 17 The Corn Caper
On September 30, 2012, some very valuable trade secrets were about to be smuggled out of the United States. Li Shaoming, president of a large Chinese agricultural company, and Ye Jian, his company’s crop-research manager, were preparing to board a flight to Beijing from O’Hare airport. It was business as usual until customs agents stopped them at the gate. The FBI had urgently requested their luggage be pulled and that they be searched. Join Randall C. Thysse, special agent in charge of the FBI Omaha Field Division, for an exploration of a how a report from a cornfield manager triggered a high-stakes economic espionage case.
4 sessions
Photo caption: Brian Regan, 2001 (FBI)
