The Team House The CIA's Head Spy Hunter | Jim Olson (throwback episode)
Oct 1, 2025
Jim Olson, a former CIA counterintelligence chief with over 30 years of service, shares captivating insights from his career. He discusses his early days in the CIA and crucial training, including engaging with KGB operatives in Moscow. Olson reveals dramatic counterintelligence encounters, such as exfiltrating an asset and confronting challenges with a compromised Marine. He dives into China's growing espionage threats and suggests innovative methods for countering them, while also reflecting on the cultural barriers within intelligence operations.
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Early Public Humbling By Angleton
- Jim Olson recounts being dismissed by James Jesus Angleton after briefing him on the Rote Capella study early in his career.
- That rebuke made Olson vow to avoid counterintelligence, a vow he later broke as he became CIA counterintelligence chief.
Installing Induction Taps Under Moscow
- Olson tells of the cable-tapping operation under Moscow where he went down a manhole and installed induction taps.
- He credits engineers for the technical breakthrough and received an Intelligence Medal of Merit for the operation.
Golden Era Of Moscow Penetrations
- Olson highlights CIA's golden era in Moscow where deep penetrations produced exceptional intelligence for policymakers.
- He credits those sources with shaping critical Cold War decisions and calls it a high point of CIA tradecraft.
