The Syrian Chemical Weapons Program and the CIA's Spy Story

The podcast episode discusses the story of a spy recruited by the CIA from Syria's chemical weapons program. The spy, a top scientist developing nerve agent sarin, provided extensive information about Syria's chemical arsenal to the CIA. The information seemed irrelevant until the outbreak of the Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War. The fear of dangerous non-state actors gaining control of the chemical weapons prompted the need to secure and remove them. However, direct military action was not viable due to the risks of spreading the chemical agents. Ultimately, the information provided by the spy became crucial in managing the threat of the chemical weapons falling into the wrong hands.