The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

Former CIA Spies: "The CIA Tried To Ban This Story!" We're Leaving The US by 2030!

309 snips
Aug 28, 2025
Andrew and Jihi Bustamante, both former CIA officers, unveil shocking secrets about a hidden mission to expose a traitor within the agency. They share how the CIA attempted to bury their story for three years and discuss their plans to leave the U.S. by 2030. The couple reveals the CIA's use of fake businesses for surveillance and offers intriguing coping hacks for managing fear and anxiety. They even touch on the controversial connections between high-profile cases, like Epstein, and broader issues of privacy and power dynamics.
Ask episode
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
00:00 / 00:00

Operation To Bait A Mole

  • Andrew and Jihi were recruited to bait a mole inside the CIA by building new operations abroad.
  • Their undercover mission in a hostile country nearly led to capture and forced an emergency escape.
00:00 / 00:00

CIA Review And Publishing Pushback

  • CIA officers sign lifetime secrecy agreements that grant CIA review rights over operational elements in books.
  • Andrew used legal pressure and a First Amendment threat to get CIA approval to publish their story.
00:00 / 00:00

Why The CIA Resisted The Story

  • The book reveals CIA operates as a team sport and uses morally ambivalent tactics to protect Americans.
  • Revealing a mole and terrorist-derived tactics explains why CIA resisted publication.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Get the app