In this episode, A'ndre and Ryan are joined by former CIA Senior Operations Officer Douglas London. Doug, who spent much of his career recruiting assets abroad, discusses the nature of the job and its difficulties. He then describes the CIA's transition from a primarily foreign intelligence-gathering service to counterterrorism operations after 9/11, in addition to the politicization of intelligence. Doug shares his criticisms of this shift but also commends recent actions by the CIA to manage the threats of China, technology, and climate change. Doug also offers his view on the importance of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) and how the CIA has prioritized this in recent years.
Today's conversation was based on Doug's recent book, The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence.
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