Former senior intelligence officer, John Sipher, discusses his transition to Hollywood, his favorite spy movies, and the fine line between espionage and action-adventure genres. They also delve into creating authentic spy stories, making movies based on books and real-life events, and the challenges and joys of the movie-making business.

Former top CIA Russia Hand John Sipher talks about spying and sabotage ops against Vladimir Putin, challenges faced by intelligence officers in Moscow, the significance of intelligence support in military operations, concerns about US involvement in Israel and the Middle East, Israeli politics and US support for Ukraine, and the implications of Russia's nuclear weapons.

Former CIA Russia hand, John Sipher, discusses the challenges faced by CIA personnel in Moscow amidst political uncertainty. They explore the importance of surveillance agents and all-source intelligence, as well as the quality of US intelligence analysis on Russia. The podcast also covers operations against Russians outside of Russia and the increasing appetite for spy stories in entertainment.

From January 8, 2019: The Russian government's recent arrest of American Paul Whelan and its charges against him have many politicians and pundits speculating about the possibility of an intended spy swap for Maria Butina. There's a lot going on here, but there's also a lot of misunderstanding about the history of spy swaps, what they are, and what they aren't.Earlier this week, David Priess sat down with his former CIA colleague John Sipher to talk about it all. They discussed the history of spy swaps, the current case involving Paul Whelan, and prospects for some kind of a release.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former CIA operative John Sipher discusses US options for dealing with a potential invasion of Ukraine, while former top DHS intelligence official Brian Murphy deconstructs the Kremlin's disinformation campaign. Topics include Russian behavior, intelligence recruitment, cyber threats, manufactured tensions, Russian disinformation tactics, press responsibility, and changing strategies in disinformation campaigns.