Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment

Michael O’Hanlon’s 2023 book, Military History for the Modern Strategist earned rave reviews from Cipher Brief Experts like General Stan McChrystal. Cover Stories co-host Suzanne Kelly sits down with the author to talk about the constant themes that emerged as he studied seven major wars and the three lessons that McChrystal called ‘required reading for policymakers’.

A new book, End Game First by Cipher Brief Expert Vice Admiral Mike LeFever (Ret.) and Concentric Chairman Roderick Jones draws on the experience of both men to take crisis management from their military and law enforcement backgrounds to the boardroom, sharing what they learned guiding their own company through the COVID crisis.

Netflix has just started streaming a 8-episode series called “Spy Ops” which they where intelligence operatives from the CIA, MI6, Mossad and elsewhere share insider stories of spy craft, Cold War campaigns, and coups carried out by covert operatives. Featuring interviews with real officials, officers, and spies. We will get a preview of  Spy Ops  from one of executive  producers, John Loew, and consulting producer, former CIA officer (and Cipher Brief Expert) Mark Kelton.

CIA Alum turned author Alma Katsu takes a ‘ripped from the headlines’ story about what happens when a CIA Case Officer spots a UFO while stationed overseas. Katsu is definitely exploring new territory here, not only in the subject matter, but in how she is reaching readers as well.  Cover Stories co-host Suzanne Kelly talks with Katsu about her new mission to reach more readers by coupling good writing with new publishing options.

Like so many American teens in the mid-1980s, Scott Kartvedt saw the movie “Top Gun” and decided: “I want to do that!” Unlike most of them though – he actually pursued it.  After graduating from college with a business degree he decided that a career in accounting didn’t offer the thrills he was seeking – so he joined the Navy, flying F/A-18s. He also joined the Blue Angels and ended up on giant posters in museums and saw an action figure made in his likeness. Kartvedt, whose call sign was “Intake,” commanded a couple squadrons, amassed thousands of flight hours and flew 91 combat missions. When he retired from the Navy, he became a motivational speaker and started flying at airshows. That’s what led him to help train the actors - and eventually - to fly, in some of the critical mission scenes filmed in the Top Gun sequel: Top Gun Maverick.  Cover Stories Co-host Bill Harlow talks with Kartvedt about the twists and turns of a highly successful career.

A book by British former intelligence official and award-winning journalist Michael Smith has written a book about how U.S. and British intelligence formed a close working relationship at the start of World War II and continue to build on it to this day. The cast of characters ranges from Winston Churchil, Ian Fleming, John F. Kennedy, Margaret Thatcher and even Edward Snowden.  The book was published in the UK in 2022 and very favorably reviewed in the pages of The Cipher Brief. But now a U.S. edition is being published and we take advantage of that event to have a special conversation with Michael Smith.

Captain Brett Crozier’s Navy career was soaring.  As commanding officer of the nuclear powered aircraft carrier  USS Theodore Roosevelt - he was a shoe-in to make flag officer. And then COVID struck and he made a controversial decision to plead with higher command to protect his sailors.  As a result he was beloved by the crew – and fired by the Navy.  Now retired, Crozier has written a book that reflects not only on that incident – but on a lifetime full of lessons about the power of kindness, the importance of teamwork, and the value of standing up for what you believe in.  We’ll talk with him about his book: “Surf When You Can: Lessons in Life, Loyalty, and Leadership from a Maverick Navy Captain.”

On June 5, former FBI agent Robert Hanssen died in the SuperMax prison in Colorado.  While few will lament his passing, his death gives us occasion to talk with New York Times bestselling author Lis Wiehl about her 2022 book “A Spy in Plain Sight: The Inside Story of the FBI and Robert Hanssen, America’s Most Damaging Russian Spy.” We ask her about how Hanssen got started betraying his country, how he got away with it for so long and how he was finally captured. Wiehl, a Harvard Law School grad, former federal prosecutor, and daughter of a former FBI agent shares new insights into the life and evil deeds of an odd and awful traitor.

Historian and author Calder Walton shares some of the secrets he uncovered while researching his new book, Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West, including his unearthing of a document from more than one hundred years ago containing a desperate plea for the West to help push Russia out of Ukraine. Find out how history is repeating itself and what we’ve learned about Intelligence in this episode of the Cover Stories podcast.

The thought of what would happen in the United States in the face of a massive power outage has intrigued authors and television producers for years. Dr. William R. Forstchen is partly to blame due to his popular book, One Second After, first published in 2009.  The fictional tale imagines life after an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack that takes out power across much of the country.  Now, he’s back with Five Years After, which follows the main character John Matherson as he deals with new threats to a fragile new global balance..  Cover Stories co-host Suzanne Kelly and special guest host Brad Christian talk with Dr. Forstchen about what brought him to Five Years After and the frightful path forward.