Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment

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.

Bill Rapp was an academic historian before joining the CIA where he spent 35 years as an analyst. Among his assignments was as White House PDB briefer for Condoleezza Rice. After retiring he combined his past careers to become a prolific novelist. We talk to him about his latest book set in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis - but the action is in Turkey where CIA Soviet assets are mysteriously dying.

Imad Mughniyeah was a Lebanese terrorist responsible for more American deaths than any other individual – until 9/11. He is now the subject of a 4-part Showtime dramatic series that debuts on May 19. We talk with Greg Barker who directed and co-wrote this unusual series that tells from American, Israeli and Lebanese perspectives the story of the man who was behind many suicide bombings, hijackings and murders in the Middle East and who evaded capture for two decades until he was killed by a car bomb in Syria.  The drama also weaves in first-hand, real-life interviews with prominent officials from the CIA and Mossad.

Former New York Times correspondent Thom Shanker and defense expert Andrew Hoehn have crafted an important new book looking at the challenges the United States faces from Russia and China – and from emerging threats like pandemics, AI-enabled weapons and cybersecurity. We talk with them about how to address these challenges which they say will require revamping the U.S. national security structure.

The story of how a small group of women - wives of Vietnam POWs founded the  National League of Families and rallied the nation behind the cause of bringing home American POWs and resolving the status of MIAs. Author Taylor Kiland tell this moving story.

Interview with VADM Pete Daly, USN, Ret. CEO and Publisher of the U.S. Naval Institute. Daly discusses how USNI Press differs from mainstream publishers and academic presses.  He talks about trends in the publishing industry, how the pandemic impacted book publishing, how authors can submit material for consideration  and some of USNI's greatest hits – including Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October."

A few weeks ago, Cover Stories co-host Suzanne Kelly interviewed Executive Producer Alex Cary, the man behind the new show (on MGM+) A Spy Among Friends.  The series is a fictional adaptation of the book by the same name by author Ben McIntyre, and tells the story of Kim Philby, one of the most damaging double agents to ever infiltrate MI6.  Cary made his own confession during that conversation, that there is a real-life woman who inspired him to create one of the central characters in the series.  Kelly has a surprise of her own for Cary as she introduces him for the first time to the woman who served as his inspiration for the character.