Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment

Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment is a new podcast from The Cipher Brief hosted by Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly and Cipher Brief Senior Book Editor and author, Bill Harlow exploring the entertainment side of espionage as well as non-fiction books and media on national security issues that are making a difference. Join us each week for new episodes with authors, former intelligence officers, actors, directors, television and movie producers, agents, publishers and more.

January 5th, 2023

Code Name Blue Wren

In this episode, Bill Harlow interviews Jim Popkin, author of the just-published: Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America’s Most Dangerous Female Spy - and the Sister She Betrayed. Popkin talks about his fascination with the story of Ana Montes, a long-time senior Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who was arrested in 2001 for spying for Cuba. They discuss what might have motivated Montes to betray the United States, how she was recruited by Cuba, the tradecraft she employed and how she evaded detection for many years. Having served the bulk of a 25 year sentence in federal prison, Montes is about to be released.

December 29th, 2022

Spies and the Media

In this inaugural episode, Cover Stories co-hosts Suzanne Kelly and Bill Harlow, who once sat on opposite sides of the press room, take turns grilling each other with questions about spies and the media. Kelly, a former Intelligence Correspondent and Harlow, a former government spokesperson always knew there were limits to what could be shared. So, what are those limits and how does the relationship between intelligence agencies and the media really work?