Hey everyone, this is Abby Martin. You're listening to the audio version of this episode,

which you can watch at YouTube.com slash Empire Files. But you can also listen to our new

exclusive podcast, only at patreon.com slash Empire Files, which makes all our free video content

possible. I'm A lot of This is a Russian P.

This is a Russian PT-76, the current Red Army amphibious tank.

It is now the property of the United States.

It was not given to us by the Russians, nor did we purchase it, nor did we capture it in battle.

You could say that it was obtained, all 15 tons of it, through intelligence channels,

or you could say we stole it once upon a time

spying or espionage was a fairly straightforward game but we have come a long way rather

quickly from Matta Harry there is something new in the science of spying it's not just

stealing military hardware and secret plans but using tanks and plans and men

to promote our policies around the world and sometimes to overthrow governments we don't like.

In the spy business, the dagger is replacing the cloak, and that is what this program is about.

Ah! what this program is about.

During the past few years, the Central Intelligence Agency has embarked on a rebranding campaign to market itself as a noble, inclusive, and even woke organization. This is in part

to erase its dark history, which was once more widely known in the United States. It struggled

through decades of controversy, saw their methods scrutinized in the public eye, and they had a

reputation for being immoral and unethical, to say the least.

But the post-9-11 era opened an opportunity to rehabilitate their image, gain new approval

in the public eye, that now they're a force for good. And all that assassination and

death squad stuff, well, that's all in the past. Their current rebrand is just the latest

...