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The Jack Carr Channel

Douglas London: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence

The Jack Carr Channel

Jack Carr

Society & Culture

4.92.8K Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2021

⏱️ 114 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Douglas London is a retired senior CIA operations officer and the author of the new book The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence.  


Doug served as a U.S. Marine before joining the Central Intelligence Agency in 1984 where he worked for 34 years - 17 years on either side of 9/11.  His job was the clandestine collection of HUMINT - intelligence that comes from people who provide secrets valuable to the United States.  By virtue of recruiting spies for an equal number of years on either side of 11 September 2001, Doug offers a unique perspective on the Agency pre and post that seminal date in history.   


He served in the Middle East, South and Central Asia, and Africa including three assignments as a chief of station, the president’s senior advisor at post, and chief of base in a conflict zone.  Assignments at CIA Headquarters included executive positions at the Agency’s Counterterrorism Center, Information Operations Center, and Near East and South Asia Division.  He is the recipient of the CIA’s Career Intelligence Medal.   


Today, Doug is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies, and is a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute.   On this episode of Danger Close, Doug discusses the state of modern intelligence, failures of the intelligence community, a lack of accountability prevalent in the post-9/11 CIA, and a lot more.   


You can follow him on Twitter @douglaslondon5 and you can follow Jack on social platforms  @jackcarrusa. 


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Sponsors: 


SIG Sauer: Today’s episode is presented by SIG Sauer. 


Schnee’s: Go to Schnees.com and use the promo code JACK21 to save 10% off your pair of Schnee’s boots and logo wear.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is the Danger Close Podcast, beyond the books with me, Jack Carr.

0:16.4

Welcome to the Danger Close Podcast, Niring Cloud Original, presented by Six Hour.

0:20.9

My guest today is Douglas London.

0:24.0

Douglas is the author of The Recruiter, spying and the lost art of American intelligence.

0:31.0

He spent 34 years at the Central Intelligence Agency, and for those doing the math, that

0:36.5

is 17 years on either side of 9.11.

0:40.8

So we got to see the agency before and see a cultural shift after 9.11 that continues

0:47.8

today.

0:48.8

Before that, he was a marine.

0:51.6

And the book is incredible.

0:52.9

Our conversation was amazing, so I hope you enjoy it.

0:57.6

And off air, he described this book as a love letter to espionage.

1:02.0

And I think that is quite fitting.

1:04.7

But it's also a book about accountability.

1:08.4

Now, without further ado, Douglas London.

1:12.4

All right.

1:13.4

So I wrote a little something I want to start with, and then jump into a few questions

1:18.4

for you.

1:19.4

So I think this book is important, not only because it inspires the next generation, but

1:25.2

without books like these, these government institutions that all too often hide behind

1:29.7

protecting sources and methods, sometimes legitimately, sometimes not.

1:34.0

But highlights the importance of accountability and of learning from the lessons of the past,

...

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