S10 Ep8: The Grave Robber: Inside the FBI’s Art Crime Team and Its Most Unusual Case with Tim Carpenter
Former FBI agent Tim Carpenter led the Bureau’s Art Crime Team, chasing down everything from stolen masterworks to looted antiquities. In this conversation, he joins Chris to discuss his new book The Grave Robber, a gripping account of the biggest stolen artifacts case in FBI history. Tim recounts the investigation into Don Miller, an amateur collector who raided archaeological sites and kept human remains in his Indiana home, and reflects on how the FBI sought justice and cultural restoration in the aftermath.
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Order The Grave Robber: https://www.harpercollinsfocus.com/harper-horizon/grave-robber/
Find more about Tim and his work outside the FBI: https://arguscpc.com/about/
Connect with Tim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-carpenter-271856202/
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Secrets and Spies is produced by F & P LTD.
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Photos courtesy of HarperCollins and the FBI
Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, cold war espionage and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.
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S10 Ep7: Race Against Terror with Jake Tapper
CNN’s Jake Tapper joins Matt to discuss his new book Race Against Terror, a gripping true story of the US hunt and prosecution of an al-Qaeda fighter named Spin Ghul. They trace the case’s origins in Italy and Afghanistan, its lessons about justice and accountability after 9/11, and what it reveals about how America wages its “forever war.” Tapper reflects on writing trauma without spectacle, the moral limits of the War on Terror, and the investigators who quietly uphold the rule of law amid politics and fear.
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Order Race Against Terror, and see Jake’s tour schedule: https://www.simonandschuster.com/p/jake-tapper-books
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Secrets and Spies is produced by F & P LTD.
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Photo by Elliott O'Donovan
Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.
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S10 Ep6: Espresso Martini | Hegseth’s Lecture, an NYC SIM Farm Bust, Spies in a Shutdown, and MI6’s Silent Courier
This week, Chris and Matt break down Pete Hegseth’s speech at Quantico, where he and President Trump summoned 800 generals and admirals for what turned out to be a culture-war lecture on grooming standards and “wokeness.” They examine what it says about civil-military relations in Trump’s second term and the risks in treating the armed forces as a political prop. Then they turn to the Secret Service’s discovery of a massive SIM-card farm in New York linked to swatting threats and fraud, and what it reveals about the intersection of cybercrime, sabotage, and telecom vulnerabilities. From there, they look at how the US government shutdown is playing out inside the intelligence community—why frontline missions continue while contractors and support staff face furloughs that erode resilience. Finally, they discuss MI6’s launch of a new dark-web tool called Silent Courier, designed to encourage potential sources to walk in virtually, and weigh the promises and dangers of this digital era of espionage.
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Train Like a Spy with SpyQ - Use this discount code for 10% off - SECRETS&SPIES10
Find out more information about SpyQ and register: https://www.spyq.co.uk/
John Le Carré: Tradecraft @ The Bodleian Library in Oxford 1st Oct - 6th April
https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/lecarre
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Articles discussed in today’s episode
"A Novice Defense Secretary Lectures the Brass on What It Takes to Win" by Greg Jaffe | The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/us/politics/hegseth-military-officers.html
"Trump Gave the Military’s Brass a Rehashed Speech. Until Minute 44." by Shawn McCreesh | The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/us/politics/trump-military-brass-speech.html
"Secret Service traced swatting threats against officials. They found 300 servers capable of crippling New York’s cell system" by John Miller & Celina Tebor | CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/23/us/swatting-investigation-server-network-discovered
"Six key questions about the dismantled network capable of crippling New York’s cell system" by David J. Lopez | CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/27/us/nyc-network-secret-service-investigation
"'SIM Farms’ Are a Spam Plague. A Giant One in New York Threatened US Infrastructure, Feds Say" by Andy Greenberg, Lily Hay Newman & Matt Burgess | WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/sim-farm-new-york-threatened-us-infrastructure-feds-say/
"The Shutdown and the Spies" by Jeff Stein | SpyTalk: https://www.spytalk.co/p/the-shutdown-and-the-spies
"Silent Courier: UK intelligence service MI6 launches dark web portal to recruit foreign spies" by Nick Paton Walsh | CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/18/europe/mi6-silent-courier-dark-web-spies-intelligence-intl
What else we’re reading this week
"After US strikes, Iran increases work at mysterious underground site" by Warren P. Strobel and Jarrett Ley | The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/26/iran-underground-nuclear-us/
"Pete Hegseth Is Living the Dream" by Eliot A. Cohen | The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/09/pete-hegseth-quantico/684423/
"The aide, the associate, the ‘Chinese agent’ – and the collapse of a long-awaited UK spy trial" by Dan Sabbagh and Amy Hawkins | The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/20/collapse-uk-spy-trial-china-christopher-cash-christopher-berry
"Rash of Russian breaches of NATO airspace brings calls for shootdown response" by John Vandiver | Stars and Stripes: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/europe/2025-09-22/nato-russia-airspace-violations-19180208.html
"Skunk Works Unveils Vectis Air Combat Drone That Puts A Premium On Stealth" by Joseph Trevithick | The War Zone: https://www.twz.com/air/skunk-works-unveils-vectis-air-combat-drone-that-puts-a-premium-on-stealth
"Russia is helping prepare China to attack Taiwan, documents suggest" by Catherine Belton and Christian Shepherd | The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/09/26/russia-china-weapons-sales-air-assault/
Support Secrets and Spies
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Secrets and Spies is produced by F & P LTD.
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Photos by Doug Mills/NYT
Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.
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S10 Ep5: Train Like a Spy with SpyQ
On todays special podcast, Chris is joined by Gavin Stone and James Foster to discuss “Spy-Q,” a tradecraft-for-civilians training event that turns elicitation, deception detection, influence, behavioural profiling, resilience, and memory techniques into practical tools you can actually use.
Find out more information about SpyQ and register: https://www.spyq.co.uk/
Use this discount code for 10% off - SECRETS&SPIES10
Support Secrets and Spies
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Secrets and Spies is produced by F & P LTD.
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.
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S10 Ep4: Syria After Assad with Aaron Zelin
Nearly a year after Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus, Syria is struggling to chart a path forward. This week, Matt is joined by Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who has just returned from a rare trip inside the country where he met with President Ahmed al-Sharaa. They unpack Sharaa’s unlikely rise from jihadist commander to head of state, the sectarian bloodshed testing his grip on power, Israel’s relentless strikes and regional pressure, and the uneasy standoff with Kurdish forces in the northeast. From shattered infrastructure to fragile diplomacy, Aaron offers a first-hand look at a nation caught between rebuilding and relapse—and what the world should watch as Syria faces its most uncertain crossroads in decades.
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More of Aaron’s work: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/experts/aaron-y-zelin
Read Aaron’s Substack, Jihadology+: https://www.jihadologyplus.com
Read Aaron’s past work for Jihadology: https://jihadology.net
Follow Aaron on Twitter/X: https://x.com/azelin
Follow Aaron on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/azelin.bsky.social
Aaron’s analysis for The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
"Sharaa Goes to the United Nations" by Aaron Zelin | Policy Watch 4108: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/sharaa-goes-united-nations
"Delisting Hayat Tahrir al-Sham: Implications for US Counterterrorism and Syria Policy" by Aaron Zelin | Policy Watch 4077: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/delisting-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-implications-us-counterterrorism-and-syria-policy
"Trump Meets Sharaa: Writing a New Chapter in US-Syria Relations" | Policy Watch 4039: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/trump-meets-sharaa-writing-new-chapter-us-syria-relations
Further reporting for this episode
"For the first time in nearly six decades, a Syrian president steps up to speak at the UN" by Jennifer Peltz & Bassem Mroue | AP: https://apnews.com/article/syria-united-nations-unga-c0471a2f7faece79fe15793fb0466501
"From al-Qaida to the Upper East Side: Syria’s new leader makes his debut on the world stage" by Andrew Roth | The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/24/ahmed-al-sharaa-united-nations-syria
"Syria’s President Says Border Deal With Israel Could Come 'Within Days’" by Ben Hubbard | The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/world/middleeast/syria-israel.html
"Syria risks rupturing as armed camps face off across the Euphrates" by John Davison, Orhan Qereman, Khalil Ashawi & Feras Dalatey | Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/investigations/syria-risks-rupturing-armed-camps-face-off-across-euphrates-2025-09-19/
Please share this episode using these links
Audio: https://pod.fo/e/332708
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Secrets and Spies is produced by F & P LTD.
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Photos by Richard Drew/AP & AFP
Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.
Sobre Secrets and Spies Podcast: Current Affairs | Global Issues | Intelligence
Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode unpacks global events through the lens of intelligence and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and analysts. Tune in for balanced, critical perspectives that will expand your understanding of our uncertain world, deciphering the most enigmatic professions, ideologies, and organizations that shape the global landscape.
Subscribe to Secrets and Spies today on all major podcast streaming platforms.
Our Hosts
Host Chris Carr, driven by a teenage encounter with former KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky, brings a unique authenticity to the podcast. His deep-seated fascination with espionage is evident in his highly acclaimed short spy film The Dry Cleaner, available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. Currently developing feature film and television scripts inspired by the podcast's themes, Chris aims to create realistic and compelling spy dramas.
Joining him is Matt Fulton, a novelist and screenwriter who draws inspiration from masters of the spy genre like John Le Carré, Tom Clancy, and Graham Greene. Author of the Active Measures series of globe-trotting geopolitical thrillers, Matt brings his decades of extensive research and narrative prowess to the podcast, offering listeners a front-row seat to the thrilling world of covert operations.
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