logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2020
50m 43s

The Nuclear Superhighway | CIA

SPYSCAPE
About this episode

Undercover CIA agent James Olson takes Vanessa Kirby on a nail-biting mission behind the Iron Curtain. In the late 1970s, James was tasked with tapping an underground communications line between Moscow and a top-secret nuclear weapons facility. Under constant surveillance from the KGB, he would need to use a combination of traditional spycraft and hi-tech gadgetry to intercept this priceless intel without risking a diplomatic catastrophe. Could YOU evade detection? From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets and skills. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Gemma Newby. Produced by Joe Foley. Music by Nick Ryan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up next
Yesterday
True Spies Debriefs: Douglas Waller on Frank Wisner
Content Warning: This episode contains references to suicide. True Spies producer Morgan Childs sits down with author and journalist Douglas Waller to discuss the complex and controversial legacy at the heart of his latest book, The Determined Spy: The Turbulent Life and Times of ... Show More
45m 11s
Jul 1
Cover of Darkness | CSIS
Former Canadian Security Intelligence Service operative Neil Bisson delivers a compact masterclass in Human Intelligence gathering in this blow-by-blow account of a Mobile Debrief. Along the way, you'll discover how Canada's intelligence apparatus works - and how it could change ... Show More
36m 18s
Jun 24
True Spies Debriefs: Jane Bradley and Michael Schwirtz on Russia's Brazilian Illegals
Investigative New York Times journalists Jane Bradley and Michael Schwirtz speak to True Spies producer Frank Palmer about the discovery of a Russian 'spy factory' in Brazil. This is a free taster of the exclusive content you'll uncover with a Spyscape+ subscription. Sign up at p ... Show More
33m 19s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2021
Burgers & Spies
Vanessa Kirby meets Naveed Jamali, an FBI operative who worked his way into the world of espionage. Hoping to impress US Intelligence, Naveed used family connections to set himself up as a double agent, fooling the Russians into revealing their operations on American soil. Armed ... Show More
46m 39s
Dec 2021
The Code Clerk
In Atlanta, a woman is found murdered. The suspect? An employee of a hostile Embassy, responsible for monitoring secret communications. He's also a spy, recruited by the FBI. Now he's on the run, and the pressure is on for the Bureau to bring him in - before his own side take him ... Show More
43m 54s
Jan 2025
15. Crossing the Iron Curtain: The Cold War’s Most Valuable Spy (Ep 2)
Was it possible to avoid KGB surveillance in Moscow as a CIA agent at the height of the Cold War? What motivates someone to spy on their country for an opposing power? And how did Adolf Tolkachev manage to smuggle out the top secret documents the CIA needed to defeat the USSR? Ad ... Show More
46m 58s
Dec 2021
The Armageddon Papers
What secrets do you give away with the twitch of an eyelid - the tap of a finger? Joe Navarro knows. As an FBI agent, he developed an innate gift for reading body language. But when Joe came up against hyper-intelligent US traitor Rod Ramsay, those skills were put to the test. Th ... Show More
1h 1m
Feb 2025
16.⁠ ⁠Crossing the Iron Curtain: Escape From the KGB (Ep 3)
How would you disguise a cyanide pill for a CIA spy in Moscow during the Cold War? What risks could Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Beatles pose to Adolf Tolkachev’s mission against the Soviet state? And will the CIA’s mole in Moscow be discovered by the KGB? It’s 1985, and for ... Show More
49m 1s
Dec 2021
The Spy In The Cornfield
In the golden cornfields of rural Iowa, mysterious men are stealing seeds. Corn is big business - and the secret of growing good corn is priceless intellectual property. But is this a simple case of corporate theft, or foreign espionage in a vital strategic battle between nations ... Show More
50m 24s
Jan 2025
14. Crossing the Iron Curtain: The CIA’s Mole In Moscow (Ep 1)
How did the CIA recruit a Russian asset in Moscow during the height of the Cold War? Why would someone be so determined to defect from the Soviet Union and spy for the US? And what would happen if the KGB found out they had a traitor in their midst? Adolf Tolkachev had a vendetta ... Show More
52m 42s
Dec 2021
Operation: Bullwinkle
Robert Wittman was a special kind of Special Agent. During his long career with the FBI, he went undercover to retrieve millions of dollars worth of stolen art. When a priceless Rembrandt was stolen from Sweden's National Gallery, Robert descended into Europe's criminal underworl ... Show More
43m 46s
Mar 2025
29. The Spy Who Betrayed Oppenheimer: Deception at Los Alamos (Ep 3)
How did a Russian spy end up at the heart of the Manhattan Project? What happened when Soviet intelligence lost track of their own spy? And how did one man hand Stalin the bomb on a silver platter? Klaus Fuchs was already one of the most valuable spies in history, feeding atomic ... Show More
52m 13s
May 25
49. The Man Who Tried To Kill The KGB: A Traitor in the Kremlin (Ep 1)
The Cold War may have ended, but the hunt for dangerous secrets never truly stops. What happens when a disillusioned KGB archivist decides to betray his masters? How did he manage to steal masses of top-secret files from the heart of the Soviet Union? And what did the CIA miss th ... Show More
47m 48s