logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2025
52m 28s

True Spies Classic: Blinking Red | CIA

SPYSCAPE
About this episode

In this True Spies Classic, CIA analyst Gina Bennett shows Vanessa Kirby the origins of America's most infamous enemy. Throughout the 1990s, Osama bin Laden launched a series of attacks on American interests at home and abroad. Operating in the man's world of counter-terrorism, Gina had to fight to have the threat he posed taken seriously. Would YOU trust your gut?


From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets and skills. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Gemma Newby. Produced by Tim Mansel. Music by Nick Ryan.

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

Up next
Aug 19
The Great Illegals, Part 2: The Ambassador | NKVD
In this two-part True Spies story, author and journalist Shaun Walker unmasks the greatest generation of Russian spies - the Great Illegals. In Part Two, Shaun tells the story of Iosif Grigulevich - the Lithuanian Illegal who rose to the upper echelons of Italy's diplomatic commu ... Show More
50m 37s
Aug 12
The Great Illegals, Part One: The Whistler | NKVD
In this two-part True Spies story, author and journalist Shaun Walker unmasks the greatest generation of Russian spies - the Great Illegals. In Part One, Shaun tells the story of Nikolai Khokhlov - the music-hall 'whistler' turned deep-cover spy in Nazi-occupied Belarus. From SPY ... Show More
58m 15s
Aug 13
True Spies - Brief Histories: Information Warfare
NEW from True Spies: Brief Histories. From Ancient Roman propaganda apparatus to burgeoning MI6 operations, hear how the very information we consume has throughout history been orchestrated. In Brief Histories, the new monthly special from True Spies, series producer Joe Foley is ... Show More
22m 58s
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
Mar 2025
30. The Spy Who Betrayed Oppenheimer: Showdown with MI5 (Ep 4)
What happens when the world’s most valuable spy is finally caught? How did British and American intelligence hunt him down? And, was Klaus Fuchs a hero, a villain, or something in between? Klaus Fuchs' final days as a free man were marked by growing suspicions, clandestine exchan ... Show More
46m 52s
Dec 2021
A Spy Amongst Skinheads
It's the early-90's, and the USA is still reeling from the LA Race Riots. A paranoid Far Right are preparing for all-out war. With his blonde hair and blue eyes, Mike German is the picture-perfect neo-Nazi. But in reality, he's working undercover, infiltrating a cell of violent w ... Show More
44m 50s
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
Nov 2023
Introducing: A History of the World in Spy Objects
The Enigma Machine. The B2 stealth bomber. The poisoned-tipped umbrella. Napoleon’s Briefcase of Secrets. As long as there has been conflict, there have been spies, and as long as there have been spies, there have been incredible gadgets and iconic objects. These are the stories ... Show More
1m 30s
Nov 2023
Introducing: A History of the World in Spy Objects
The Enigma Machine. The B2 stealth bomber. The poisoned-tipped umbrella. Napoleon’s Briefcase of Secrets. As long as there has been conflict, there have been spies, and as long as there have been spies, there have been incredible gadgets and iconic objects. These are the stories ... Show More
1m 30s
Apr 2023
Ministry of Secrets | 7. Dodgy Dickie Strikes Again
Who ordered Lionel Crabb’s final dive? And why? Giles and Sarah investigate the possible role of MI6. Was the CIA also involved? Revelations from a former spy and a royal expert implicate some very important figures in Crabb’s disappearance. Who are they? And is this why the affa ... Show More
39m 7s
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
Nov 2023
Introducing: A History of the World in Spy Objects
The Enigma Machine. The B2 stealth bomber. The poisoned-tipped umbrella. Napoleon’s Briefcase of Secrets. As long as there has been conflict, there have been spies, and as long as there have been spies, there have been incredible gadgets and iconic objects. These are the stories ... Show More
1m 30s
Jun 1
51. Bin Laden vs the CIA: The Origins of Al-Qaeda (Ep 1)
What kind of man was Osama bin Laden before he became the world's most wanted terrorist? How did his early life and radical beliefs shape the figure who would one day challenge the West? And what role did the Muslim Brotherhood play in his formative years? In this opening episode ... Show More
57m 52s