From LSD-fuelled hallucinations to medically-induced comas, the CIA explored every avenue in their search for mind control. But how did they justify these gross violations of human rights? And what does it reveal about the hidden history of the Cold War?
In the clandestine world of espionage, the pursuit of knowledge can have a dark side. As the US and the ... Show More
Yesterday
77. The Hunt for Pablo Escobar: The Medellin Cartel vs Colombia (Ep 4)
By the autumn of 1989, the hunt for Pablo Escobar and the Medellín cartel was intensifying. With the US military and intelligence agencies now directly involved, a new, more aggressive phase of the War on Drugs had begun. Join Gordon and David as they explore how Escobar, facing ... Show More
50m 52s
Aug 24
76. The Hunt for Pablo Escobar: From Narco to Global Terrorist (Ep 3)
By the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar’s grip on the cocaine trade was unmatched. But a new threat loomed: extradition to the United States. To Escobar, it was a fate worse than death. His answer was brutal - declare open war on the Colombian state. In this episode, Gordon and David tr ... Show More
56m 47s
Aug 19
75. The Hunt for Pablo Escobar: The War on Drugs (Ep 2)
In the early 1980s, Pablo Escobar reinvented himself. He was no longer just the man who could smuggle tonnes of cocaine into Miami - he was the successful businessman, the philanthropist, the proud family man. To the poor, he built homes and football fields. To the powerful, he o ... Show More
56m 9s
Jul 5
#963 - John Lisle - Investigating The True History Of MKUltra & CIA Mind Control
John Lisle is a historian and an author. The government’s history of secret experiments feels stranger than fiction. Covert projects, UFOs, mind reading, even studies of the occult. But no operation is more infamous than MKUltra. What really happened inside the CIA’s most notorio ... Show More
1h 19m
Jul 24
603: The Real CIA Vol. 1 | 693 Pages of Forbidden Government Secrets
On June 25th, 2007, the CIA quietly released 693 pages of their most classified secrets. No announcement, no fanfare—just a document dump that revealed decades of illegal operations against American citizens. The Family Jewels documents exposed systematic violations that went far ... Show More
35m 10s
Mar 2024
When Conspiracies Aren't Just Theories with Journalist Tom Risen
Journalist and author Tom Risen is here to tell me about some of the real conspiracies that the CIA and the FBI were involved in from the 50s to the 70s and how, in 1975, one senator finally took these agencies to task, revealing shocking truths that would be used for decades to ... Show More
1h 16m
Feb 2025
Yes, The CIA Hired Magicians, Chapter Two: The Hidden Hands
While it might sound weird to think of the CIA conspiring to hire magicians, tradecraft and stage magic actually have a lot in common: sleight-of-hand, misdirection, performance -- you name it. With all this in mind, the CIA hired globetrotting magician John Mulholland to teach t ... Show More
1h 1m
Jun 2024
Season 3, Episode 8: James & Tom Risen, The Last Honest Man: the CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedy's - and one Senator's Fight to Save Democracy
Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs in his conversation with authors James and Tom Risen on their important, new book The Last Honest Man, a gripping biography of Idaho Senator, Frank Church. The Risens describe the remarkable events of 1975, when Senator Church almost single-handedly ... Show More
52m 20s