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Mission Implausible

Jon Stern

Do you want to know the truth behind the world’s wildest conspiracy theories? Former CIA officers John Sipher & Jerry O’Shea try to determine where misinformation is coming from, when we’re being lied to and when a conspiracy theory is an actual real conspiracy. In the world of espionage, they were part of creating conspiracies. Now they and their circle of experts probe what’s true and when we’re being manipulated. New episodes every week. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

Executive Producers: Adam Davidson, John Sipher, Jerry O'Shea & Jonathan Stern. Producer: Rachel Harner
A production of Honorable Mention and Abominable Pictures

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21 episodes
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Avg 41 min
English

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S8 · E14
August 17 · 49 min
The Five Eyes: Can It Survive (with Richard Kerbaj)
Investigative journalist and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Richard Kerbaj discusses The Defector, his book on Oleg Lyalin — the KGB officer who walked into a North London police station in 1971 and exposed over 200 Soviet spies in Britain, partly to escape...
- Transcript
S8 · E13
August 9 · 37 min
No More Secrets: AI and the Future of Espionage (with Adam Davidson)
Now that Adam Davidson is a national expert on AI, he worries about how it will change worldwide politics, military power and international economic structures. Not just the AI itself, but all its underlying physical infrastructure. When it comes to...
- Transcript
S8 · E12
August 2 · 32 min
The Corruption of American Intelligence (with Julia Curlee)
What's been done to American intelligence and what it costs: the 35 declassified documents that don't say what the president claims they say, analysts fired for accurate assessments, clearances stripped as punishment, rumored loyalty oaths, and the...
- Transcript
S8 · E11
July 26 · 32 min
The National Security Council Purge (with Julia Curlee)
Stephen Miller runs National Security now. Julia Curlee spent over 20 years as a CIA analyst, rising to being Acting Senior Director for Intelligence Programs at the NSC. When Trump 2 began, she stayed on, as is custom, to help transition. Her team...
- Transcript
S8 · E10
July 19 · 33 min
CIA's Best-Kept Secret: It Was Fun (with Paul Kolbe & Doug Wise)
Two of John & Jerry’s old friends and agency colleagues swap war stories and tall tales, starting with their training at The Farm and including their time in Moscow. Some of the characters in their anecdotes: Nazi Bob, Steven Seagal and the CIA...
- Transcript
S8 · E9
July 12 · 29 min
Trump’s Presidential Payday (with Adam Davidson)
More on Trump's $2 billion is new money in the past year -- Financial investigative journalist (and Mission Implausible producer) Adam Davidson illuminates Trump's business model: money-laundering, ass-kissing and rent-seeking. His zero-sum view of...
- Transcript
S8 · E8
July 5 · 31 min
Did the CIA Poison the World’s Best Goalkeeper at the 1970 World Cup? (with Gabriel Gatehouse) - Part 2
- Journalist Gabriel Gatehouse returns to Mission Implausible with the strange premise behind his podcast Foul Play: the claim that the CIA poisoned England goalkeeper Gordon Banks before the 1970 World Cup quarter-final in Mexico in order to help the...
- Transcript
S8 · E7
June 28 · 35 min
Did the CIA Poison the World’s Best Goalkeeper at the 1970 World Cup? (with Gabriel Gatehouse) - Part 1
Journalist Gabriel Gatehouse returns to Mission Implausible with the strange premise behind his podcast Foul Play: the claim that the CIA poisoned England goalkeeper Gordon Banks before the 1970 World Cup quarter-final in Mexico in order to help the...
- Transcript
S8 · E6
June 21 · 44 min
Inside the Kremlin's Playbook: How Russia Really Works (with Michael Carpenter)
Former OSCE ambassador and Pentagon and NSC official Michael Carpenter argues Russia is weaker than it appears yet keeps being rescued by a West gripped by fear of escalation. And that the newly transactional, alliance-busting American foreign policy...
- Transcript
S8 · E5
June 14 · 52 min
What the CIA Knows About Iran That Washington Keeps Getting Wrong (with Mark Fowler)
Former CIA Iran ops officer Mark Fowler joins Jerry and John to explain why Iran is one of the hardest targets on earth. From running agents and sources, Fowler has insight into the Iranian worldview: a persecuted Shia minority that sees walls behind...
- Transcript
S8 · E4
June 7 · 53 min
Swinging at Curveball: When You Want It Bad, You Get It Bad (with Bob Drogin)
In 2003, a single Iraqi refugee — codenamed Curveball — fabricated stories about Iraqi weapons. The U.S. intelligence community, desperate for sources after 9/11, laundered his claims into a National Intelligence Estimate produced in under three...
- Transcript
S5 · E5
May 31 · 41 min
How Everyone Else Sees America (with Gabriel Gatehouse) - ENCORE
ENCORE EPISODE - Gabriel Gatehouse is a journalist and broadcaster and author of “The Coming Storm” that looks at Q Anon and the January 6th conspiracies. And he’s British! Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube:...
S7 · E4
May 24 · 37 min
The Hawaiian Cult that raised Tulsi Gabbard (with Christine Gralow) - ENCORE
In light of this week's resignation of Tulsi Gabbard, we're re-running our recent very illuminating episode about her. Also, check out John Sipher's timely piece on her in The Bullwark on May 19....
- Transcript
S8 · E3
May 17 · 42 min
Hunting Weapons of Mass Destruction (with Andy Weber)
Nuclear weapons-usable uranium, biolabs for biological warfare, secret chemical facilities -- In Operation Sapphire, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Andy Weber found and disposed of them. Where are the current threats? What does Iran still have?...
- Transcript
S8 · E2
May 10 · 49 min
How the CIA Decides What’s Legal (with James Petrila)
Former CIA and NSA attorney Jim Petrila explains the legal decisions about covert action, presidential power, and the legal guardrails surrounding America’s intelligence agencies. He argues that the Trump-era expansion of executive power, combined...
- Transcript
S8 · E1
May 3 · 48 min
Crypto: The Trump Family Business (with Zach Everson)
Forget hotel rooms and presidential merch, this time around, the Trumps are making untraceable billions with ventures like World Liberty Financial and a Trump-backed stablecoin. It’s a new world of buying influence and access. Watch Mission...
- Transcript
S7 · E15
April 26 · 42 min
Serving in the Middle East, then Writing About It (with Ilana Berry)
Award-winning author Ilana Berry explores the gap between how espionage is portrayed and how it actually works. Drawing on her experience in the CIA, the Department of Defense, and er firsthand view of the Arab Spring in Bahrain. She explains why...
- Transcript
S7 · E14
April 19 · 39 min
Modern Conspiracy Culture: How Real Scandals Fueled False Narratives (with Kathryn Olmsted)
Real government secrecy, intelligence failures, and historic scandals created the conditions for today’s conspiracy culture. Pearl Harbor, The Red Scare, JFK, 9/11, QAnon - a small truth can explode into a dangerous paranoid belief in hidden power and...
- Transcript
S7 · E13
April 12 · 37 min
The Terrible Thing People Say When They Think No One Is Listening (with Ben Palmer)
Comedian Ben Palmer (Palmer Trolls) does sort-of-pranks that have evolved from satire to social experiment. Using aliases, fake websites and a “deportation hotline,” Palmer reveals how easily ordinary people are drawn into exposing their own bad...
- Transcript
S7 · E12
April 5 · 1 hr 2 min
What the Steele Dossier Got Right—and Why It Still Matters (with Christopher Steele)
In 2016, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele produced a series of intelligence memos that were leaked and widely called “The Steel Dossier” containing allegations about Russia's interference in the US election and links between...
- Transcript

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