The Live Drop - Toby Harnden Guides Us Back Into Afghanistan With CIA's Team Alpha, ODA 595, and the Northern Alliance with his new book: FIRST CASUALTY

Toby Harnden Guides Us Back Into Afghanistan With CIA's Team Alpha, ODA 595, and the Northern Alliance with his new book: FIRST CASUALTY

10/01/21 • 45 min

Toby Harnden is an awarded journalist, foreign correspondent and former bureau chief of the Sunday Times. His most recent book is First Casualty: The untold story of he CIA mission to avenge 911. After numerous interviews with key players and having visited Afganistan several times over the last decades, Toby documents the unconventional success story of CIA’s Team Alpha from their insertion into the Darya Suf Valley, coordination with Special Forces ODA 595, link-up and cooperation with Northern Alliance commander Abdul Rashid Dostum - leading to the fall of the Taliban at the end of 2001.
Toby brings his well-informed insights about some of these initial players: Including David Tyson, JR Seeger, Alex Hernandez and their ride on horseback North with Dostum to Mazar I Sharif, along with the first casualty, Johnny Michael Spann and the events at the Qala-I Jangi fort complex. We discuss the complexity and the accomplishment of how those few intrepid officers and operators transcended traditions, tribes, allegiances and history in an operation that holds clues to the future of Afghan resistance to the Taliban.
More about the author at: Tobyharnden.com
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Mark Valley
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Thank you for listening and your support,

Mark Valley
Creator/Host
thelivedrop.com

Get bonus content on Patreon

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Previous Episode

A Moscow Station Conversation with John Sipher who Shares the Secret to a Good Spy Story

The Live Drop's 50th Episode - John Sipher - CIA & Spycraft Entertainment

from Spycraftentertainment.com

John retired in 2014 after a 28-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency’s National Clandestine Service. At the time of his retirement, he was a member of the CIA’s Senior Intelligence Service, the leadership team that guides CIA activities globally. John served multiple overseas tours as Chief of Station and Deputy Chief of Station in Europe, Asia, and high-threat environments. He has significant experience working with foreign and domestic partners to solve national security challenges. John also served as a lead instructor in the CIA’s clandestine training school, and was a regular lecturer at the CIA’s leadership development program. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal.

John is a sought-after foreign policy and intelligence expert. John speaks regularly on foreign policy and intelligence issues. His articles have been published in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Politico, Foreign Affairs, Newsweek, Slate, Lawfare, The Cipher Brief and Just Security, among others. He regularly appears on the PBS NewsHour, CNN, MSNBC, BBC and other outlets.

Twitter: @john_sipher

In this episode John starts off with a discussion of his article Murdering Reality: The Spurious Spies of Spy Fiction, and some of the mistakes writers and filmmakers are prone to make. After a thorough discussion of the history of Soviet intelligence into the rise of Vladimir Putin, John shares some of his experience and perceptions of Russia during his service with CIA. Unwilling to go quietly into consulting, Sipher reveals why he decided to take his expertise and storied career into the entertainment business. The Live Drop Podcast is fortunate to have had John as a guest for such a fun and far ranging discussion.

References to links, and works are below:

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As always, please rate and review the show on iTunes. Your input is appreciated.

Thank you for listening and your support,

Mark Valley

Creator/Host

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Todd Bensman Surveys the Southern Border and the Convoluted Path of Human Trafficking

Back in April 2021, Todd Bensman talked with me about the nexus between immigration and national security in his book America’s Covert Border War: the Untold Story of the Nation’s Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration. Todd is an award-winning journalist who transitioned to a career as a national security intelligence professional for the Texas Department of Public Safety and then returned to writing and publishing.
We talk about the threat of muslim extremists crossing and the varied and circuitous international routes they may take - how some, like some Haitians now, can cross from Panama through the storied Darien Gap and across Mexico to seek asylum after crossing into the U.S. Todd currently serves as the Texas-based Senior National Security Fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a Washington, D.C. immigration policy institute. While we talk around the politics of the border, his book is a story of the ambitious and intrigue-laden covert American counterterrorism programs built after 9/11 from the U.S. border to the tip of South America. Todd raises the question: have we become a victim of our own counterterrorism success?
Recorded earlier this year, on April 16th, 2021
More on the author and recent articles can be found at:
ToddBensman.com

Todd Bensmen - Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)
Twitter @BensmanTodd
Abid Ali Khan Indicted and Sanctioned
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/pakistani-national-indicted-and-sanctioned-human-smuggling-conspiracy

**Edited by Pete Turner
I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode. I could use your help to make more...
I like to keep the track clean of ads, and sales pitches. As such, meeting costs and finding time to produce this podcast is a challenge, so any support is appreciated. If you would like to help make Season Three operational, please consider a one time donation of any amount right here ---> https://www.paypal.me/thelivedropOr alternatively, join The Live Drop Patreon community for exclusive commentary and content starting with a $5 monthly donation ---> https://www.patreon.com/thelivedropAs always, please rate and review the show on iTunes. Your input is appreciated.