Career CIA senior operations officer Sean Wiswesser joins host Tom Spahr to pull back the curtain on the secretive world of Russian intelligence. Drawing from over 30 years of experience and his new book, Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks, Wiswesser explores the inner workings of the SVR, GRU, and FSB.
Their conversation moves past the “ten-foot-tall” spy myths often seen in movies to reveal a system frequently hampered by internal corruption and a culture of dishonesty. Wiswesser explains how these systemic flaws contributed to Russia’s intelligence failures during the initial invasion of Ukraine. He also provides a sobering warning about Russia’s strategic strengths, particularly their expertise in “active measures” designed to sow political discord and distrust within Western democracies. It is an essential listen for anyone seeking to understand the modern face of the Kremlin’s secret war.
They’re so riddled with a dishonesty. They can’t be honest with themselves or their leadership or President Putin, for that matter… That led them to disaster in Ukraine.
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Sean Wiswesser is a veteran national security professional with 30 years of experience in intelligence and defense. A former CIA senior operations officer and Chief of Station, he served multiple overseas tours, including in war zones. Sean is an international lecturer on Russian espionage and author of the forthcoming book Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks(U.S. Naval Institute, 2026). He holds degrees in History and Russian Linguistics, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the Air War College. His award-winning research on Russian intelligence and hybrid warfare has been widely published by the Army War College and Routledge.
Thomas W. Spahr is the DeSerio Chair of Strategic and Theater Intelligence at the U.S. Army War College. He is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army and holds a Ph.D. in History from The Ohio State University. He teaches courses at the Army War College on Military Campaigning and Intelligence.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of War.
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