When I was 16, I found out my father was a spy.
When I was 16, I found out my father was a spy.
In hindsight, I should have known… why else would my Texas-born-and-raised father be fluent in Russian? But I understand why he never told me - The first thing I did when I found out was post about it on social media. That impulse eventually became a movement: in our first year posting videos together, my dad and I hit 1 million followers. Today we're at 2 million, and I've expanded from interviewing just my father (a retired cryptologic linguist stationed in Moscow during the Cold War) to interviewing spies from around the world: FBI, CIA, DoD, MI6, defected Mossad, defected KGB, etc.
What started as a silly way to hang out with my dad and ask if "birds were real" has become something much bigger: a channel with a quarter of a BILLION views, built on conversations with agents from every corner of the intelligence world… and increasingly, a platform for defending democracy in the United States.
I've asked the Swedish Prime Minister about nuclear proliferation.
I've asked a former Russian propagandist about election interference.
I've asked Estonia's Secretary of Defense about cyberwar.
I've asked an FBI bioforensic scientist about the Unabomber case.
I've asked a CIA officer about the Epstein files.
I've asked a KGB sleeper agent about betrayal.
Today, I use this channel to talk about how the pillars of American democracy are being chipped away by Donald Trump's overreach of power. The spies I talk to have seen democracies crumble. They've seen coups. They've seen what dictators do to their own citizens. Now, more and more of their attention is turning to the United States.
Last week I was talking with Steven A. Cash (former CIA and DHS, now Executive Director of Steady State) and something he said stuck with me: usually, when the CIA gets involved in a country's politics, it's not a good sign for democracy. But today, a growing number of former CIA officers have come together to do the opposite, to protect democracy and defend the U.S. Constitution here at home.
Democracy doesn't fall in a day. It erodes while people aren't paying attention. The people who've spent careers protecting this country are worried. That should tell you something. Watch. Ask questions. Don't look away.
