Mission Implausible

Recent episodes

1. The Corruption of American Intelligence (with Julia Curlee) from Mission Implausible

   Aug 2, 2026

   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 question of how any future administration cleans this up without another round of retribution. Looking outward — what Beijing is taking faway rom the Iran war, whether Taiwan is watching closely enough, what a protracted fight with Iran looks like, and why America's allies have stopped waiting for things to go back to normal. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

2. The National Security Council Purge (with Julia Curlee) from Mission Implausible

   Jul 26, 2026

   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 was fired on Day 3, and Curlee on Day 69, leaving The White House woefully uninformed to this day. But maybe that was the point.“Vulnerability isn't really a foreign adversary, but the erosion of institutions and processes that otherwise allow presidents to make decisions based on objective evidence rather than politics.” Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

3. CIA's Best-Kept Secret: It Was Fun (with Paul Kolbe & Doug Wise) from Mission Implausible

   Jul 19, 2026

   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 mermaids. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

4. Trump’s Presidential Payday (with Adam Davidson) from Mission Implausible

   Jul 12, 2026

   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 how things work doesn't just enrich himself, it damages overall world economic growth. He's more a post-Soviet oligarch than a Western capitalist. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

5. Did the CIA Poison the World’s Best Goalkeeper at the 1970 World Cup? (with Gabriel Gatehouse) - Part 2 from Mission Implausible

   Jul 5, 2026

   - 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 Brazil to support Brazil’s government. It turns out that international sporting events are hotbeds of attempted subterfuge and quasi-governmental manipulation. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

6. Did the CIA Poison the World’s Best Goalkeeper at the 1970 World Cup? (with Gabriel Gatehouse) - Part 1 from Mission Implausible

   Jun 28, 2026

   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 Brazil to support Brazil’s government. It turns out that international sporting events are hotbeds of attempted subterfuge and quasi-governmental manipulation. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

7. Inside the Kremlin's Playbook: How Russia Really Works (with Michael Carpenter) from Mission Implausible

   Jun 21, 2026

   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 undermines the remarkable success of NATO. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

8. What the CIA Knows About Iran That Washington Keeps Getting Wrong (with Mark Fowler) from Mission Implausible

   Jun 14, 2026

   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 every wall, craves American attention while calling us the Great Satan, and negotiates by treating signed contracts as opening bids. He separates the educated, reform-minded Iranian people from a regime led by men forged in the trenches of the Iran-Iraq War and traces the IRGC's rise from teenage revolutionary militia to a corrupt, self-sufficient parallel army that controls Iran's missiles, ports, and economy. On the current conflict, Trump jumped in without preparation against an adversary that has spent a generation planning for exactly this. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

9. Swinging at Curveball: When You Want It Bad, You Get It Bad (with Bob Drogin) from Mission Implausible

   Jun 7, 2026

   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 weeks. Bob Drogin, the award-winning journalist who broke the story and wrote the definitive book on it, joins John & Jerry to examine how political will, institutional groupthink, and bureaucratic cowardice allowed a con man’s tales to be treated as fact. But history repeats itself as now, in 2026, fuzzy claims about Iranian weapons undergirds another Middle East war. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

10. How Everyone Else Sees America (with Gabriel Gatehouse) - ENCORE from Mission Implausible

    May 31, 2026

    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: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

11. The Hawaiian Cult that raised Tulsi Gabbard (with Christine Gralow) - ENCORE from Mission Implausible

    May 24, 2026

    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. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/tulsi-gabbard-office-shouldnt-exist-director-national-intelligence-9-11 Our current Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was born into The Science of Identity Foundation, a secretive, authoritarian religious group led by guru Chris Butler. What are the beliefs of The SIF and how did they influence Gabbard's political career? Some believe that she's still under their direction, if not outright control. If so, the international criminal investigations of the organization, along with the local Hawaiian suspicions of it, raises serious national security questions for someone in that role. Then why does it appear that even a standard FBI background check of Gabbard was skipped? The reporting on Gabbard's origins had been sparse... until now. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

12. Hunting Weapons of Mass Destruction (with Andy Weber) from Mission Implausible

    May 17, 2026

    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? Biological threats may ultimately prove even more dangerous than nuclear ones. How do we control them? https://thesteadystate.org Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

13. How the CIA Decides What’s Legal (with James Petrila) from Mission Implausible

    May 10, 2026

    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 with the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling and the dismantling of institutional oversight, represents a fundamental threat to the rule of law. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

14. Crypto: The Trump Family Business (with Zach Everson) from Mission Implausible

    May 3, 2026

    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 Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

15. Serving in the Middle East, then Writing About It (with Ilana Berry) from Mission Implausible

    Apr 26, 2026

    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 secrecy fuels conspiracy theories, and why even insiders often struggle to separate truth from manipulation. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

16. Modern Conspiracy Culture: How Real Scandals Fueled False Narratives (with Kathryn Olmsted) from Mission Implausible

    Apr 19, 2026

    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 control. Genuine conspiracies often make it harder—not easier—to separate fact from fiction. How do democracies survive when citizens no longer agree on what’s real? Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

17. The Terrible Thing People Say When They Think No One Is Listening (with Ben Palmer) from Mission Implausible

    Apr 12, 2026

    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 behavior and unabashed racism (he would make a terrific CIA case officer). Watch his video about pretending to be the social media person for three months for Republican Congressman Ted Yoho. Palmer’s work reveals truths about human behavior and predatory systems, exposing the parallels of American’s current experience to that of authoritarian regimes. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

18. What the Steele Dossier Got Right—and Why It Still Matters (with Christopher Steele) from Mission Implausible

    Apr 5, 2026

    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 Trumpworld and the Kremlin. In a highly unique conversation, Steele and John & Jerry look into the many hot-button conspiracy theories and real conspiracies that Steele has intelligence on — going all the way back to the death of Princess Diana and through Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement with Russian espionage. And how Trump’s behavior has made America so untrustworthy that it can no longer function effectively at worldwide intelligence gathering. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

19. Havana Syndrome Is Real - and They Tried to Bury It (with Michael Weiss) - Part Two from Mission Implausible

    Mar 29, 2026

    We continue to look at Havana Syndrome and Russian intelligence operations. Investigative journalist Michael Weiss expands on evidence suggesting that a covert unit within Russian military intelligence may have targeted Western operatives, particularly those involved in countering Russian activities in Ukraine and other strategic regions. We discuss geopolitical miscalculations, including U.S. responses to Russian aggression, the war in Ukraine, and election interference. The greatest victories for adversaries like Russia often come not from their own capabilities, but from America’s tendency to overreact, politicize, and fracture from within. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

20. Havana Syndrome Is Real - and They Tried to Bury It (with Michael Weiss) - Part One from Mission Implausible

    Mar 22, 2026

    Havana Syndrome wasn’t a mystery. It was a coverup. And it wasn’t just Havana. Investigative journalist Michael Weiss (The Insider) returns to the show to break down his explosive reporting on the unexplained brain injuries suffered by U.S. diplomats, CIA officers, and military personnel around the world. Weiss lays out compelling evidence linking these incidents to a covert Russian intelligence unit and a new kind of directed-energy weapon. But the real story may be inside CIA itself. Was this a failure of intelligence, a clash of institutional power, or something deliberate? Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod