The Diary of a CEO

CIA Spy: "Leave The USA Before 2030!" Why You Shouldn't Trust Your Gut! - Andrew Bustamante

Andrew Bustamante is a former covert CIA intelligence officer and US Air Force combat veteran. He is the founder of EverydaySpy, an online education platform that teaches real-world international espionage techniques that can be used in everyday life. 00:00 Intro 02:47 Your Time At The CIA 03:15 What Is The CIA? 03:57 You've Got It Wrong About Spies 06:43 Applying Real Spy Skills To Overcome Any Barrier In Our Lives 08:13 How To Manipulate People 18:15 The Psychological Profile Of A CIA Agent 21:13 I Held The Key To Nuclear Missiles 23:15 It Was A Horrible Job 25:00 Would You Have You Pressed The Nuclear Button? 27:18 The CIA Message That Changed My Life 29:13 The Interview Process For The CIA 31:31 How Did You Feel When You Received That Letter? 33:54 Did The CIA Tell You To Cut Off From Your Social Circle? 34:44 Your Ethnicity Factor To Be Recruited By The CIA 36:03 Do You Have To Change Your Identity? 37:14 How Expensive Is To Train A CIA Agent? 37:21 What's The CIA Training Scheme? 38:04 Do They Show You How To Kill? 39:06 How You Teach The Art Of Lying 41:00 Body Language & Lying 42:46 Demystifying Lying Signs 45:44 How To Tell If Someone Is Lying 47:34 Human Psychology 50:32 The Essence Of Manipulation 52:09 How To Find Someone's Ideology To Manipulate Them 56:12 Have You Changed The Way You Look At The World? 01:00:01 Perception vs Perceptive 01:01:59 Leaning Into Objective vs Subjective Feelings 01:03:25 How To Train Yourself To Apply Rational Objective Perspective 01:05:54 Your Business Success 01:09:01 What Is SADRAT? 01:11:07 Change The Game When Selling Your Products 01:13:13 What Is Espionage? 01:14:08 What Is Our Secret Life? 01:18:16 How To Enter Someone's Secret Life 01:23:33 How To Apply It To Business 01:26:19 Adapting To Change Faster Than Your Opponent 01:29:18 Were There Times Your Life Was At Threat? 01:31:43 Sexpionage, What Is It? 01:33:49 Disguise, Did You Ever Do It? 01:38:44 Do CIA Agents Get Trained To Not Feel Fear & Anxiety? 01:41:23 How Do They Train You To Slow Down Your Emotional Brain? 01:47:28 Your Wife & You Leaving The CIA 01:48:55 America Is Going Through A Hard Period 01:54:15 What's The Advice For Everyone To Make That Change? 01:56:27 How Does Your Identity Stop You From Evolving? 01:57:39 What Is Something You Used To Believe That You No Longer Do? Want to learn more from Andrew? Find your Spy Superpower: https://everydayspy.com/spyquiz Explore Spy School: https://everydayspy.com/ Join the podcast: https://youtube.com/@EverydaySpyPodcast Follow Andrew Twitter - https://bit.ly/49AI9qT Instagram - https://bit.ly/4bTOIqf YouTube - https://bit.ly/3IkEhOY Follow our Shorts channel for more content: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDiaryofaCEOShorts Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGq-a57w-aPwyi3pW7XLiHw/join Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Sponsors: Whoop: https://join.whoop.com/en-uk/CEO This episode of The Diary Of A CEO was filmed at Gold Tree Studios, located in the heart of the Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, California

Andrew BustamanteguestSteven Bartletthost

Mar 3, 20242h 2mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Ex-CIA Spy Reveals Manipulation, Fear Mastery, And America’s Fragile Future

Former CIA officer Andrew Bustamante explains how espionage tradecraft—especially psychological tools—can be repurposed to break everyday barriers in business and life. He details how spies assess lies, motivations, and human behavior using frameworks like RICE (Reward, Ideology, Coercion, Ego), SADRAT, and perception vs. perspective. Bustamante also describes his own psychological wiring, CIA recruitment and training, and how anxiety and fear can be turned into superpowers. In the final act, he warns about U.S.–China power parity, argues we are already in World War III by proxy, and explains why he plans to leave America by 2027.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Understand and use the four core motivations (RICE) to influence behavior.

Bustamante explains that people are primarily driven by Reward, Ideology, Coercion, and Ego. Ideology is the strongest motivator (e.g., family, faith, nation), followed by ego, then reward; coercion is weakest and destroys long‑term trust. In business or negotiation, listen for what people believe in or how they see themselves—and frame your requests as serving those beliefs or self‑image rather than bribing or pressuring them.

To detect lies, look for baseline deviations and unskilled-liar “hot seat” behavior, not eye directions or TikTok micro-expressions.

The CIA first establishes a baseline—what’s normal for a person—then watches for changes under pressure. Unskilled liars talk too much, make lots of statements, fidget, avoid comfort, and can’t stop moving (“on the hot seat”). Eye movement charts and micro-expression hacks are largely unreliable without context. Practically, spend time observing people when they’re relaxed, then treat big behavioral shifts under specific questions as red flags.

Use questioning and mirroring to control conversations and build trust.

Good liars and effective influencers talk less, ask more questions, and subtly mirror body language so the other person subconsciously sees “themselves,” triggering trust. Bustamante uses a “two-and-one” pattern: two follow-up questions plus one validating statement, repeated. This makes people feel deeply heard and leads them to reveal more—including secrets—while you quietly steer the conversation. In sales, hiring, or management, ask, listen, confirm; let them talk themselves into decisions.

Stop “trusting your gut” by default; train yourself to favor perspective over perception.

Perception is your subjective, emotional reading of reality; perspective is an objective, multi‑source view that often contradicts your feelings. CIA officers are trained to distrust their instantaneous emotional reactions because they’re frequently wrong. Bustamante suggests: 1) notice when you’re emotional and explicitly pause, 2) ask what external data or other viewpoints say, and 3) practice this repeatedly on low‑stakes situations so your rational brain “catches up” faster over time.

Apply the CIA’s SADRAT framework to build a high-profit, not just high-revenue, business.

SADRAT—Spot, Assess, Develop, Recruit, Handle, Terminate—maps almost 1:1 onto modern sales. Most businesses skip “Assess,” taking any customer; CIA never does that with assets. Bustamante emphasizes defining and qualifying for high lifetime-value customers, then carefully developing and handling them over time. His company uses this process in both human sales and automated marketing and credits it for 300% year-on-year growth.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

If you want to manipulate people, you will learn that from this conversation.

— Andrew Bustamante

The flip side of manipulation is motivation. Same coin, same value.

— Andrew Bustamante

CIA trains us to recognize and distrust our perception.

— Andrew Bustamante

Bad liars talk a lot. Good liars talk a little.

— Andrew Bustamante

The longer you wait, all you’re really doing is giving the other nine people a chance to be the first one to take a step.

— Andrew Bustamante

CIA recruitment, training, and operational psychologyManipulation vs. motivation and core human motivations (RICE)Detecting lies, building trust, and accessing people’s secret livesPerception vs. perspective and not trusting your gutApplying espionage frameworks to sales, marketing, and business growthFear, anxiety, and stress inoculation as performance toolsGeopolitics, U.S.–China rivalry, and the coming shift in global power

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