Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- July 9, 2022
- Duration
- 3h 37m
- Channel
- Lex Fridman Podcast
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
Jack Barsky is a former KGB spy and author of "Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Tangled Allegiances as a KGB Spy in America". Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS: Jack's Twitter: https://twitter.com/deepcoverbarsky Jack's Website: https://jackbarsky.com Deep Undercover (book): https://amzn.to/39XMTgG The Agent (podcast): https://cumuluspodcastnetwork.com/pods/the-agent PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41 OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 1:18 - KGB 14:09 - Communism 33:10 - Childhood 39:57 - Becoming a KGB agent 1:18:30 - Training 1:32:19 - Language 1:38:10 - Moscow 1:53:11 - Spying 2:10:09 - Putin 2:13:01 - War in Ukraine 2:24:28 - Putin in the KGB 2:31:21 - Yuri Bezmenov 2:41:59 - FSB and CIA 2:49:49 - Putin and Zelenskyy 2:58:39 - Quitting the KGB 3:24:57 - Love and regrets 3:33:10 - Mortality SOCIAL:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman
- Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman
- Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/lexfridman
- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman
SPEAKERS
Jack Barsky
guestLex Fridman
hostNarrator
other
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, featuring Jack Barsky and Lex Fridman, Jack Barsky: KGB Spy | Lex Fridman Podcast #301 explores former KGB ‘illegal’ reveals double life, loyalty, and love’s cost Lex Fridman interviews Jack Barsky, a former KGB "illegal" agent who operated undercover in the United States during the Cold War, exploring the inner workings, culture, and ideology of the KGB. Barsky recounts his recruitment in East Germany, intense tradecraft and cultural training in Moscow, and eventual infiltration of American society under a stolen identity. He explains why he ultimately chose to defect and stay in the U.S., driven less by politics than by love for his American daughter, and how the FBI eventually discovered and debriefed him. The conversation ranges from the paranoia and incompetence inside Soviet intelligence to modern geopolitics, disinformation, Putin’s psychology, and Barsky’s late-life embrace of love and faith.
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