There are certain lessons that you never forget. And I had one of those lessons when I was at CIA

and found myself on the receiving end of a foreign interrogation in a hostile country, in a place where I

wasn't supposed to be in a name that wasn't even my own. And the one skill that kept me alive,

the one skill that helped me survive that interrogation room is a skill

that you are probably giving away every day. I take interrogation very seriously. Not just because

interrogation is an actual skill that CIA and military officers have to learn, but because there is

so much misunderstanding in the public sphere about what interrogation is, how it works, and what

makes it so effective. In 2025, I did a collaboration video with a pretty big YouTuber named

Tommy G. He invited one of his favorite podcasters, Julian Dory, along for the ride, and I was

able to show them exactly what it's like to go through an advanced interrogation

experience as if they were rendered terrorist targets. As part of that experience, I also

showed them the difference between advanced interrogation techniques that we use on non-U.S.

citizens, as well as advanced interrogation techniques that get used on U.S. citizens.

At the end of the day,

both men walked away with an incredible new, healthy respect and understanding of how terrifying

interrogation can really be. My first experience with interrogation at CIA actually happened

when I was still in training. And I was put on a training mission when I was still on the farm where I had

to go out and recruit an instructor who was pretending to be a foreign military officer and convince

him to start giving his secrets to me so that I could share those secrets back to CIA. Now, he,

of course, was a senior military officer. I was a junior CIA officer undercover.

So there was a big age difference between the two of us.

But my job was to overcome that age difference.

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