Episode 422 - Nic McKinley - From the CIA to Hunting Human Traffickers

Cleared Hot

Society & Culture

4.9 • 11K Ratings

🗓️ 29 December 2025

⏱️ 171 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode focuses heavily on the massive risk facing children on many of the most popular games targeted and marketed towards their age group, and parents. Specifically, Roblox, Minecraft, and the communication platform Discord.

Nic McKinley is a former military special operator and ex-CIA operative who founded and led two multimillion-dollar tech companies. A pioneer in building technical solutions to protect society from predators, Nic is passionate about solving society's most pressing issues through cost-effective technical solutions.

Nic grew up in Montana but left to join US military special operations as a US Air Force Pararescueman. After more than a decade in Pararescue, Nic worked in private intelligence start-ups before being recruited into a specialized unit at the Central Intelligence Agency that provided unique capabilities and expertise in response to the critical operational needs of the Intelligence Community.

With 30 combat deployments under his belt in both Special Operations and the CIA, Nic experienced the power of technology during the Global War on Terror and set out to use his skills and training with that experience to combat modern slavery.

In 2014, Nic founded DeliverFund, the only donor-funded solution to human trafficking that delivers proprietary data and technology to law enforcement, allowing them to take down human traffickers effectively. Along with DeliverFund, Nic founded a venture capital-backed software company and has a technology leadership consulting practice.

Despite being dubbed "The Real Jack Ryan" by VICE Media, Nic's most important role is as a husband and father leading his family in a life of service and adventure in Montana. When he is not in his office, Nic can be found on a lake, on the ski slopes, camping, climbing vertical rock or ice in the mountains, with his nose in a book learning something new, or spending downtime with his extraordinary wife.

Deliverfund: https://deliverfund.org/

Today's Sponsors:

Montana Knife Company:

https://www.montanaknifecompany.com

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, got the red smoke.
0:03.0	Gun runs, north and south, west of the smoke.
0:07.0	West of the smoke.
0:09.0	Okay, copy, west of the smoke.
0:11.0	I'm looking at danger close now.
0:13.0	Come on winter, baby. Give it to me. I need it.
0:16.0	You're cleared hot.
0:17.0	Copy, cleared hot.
0:18.0	Let me ask you this, though, is it getting better or worse in the three years that we've
0:22.6	known each other?
0:23.2	When you say it's, what do you mean?
0:24.9	So the trafficking situation that I originally set out to fight?
0:28.7	Yeah.
0:29.7	Okay.
0:30.6	Like all aspects of it?
0:31.8	Are you guys not?
0:32.4	No.
0:32.7	The child exploitation side of things, significantly worse.
0:36.9	Why?
0:42.5	We're going to get into that. Before we do, I find it fascinating that somebody who worked for the central intelligence agency can't remember where the
0:46.6	podcast studio is. Can you explain that? Well, you told me to meet you at the coffee shop. Yeah, but then
0:51.6	you asked me where's the studio. Well, you said me at coffee shop. So I figured, why'd you ask where the studio was? Because I figured you were smart enough to build a, you know, a studio at your coffee shop. No, that wouldn't be smart. Think about the non-smart level of that. I would never escape. Plus, we've met many times in this building. Yes, it's a different room.
	...

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