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Welcome to SpyC, the official podcast of the International Spy Museum.

I'm your host, Sasha Inber, and each week I take you into the shadows of espionage, intelligence, and covert operations across the globe.

Karen Schaefer retired from the CIA in 2019, after 26 years of service. She started out in Latin America and ended with a stint at the FBI. In between, she earned numerous intelligence awards and held

key positions that spanned operational, supervisory, and policy roles. Her many job titles included

Chief of Base in Iraq and Director of Intelligence Programs in the White House's National Security Council.

But what was it all really like? We talked about how her career began, how she navigated being

one of the only women in the room,

and how she brought different intelligence agencies together.

Karen, welcome to Spycast.

Great to be here, Sasha.

Thanks so much for inviting me.

So can we start out with your childhood?

I know you grew up in the 70s and the 80s

in South America in authoritarian military regimes, suppression, disappearances. Can you bring us into your childhood?

Sure, sure.

I grew up overseas because I was a dependent and my father was agency as well.

And so he was posted overseas and he specialized in Latin America.

So we were in Mexico, Honduras.

Then as you noted, Argentina and Chile rounded out our tours in Latin America.

What I remember the most is Argentina and Chile because I was a bit older when we lived there.

And as you noted, it was during the time in the late 70s when they were both run by essentially, in the case of Argentina, it was a military

...