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

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

In 2009, Bo Bergdahl walked away from his army post in eastern Afghanistan, only to be abducted and held hostage until 2014.

He was captured by the Taliban and then handed to the Haqqani network and aligned terrorist group.

And U.S. officials said they kept

Bergdahl in a metal cage in total darkness after he tried to escape. By 2012, the U.S.

government was turning to Tony Schaefer for help. The retired military intelligence officer

had directed several special mission task

forces that conducted black operations. Now, Tony was asked to create a track two non-official

scheme to help secure Bergdahl's release, a ploy that pulled in Congress, back channels in Pakistani intelligence,

and British and American media outlets. Here's Tony. Tony, welcome. Thank you for coming.

Good to be here. Thanks for having me. So you're retired. And how do you get linked up with

Beaubergdahl's abduction? So as you guys probably know from

being at the Spy Museum, we never really retired. It's kind of like being in the mafia. They always

call you back when they want something. And that's what happened here. So I was driving down

Constitution Avenue, and I get a call from a number. We'll just leave it at an unlisted number.

And the question was, hey, we need to talk to you on a secure line. Can you get to a secure line?

And my answer was like, well, you know I don't have a clearance like, come on. We know you can get to a

secure line. Get to the secure line now. We need to talk to.

It's like, okay.

So I did what I was asked to do by this organization that will remain nameless, but

...