Inside the CIA’s Most Covert and Dangerous Branch: The Special Activities Center

SpyCast

Education, News, History

4.4 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For SpyCast’s 20th year, we’re kicking off the season with Brian Carbaugh. After serving in the CIA for over two decades, he retired as Director of the Special Activities Center- the Agency’s arm for covert action, where some of the boldest and most dangerous work happens with authorization from the president. This is a world few know about firsthand, and even fewer can discuss. Brian sits down with Sasha to give an inside look at the job, which he held from 2017 to 2021-pivotal years in the United States and around the world. Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: https://www.spymuseum.org/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org. This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum. in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

Transcript

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1:31.3	I'm your host, Sasha Ingberg, and each week I take you into the shadows of espionage, intelligence, and covert operations across the globe.
1:37.9	It's Spycast's 20th year, and we start off 2026 with Brian Carver.
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