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The John Batchelor Show

#Londinium90AD: Gaius and Germanicus observe that the CIA has long been a clubby domain of obtuse James Bonds vs astute Miss Moneypennys.

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Society & Culture, Arts, News, Books

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

#Londinium90AD: Gaius and Germanicus observe that the CIA has long been a clubby domain of obtuse James Bonds vs astute Miss Moneypennys.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode is brought to you by Pepsi Max. Christmas is great, but there's loads of ways to make it better.

0:08.0

Like sneaking some chili into the gravy for some extra oint or build in a playlist that will even get your

0:14.8

none up on the table or just cracking open an ice cold Pepsi Max.

0:20.1

Christmas better with Pepsi Max.

0:25.0

I'm John Batchelor, Gaius.

0:30.0

Germanicus is here, Michael Leos, and we're on our way to the theater after sacrificing

0:35.2

to the God Augustus.

0:36.2

But first, a book in the 21st century called Sisterhood, The Secret History of the

0:41.7

Women of the CIA.

0:43.0

Germanicus, you have some very good knowledge about the CIA and the way the apparatus works

0:50.0

over many decades.

0:52.0

And what I learned from sisterhood is that once upon a time there were

0:55.6

two kingdoms one called the D.I. and one called the D.O. The D.I. were the sneaker ladies in the vaults with their 3 by 5 cards, assembling information

1:08.4

that was to be the servant of the D.O. the directors of operations, the James Bonds and their Ilk. And that stood

1:18.4

through the Soviet era till 91. And then all of a sudden the building lost a mission because the

1:24.6

Soviets his spear they were really good. They were just settling down and

1:28.6

do a good contest with the KGB and the first directorate and Carla and all that romance.

1:34.6

And then it went away.

1:36.3

And what replaced it eventually, though it took a decade for everyone to recognize it, was

1:41.1

what we called the War on Terror, in which all of a sudden the DO didn't

1:46.0

have a skill set that could wear Arab mufte and pass through the Khyber Pass, you know, in your wonderful romantic fashion of the British

1:55.6

Empire and solve this or that shake.

...

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