Marc Polymeropoulos on the CIA, 9/11 and Havana Syndrome

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

History, News, National Security, Law, Terrorism, Current Events, Military, International Law, Foreign Policy, Intelligence, International Relations, Politics, Diplomacy, Rule Of Law, Government, Constitutional Law

4.7 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2021

⏱️ 64 minutes

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Summary

Marc Polymeropoulos served for 26 years in the CIA. He joined the agency working on Afghanistan in the 1990s and moved on to operational roles across the Middle East, recruiting spies and hunting terrorists. Later, he became a senior officer responsible for operations in Russia, which as you'll hear, led to a fateful trip to Moscow that altered the course of his career and his life. Marc has chronicled all of this and more in a new book, “Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA.” It's part memoir, part management handbook. Shane Harris sat down with Marc to talk about his career and to look back at the past 20 years since the 9/11 attacks. Marc talked about what the CIA got right, what it did wrong and how he has come to peace with an unexpected sense of betrayal after he developed symptoms of Havana Syndrome, a mysterious and debilitating brain injury.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The following podcast contains advertising.
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0:08.0	become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair.
0:14.0	That's patreon.com slash law fair.
0:18.0	Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings,
0:22.0	rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath.
0:29.0	That was the case officer in charge of this individual.
0:37.0	Our headquarters was very excited about it.
0:39.0	Ultimately, what happened is we met him too much.
0:42.0	Meetings were too frequent. He was crossing over from enemy lines.
0:45.0	He was caught and tortured next executed.
0:47.0	That had a profound effect on me.
0:49.0	Ultimately, I am responsible.
0:52.0	One of the things in the book that I talk about,
0:54.0	I talk about that kind of sacred relationship between a case officer and an agent.
0:59.0	You can say it's a marriage, it's a romance, but ultimately,
1:02.0	these are individuals who, particularly in conflict zones,
1:05.0	put their lives in our hands, and so we are not supposed to screw up.
1:09.0	And in this case, I did.
1:10.0	And so ultimately, what I took from that is I learned from that.
1:15.0	I'm Shane Harris, and this is the LawFair podcast, September 10th, 2021.
1:21.0	Mark Polymeropolis served for 26 years in the CIA.
	...

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