You're listening to The CyberWire Network, powered by N2K.

Welcome to Spycast.

My name is Dr. Andrew Harmon, a historian and curator here at the International Spy Museum in Washington DC.

Every week, Spycast explores a world of intelligence and espionage by bringing you in-depth conversations, spies, spymasters, intelligence officers and authors.

We explore the stories, secrets, tradecraft and technology of a world that looms beneath the surface of everyday life.

Welcome to this week's episode of Spycast.

This week's guest is Barry Broman, risk-taker, spy-maker.

Barry has been a writer, photographer, film-maker, soldier and intelligence officer.

Barry and I sat down to talk about a number of things including his experience fighting in the Vietnam War as a young infantryman,

escaping Cambodia just before the genocidal Communist Party of Campecia, also known as the Khmer Rouge Seas Power.

We also spoke about recording life throughout Southeast Asia as a photographer and as a diplomat.

Although he wasn't really a diplomat, he was actually a CIA officer operating under diplomatic cover.

Here about life, east of the Arawari River in this week's episode.

Fun fact, Barry recruited an astonishing 41 agents.

His favourite though was a man who would only accept life-threatening assignments.

So it's a pleasure to speak to you sir. I wonder if we could just start off by just telling me a little bit more about how you get involved in the world of intelligence and espionage.

Well, I was a student at the University of Washington in Seattle in the 60s.

I was majoring in political science and I had just finished the year in Southeast Asia as a photographer for the Associated Press in Bangkok.

And one of my, actually I had just started graduate school. I finished my bachelor's.

I was commissioned in the Marine Corps and the Marine Corps graciously allowed me to stay in college for a master's in Southeast Asian studies.

And one of my senior professors at the University of Washington, an old China hand, an excellent fellow,

asked me one day if I had considered careers in central intelligence or in intelligence.

...