Seth Harp (on drug trafficking in the military)

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Armchair Umbrella

Tv & Film, Music, Comedy

4.6 • 68.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2025

⏱️ 106 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Seth Harp (The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces) is an investigative reporter, foreign correspondent, and war veteran. Seth joins the Armchair Expert to discuss being called out of college even though he was anti-war to serve in Iraq, the key differences between Green Berets and other covert special forces, and his circuitous path to becoming an investigative journalist. Seth and Dax talk about whether he believes there are secret military operations that are justifiable, the Fort Bragg murders that kicked off his investigations which became this book, and the massive corruption of the war in the Middle East that rubbed off on its operators. Seth explains how Los Zetas went from US military-trained Mexican forces to the most powerful cartel in the country, the coverup of a drug-fueled “justified” homicide because the perpetrator was Delta Force, and the truth about the origins of the opioid crises and the client-state in Afghanistan.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now.
0:06.5	Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:10.0	Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.
0:13.7	Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert.
0:15.7	Experts on Expert.
0:16.6	I'm Dan Shepard.
0:17.3	I'm joined by Lily Padman.
0:18.3	Hello.
0:19.2	This is one of the craziest episodes we've ever done.
0:23.1	I could not believe the story that Seth has been investigating and is unfolding in this book.
0:30.4	It's absolutely mind-blowing.
0:31.7	It really is such a upsetting but fascinating ride.
0:37.3	Oh, my goodness.
0:38.5	Seth Harp is an investigative reporter, a foreign correspondent, an Iraq war veteran.
0:44.6	He was also a lawyer.
0:46.0	He was also an assistant attorney general in Texas.
0:49.0	Now he writes for Rolling Stone.
0:50.6	I mean, talk about a polymath who's done darn near everything.
1:01.8	His book is called the Fort Bragg Cartel, Drug trafficking and murder in the special forces. Oh, my goodness. Really interesting. Also, we have armchair anonymous prompts. If you've got a story about moving, a moving story, a wedding disaster story, military stories, crazy babysitting
1:15.9	stories, and of course, wild card. Chef's choice. That's right. Seth's choice. Seth's choice.
1:25.9	Oh, look at that. Please enjoy Seth Hark.
1:29.4	In today's digital landscape, providing your company security isn't just important.
	...

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