A distinguished professor and decorated intelligence officer on 25 years of balancing academia and espionage, the value of scientific credentials in the field, and why diversity makes the CIA stronger.

Host Jim Lawler sits down with his former CIA colleague Dr. Les Paldy, a distinguished service Professor Emeritus at Stony Brook University who spent 25 years balancing two identities: university professor by day and and on contract with the CIA in service to the United States. Paldy shares how he was first recruited — a classic spotting operation by a former Agency officer who approached him after a conference talk.

He explains how his scientific credentials allowed him to "go where others could not," attending conferences in China and Eastern Europe to spot and assess foreign scientists as potential re ...