The Live Drop

There’s lots of excellent behind-the-scenes information on trade craft & the practical aspects of intelligence work. The guests are experts in their fields & the host does his homework , asking well-crafted questions which allow the guests to shine. The only downside is the host’s distracting habit of inserting references to his own political views into the interviews. The host doesn’t like Trump; I get it. I also don’t care. I’m tuning into the podcast because of a shared interest with the host and I’d really appreciate being able to focus just on that shared interest for the length of the episode. After the first three episodes, I will soon start the fourth with anticipation, waiting for the politics snark. It’s just distracting and unnecessary. Aside from the above small reservation this is an excellent podcast.

I’m new to this podcast but just listened to the Damascus Station episode and the entire time was caught up the detailed and wide ranging knowledge from both Mark Valley and the author as they spoke. This podcast was relaxed but also found the razor thin balance of high intellectual discussion with enough current events commentary to engage listeners who may not have nerd knowledge of spycraft or spy thrillers. I personally really get into how political authors and intelligence professionals see and interpret current on the ground events around the world because their livelihoods are wrapped in investigating the bigger picture of the world’s power structures. I find that the behind-the-scenes players have nuanced observations I would never have heard from loud political wonks. Kudos for the quality of the episode and I will definitely be going back and listening to more of them now.

I’ve been listening since first episode and agree with the interruptions breaking the flow of conversation, but I also enjoyed the ease and sense of camaraderie. Just listened to two most recent interviews back-to-back and found the topics and host/interviewee thoroughly informative and engaging. I like the interjection of personal stories.

First and only podcast I've ever fully listened to! There is a nice variety of guests, which keeps things very interesting. There is never a dull moment in the conversations, as there is always something new to learn. It's especially nice when the host contributes to the conversation, using parts of his own life to show that he can relate to what the guest is saying. I am looking forward to more episodes, which should be just as interesting as the previous ones!