Step into the clandestine world with former CIA case officer Brian Fairchild as he joins me on Frame of Reference to pull back the curtain on the life of espionage. We eschew the usual theatrics of spy cinema for Brian's riveting personal narratives that traverse testifying before Congress, training elite forces such as the FBI and CIA, and operating in the shadows where global security hangs in the balance. Prepare to be enthralled by the truth behind the intelligence game, offering a much-needed reality check against the backdrop of Hollywood's spy fantasies.
My conversation with Brian tackles head-on the strategic challenges the United States faces, unveiling the emergence of a new 'Axis of Evil' with China at the helm. The geopolitical landscape is shifting under our feet, and Brian expertly illuminates the covert operations and political machinations that define this new era. We dissect the implications of America's defense capabilities, the rise of China's military might, and the potential flashpoints that could reshape the world order. Furthermore, we take a moment to humanize the discourse, reminiscing over the simple comforts of life, from the perfect slice of pizza to the familiarity of a Starbucks coffee, that remind us of the shared human experiences beyond the world of intelligence.
As the conversation concludes, Brian leaves us with a compelling sense of urgency to refocus our attention on the global stage. He highlights the precarious nature of the geopolitical chessboard, from the strategic value of Taiwan to the ripple effects of shifting alliances. This episode is not just a fleeting chat; it's a portal to understanding the complex web of international security and the dedicated individuals who navigate it. Tune in to gain an unmatched perspective, and perhaps you'll come away with a heightened curiosity and a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of the world we live in.
Thanks for listening. Please check out our website at www.forsauk.com to hear great conversations on topics that need to be talked about. In these times of intense polarization we all need to find time to expand our Frame of Reference.
Step into the clandestine world with former CIA case officer Brian Fairchild as he joins me on Frame of Reference to pull back the curtain on the life of espionage. We eschew the usual theatrics of spy cinema for Brian's riveting personal narratives that traverse testifying before Congress, training elite forces such as the FBI and CIA, and operating in the shadows where global security hangs in the balance. Prepare to be enthralled by the truth behind the intelligence game, offering a much-needed reality check against the backdrop of Hollywood's spy fantasies.
My conversation with Brian tackles head-on the strategic challenges the United States faces, unveiling the emergence of a new 'Axis of Evil' with China at the helm. The geopolitical landscape is shifting under our feet, and Brian expertly illuminates the covert operations and political machinations that define this new era. We dissect the implications of America's defense capabilities, the rise of China's military might, and the potential flashpoints that could reshape the world order. Furthermore, we take a moment to humanize the discourse, reminiscing over the simple comforts of life, from the perfect slice of pizza to the familiarity of a Starbucks coffee, that remind us of the shared human experiences beyond the world of intelligence.
As the conversation concludes, Brian leaves us with a compelling sense of urgency to refocus our attention on the global stage. He highlights the precarious nature of the geopolitical chessboard, from the strategic value of Taiwan to the ripple effects of shifting alliances. This episode is not just a fleeting chat; it's a portal to understanding the complex web of international security and the dedicated individuals who navigate it. Tune in to gain an unmatched perspective, and perhaps you'll come away with a heightened curiosity and a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of the world we live in.
Thanks for listening. Please check out our website at www.forsauk.com to hear great conversations on topics that need to be talked about. In these times of intense polarization we all need to find time to expand our Frame of Reference.
Welcome to Frame of Reference. Informed, intelligent conversations about the issues and challenges facing everyone in today's world. In-depth interviews to help you expand and inform your Frame of Reference. Now here's your host, raul Labresch.
Speaker 2:Well, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Frame of Reference, profiles of Leadership, and I have to tell you I told my guest this I feel a little bit like a little kid at Christmas time that we have this present to open up, because the person I'm talking with today has an expertise in an area that I have always been fascinated with, and you'll understand why in just a moment. My guest today is a man by the name of Brian Fairchild. That's right, brian Fairchild relatively easy name given the kinds of people that I interview sometimes. But Brian is a former get this a former CIA case officer. Now I'll just let that.
Speaker 2:If you don't like the CIA, this isn't your episode. If you want to know more about the real CIA, stay tuned in, because I can tell from Brian just a little bit. We've been talking. He's going to give you the real deal, and if he gives us too much of the real deal, he's going to probably have to kill me and pull the tapes. But we'll try not to go into that state. Maybe you can have a little signal or something Brian for me. Right? It says ee, or whatever.
Speaker 2:Right, don't go there. So, after with nearly two decades of experience, brian operated in the shadows under official and non-official cover across Asia, southeast Asia, europe and the Arabian Peninsula, and Afghanistan. Oh, nothing ever goes on in those areas. That must have been really, really boring. So he's a recognized expert in intelligence and he's testified before Congress as well as imparted his counterterrorism experience to over 10,000 professionals in the FBI, the CIA, military personnel and police officers. Now this doesn't sound fun to you guys. Again, tune out, go listen to something else, but for me this is going to be like, like I said, pigs in new mud. He also has a book out right now that I just started reading a little bit of and I apologize, brian, I didn't have the chance to get further into it, but it's a book called the Hidden and I'll let him explain a little bit of it later on. But, brian Fairchild, thank you so much for taking the time to join me here on Frame of Reference. It's just a pleasure and an honor.
Speaker 3:It's my honor to be here. Thank you for having me on. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Did I give you enough of an intro there, Brian? Is that a fair representation of viewers or something else?
Speaker 3:I always get embarrassed by these intros. I know that let's talk to them, that's good enough, but yeah, at least it gives your viewers kind of an idea of what I've done and where I've been.
Speaker 3:Very good so well, you know, if you don't mind, you know I'd like to start off with, because we talked about this before we started. You know I'd like to, you know, give your viewers an idea of what a case officer is, because most people don't have any clue, you know. I mean, they watch TV, but TV doesn't come anywhere close to what you know a real case officer is all about.
Speaker 2:Well, can we? You know something that will help you. Brian too is the thing that I like to do at the beginning, and we'll jump right into that. But I'd like to do something called favorite things, and that way you get a chance to kind of just talk about, almost for a shock, and what's your favorite thing is and I'm going to throw out a bunch of different, just weird stuff, so, but, and some easy stuff, but that gives you a chance in our audience, a chance to know that you're just a regular guy, you're not some guy looking there to. You know, write down notes and record people's IP addresses so that you can go and check on them later on this evening. That's not what the CIA is about. So people think that. But that's Hollywood, right, but okay, so a couple of favorite things. If we had Julie Andrews here, we'd have her sing right for us. But first, five favorite thing favorite color Favorite color is blue Blue, okay.
Speaker 3:I like long walks on the beaches. I like holding hands and walking along the beach. There you go. But here's an interesting thing I play the blues harmonica.
Speaker 2:You do. Oh, now I know why I like you because blues harmonicas have a vibe to them right away, that boy.
Speaker 3:And sunny boy. Sunny boy Williamson is my favorite old blues harmonicas, okay. So you know he I mean anybody who does harmonica, blues harmonica knows sunny boy. So, yeah, so, and another thing that I like to do is I'm a hiker, I'm an avid hiker, okay, and I did my personal best, I mean as an adult, outside of the military and outside of the agency. I did my personal best about two summers ago. I did a 20 mile hike and you know it was along Missouri River and had tangled with one rattlesnake but and a little bit of heat exhaustion, but other than that it was great, I made it.
Speaker 2:You made it, you're alive. That's a good thing. How about a favorite comfort food? What's your favorite? Go to food when you just need.
Speaker 3:Oh man.
Speaker 2:McDonald's Egg McMuffin, really the early stuff, huh, not the Big Mac or the quarter.
Speaker 3:Okay, man, I'm not, so you know I'm not so big on McDonald's burgers and stuff. I go to other places for that, but for the, for the Egg McMuffin or the Sausage and Egg McMuffin, the Sausage one, I'm with you on it.
Speaker 2:I like their sausage patties, they're just. There's a little extra zing there. That, without being too crazy, you know it's like kryptonite for us. Yeah, pretty much like kryptonite. There you go, there you go. How about a favorite drink?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, I, just for just norms, I would. I drink Jameson's, okay, but you know, when I'm out and around, or you know, on vacation or something, I like margaritas with no salt. I don't want the salt on the margarita, okay, you know I like margaritas.
Speaker 2:You like strawberry regular, any particular kind of, I like this regular.
Speaker 3:Okay, I'll tell you when I was in Tokyo. I mean, you know, you know the old, the old show, you know cheers, where everybody knows your name. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. My wife and I were like that in Tokyo at the Hard Rock Cafe, and so the bar managers would make us these margaritas about this big, you know, and most of it was booze, and I'd say no, no, you know, komuro-san, no, no, you know, oh, brian-san. Yeah, you know, I said they make videos.
Speaker 2:So you came in the door and sort of saying norm they went Ohio, so right.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The only reason I even know Ohio is because a big bird goes to Japan, japan. That's about the only experience I have with Japan.
Speaker 3:Good morning, Konnichiwa you know, good afternoon and Kamboa is a good evening.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I'm already smarter than I was when we started this interview. So how about do you have a favorite piece of clothing, like, do you have something you'd like to wear when you just kind of need to?
Speaker 3:you know this sort of thing right here, right now. I live in Montana, so fleece, you know fleece is good, or pullover fleece. Okay, you know I like ball caps and let me just say that you know, for your viewers, this ball cap is a, is common, is is a. My old special forces green beret unit, Okay, 19 spectral forces group.
Speaker 2:So what does the oppressor Libra mean To?
Speaker 3:deliberate from oppression.
Speaker 2:That's our motto I was going to guess. So you go in there and help those people that have been in a bad way.
Speaker 3:So yeah, and you know special forces. It's interesting that that you know we bring this up because it's a lot. It's along the lines of CIA, which is one of the reasons I got in the special forces before applying the CIA because you know the special forces guys are the guys who deal with the indigenous personnel. You know they, could they train them, they, you know they, they bring medical assistance to them and stuff like that, and they create force multipliers, which is kind of what you do in intelligence work too. When you recruit spies, you're getting a fourth multiplier.
Speaker 2:So so also, the follow is attract Getcha. So I'll have a last, last question Is there a favorite place you like to go to, a favorite locale, or just a house or someplace you go to that? Just every time you go there's like yeah, this is where I'm centered, this is the place.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, one of the reasons I like to go hiking and and it pretty much doesn't really matter, I can go hiking and an alpine environment or a planes environment, but just being out there, and you know, after I get going for about half an hour and I'm warmed up, you know, I just look around, I see the mountains in the distance and I see, let's say, I'm on the planes, I see that. You know, I like the golden wheat looking, you know grass and that sort of thing, and I just, you know, I just go, man, this is where I want to be, okay, so yeah, so outside in general, do you think, or is there a particular spot that you think is just?
Speaker 3:outside. In general, I don't like being cooped up in the house, and you know. I and I, like you know I like going, traveling and you know every place I've been. I sort of knew like a resident. You know you don't want to get a tourist coming in, so I knew all the main places in the back alleys and shortcuts and all that sort of thing and I like that you know.
Speaker 2:Okay, being familiar with your location, that makes sense. Yeah, all right. So what was your favorite part of being a CIA agent CIA agent that no one even knows about? Is there something there that you know? I would think that, because, to ask me, what's it like to be a CIA agent? Well, you sit around and you write down things about people that are, and you listen to stuff to make sure that you're whatever. I mean, we have this Hollywoodized, you know version of what the CIA is and does, but I sense that, just like a lot of things, that's so far away from reality that it's not even funny, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. It is Well okay. So here's, here's the deal, I mean the best part for me and the reason I was attracted to the job. Well, there are a couple of reasons. I saw James Bond and you know from Russia, with love, and that was pretty cool, and we got the girls and I said, hey, that's what.
Speaker 2:I'm yeah, that's me yeah.
Speaker 3:Interestingly. You'll find this interesting because of all the stuff we were just talking about. When I was 14 years old I saw that movie and you know I was decided right there, that's what I want to do. I mean, I want to be the spy kind of intelligence guy, sure. So I ran down. I lived in Boulder, colorado, at the time.
Speaker 3:I ran down to the Boulder library that was a time before computers and iPhones and things so I went to the librarian because I knew I didn't know how to do it and I said, ma'am, I just saw this movie and that's what I want to be. Can you help me find out stuff about CIA? So she started getting all the periodicals and Time magazine and a couple of books, but there wasn't anything for 14-year-old wannabes. So I kept reading the big adult books that were this thick and I'm trying to find James Bond in there somewhere and I just can't. So I'm frustrated. So I figured, well, there's no CIA office here in Boulder. But I look in the phone book and I find out there's one in Denver and it's a post office box and I write a letter to him. Actually I didn't write the letter, I actually printed the letter in pencil in block letters, block capital letters, online notebook paper and I said dear CIA, I'm a 14-year-old student in Centennial Junior High School and I would like to be a spy. Can you tell me how to do that? And I got a stamp from my mom, put it on the letter and I mailed it.
Speaker 3:And two weeks later now here's a good part Two weeks later I come home, there's a letter on my pillow and I'm like, oh, what is it? And it's in color. It's in government stationary and it's in color. So the return address is Central Intelligence Agency post office box whatever, washington DC. And I see it's addressed to Mr Fairchild. I mean, that's all my vision. I just looked and I saw Mr Fairchild. I said, oh man, I am in so much trouble. Cia is writing to my dad because only Mr Fairchild I had ever known in my life was my dad.
Speaker 3:So I'm like gosh to write to my dad and they're going to say, hey, can't you control your kid? We're a busy, important institution. And by opening it up and I start reading it and it's a two page type letter and get this. I just seen, you know, from Russia with love, the guy who writes it is named Michael Todorovich. I mean you can't get a better name than that. I mean, for me that was like oh man, you know, I just saw from Russia with love, all these KGB offers running off.
Speaker 2:I bet you his nickname was Boris, I bet you anything. His nickname was no, it was a me can't.
Speaker 3:But he's a real guy and that was his real name and after all got into the CIA. I told people about that letter and I never met Mike myself because he'd retired by then. But they said oh yeah, mike, yeah, he was out in Denver there for a while. He's a heck of a good case author. But his real name was Michael Todorovich and we were doing a lot of recruiting from emigrate communities, as you might imagine, since we were set up to counter the Soviet Union. So anyway, I get this letter from the guy and it's not just a letter, it's not a form letter, it's a response to my penciled request and it's a specific response. And he starts out by saying I mean, when you think back on it it sounds kind of silly now. But gee, brian, great that young Americans like yourself want to work for the US government, and particularly for Central Intelligence Agency. I've got some advice for you Stay in junior high school.
Speaker 3:If it works out for you, go on to high school and apply to yourself and try to learn as much as you can. Now, if you go to college, he says I would recommend that you take courses in international relations or international politics or area studies. You're going to need a language plan. We're a foreign spy organization. All of our work is overseas, so you're going to need a language. So choose a language that you have an affinity for. And the military is good. So if you can do some military stuff before you apply to us, that'd be great. But six months prior to you wanting to accept employment, write back and we'll give you the polygraph, we'll do some background stuff and we'll bring you on board. I mean, I slept with that letter, holy cow.
Speaker 3:I'm like man, I got it. I mean right here. They've already offered me a job, boy, just the right guy right To write that letter too. Oh, what a guy.
Speaker 3:What a guy and I really owe him, and that's why I like to tell people about this, and to tell kids in particular, because my mom and my dad and all the adults were like I don't write to them, they're busy man. But it changed my life, sure. So a kid is listening to this right now and you've got some idea. You want to be a surgeon or you want to be a spy or a police officer. Follow that up and go and call somebody up to the local police department and say hey, can I come down and talk to you? I just like to find out more about it, because that's the way you do things and for an intelligence officer, out of all the things that your audience might wonder is what's the key thing to be an intelligence officer? I would say curiosity. You got to want to know what is the answer to this. Why are the Soviets doing that? Why is my contact exhibiting this kind of behavior? Why? Why? It's the curiosity, ok, so anyway, do you think?
Speaker 2:it's hard, that why thing, I wonder. Is it hard to keep your biases in check so that you don't try to answer the why before you have enough information to really answer accurately?
Speaker 3:It's not like anything else. I mean, there are biased CIA officers and there are objective CIA officers. But if you want to be a good CIA author, you've got to go where the intelligence leads you, not where you're leading the intelligence.
Speaker 3:Ok, See I mean anybody, and see, this is where I get problems with conspiracy theories. I mean, there's this whole joke. In fact, we used to tell it in CIA training. It's like you got a guy who believes a very religious guy, you got a guy who believes in ghosts and you got a guy who's a scientist. And they're sitting there on the park bench, Boom, Something happens in the sky. That scientist immediately goes well, that was an aurora borealis caused by the blood you know ever. And the religious guy goes that's a sign from God, you know. And the other guy says that's an alien. That's the aliens for sure. Right, you can make information whatever you want it to be, but if you look at that and go I don't know what it is, I better start looking into what that was and find out what that was so I can go on to the next level. Right, Then you're an intelligent author and that's basically the best way to say it. Ok, so you want me to just move on? Yeah, Tell me more.
Speaker 2:What is an average day? If there is such a thing, an average day look like for a CIA officer of that type, of the type you were? Yeah, OK.
Speaker 3:So here's the. I gotta give you a little background first. So CIA was created in 1947 to basically counter the Soviet Union. Right by that point in time, world War II was over, the OSS had been disbanded in 1945. And because our politicians aren't very good at realizing that they're going to need help down the line, you know. So the war is over, we don't need OSS anymore.
Speaker 3:You guys were great, but yeah, move along, right? So they created the Central Intelligence Agency and from that point on, until the end of the Cold War, which is basically 1991, so basically 50 years, say, case officers were a particular thing. They were guys like me who wanted to live overseas, speak foreign languages, understand foreign cultures, understand foreign environments, understand foreign geopolitics and politics, understand regional dynamics and all that sort of thing. Because when you're a case officer, your job is you may be assigned to a specific country. So you're assigned to a specific country. Let's say you're assigned to Malaysia, but your job isn't just Malaysia, because are there Soviets in Malaysia? There's a target. Other Chinese in Malaysia? There's another target, you know. Are there North Koreans? Or there, you know, people's liberation for Palestine? In in Malaysia? Those are all targets as a Malaysian government target.
Speaker 3:Well, certainly you know, and, and other Diplomats that you've come upon. You know what, if you come upon a diplomat from Poland, which at the time was a Warsaw Pact country, are you gonna maybe try to recruit him? Absolutely so our jobs were to understand what the world was about, right, to understand it in a geopolitical, strategic sense. And then, and then, no Cuz. If you're talking to somebody, if I'm talking to you and I've never been on a podcast, and you say, hey, brian, you want to be in a podcast, and I go well, what a podcast, what do you put something on a pod or something I mean, right away You're gonna lose interest, right? Somebody says to me when I'm working as an intelligence officer Well, we just, we just smuggled in, you know, a number of crates of AK-47s, which is a Kalishnikov rifle, which is one of the most, you know, proliferated rifles in the world.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I don't know what an AK-47 is. Do you want to risk your life for me? You know, and and work for the government you know I'm a US government as a planned asset source. No, so you have to kind of know things.
Speaker 3:You know. So and there goes back to curiosity, Because it can't be just one thing you got to know, can't be just what are the techniques of a case officer? Right, you've got to just know things you know and you got to be curious about that, Otherwise you're not gonna keep up.
Speaker 2:Well, I'd be willing to soak stuff up right constantly.
Speaker 3:Just everything you look at, I wonder, I wonder, I wonder and man, if you're curious, that's natural, if you're not, that's death. You know so right away. If you're not a curious guy, you're not gonna do well as a case officer, you know. But if you are a curious guy and you love going out to the back alleys of whatever country you're in and getting noodles or whatever, understanding the history and the tribes or whatever, then it enriches the experience and you know a hell of a lot and you know regional things and as you move around that region in your career you do better and better and better. Right, it's all.
Speaker 3:My basic job and a basic job for all career case officers at that particular time Was like, if you were this Polish guy that we were just talking about, my job would be to build a personal relationship with you. Okay, we're both diplomats, so we run together in diplomatic parties and stuff. You know I get to know you and I joke around within you joke around with me, and if it seems like we're getting along, I keep moving that forward. You know moving that forward. And then maybe, you know, maybe, and you're a story, because you know I'm an American diplomat, right, and I know you're a Polish diplomat, so you're figuring. Well, maybe this guy's a spy. But if you're the guy kind of guy thinking, if he is a spy, maybe that he can help me because I've got a problem, that he might be able to stop right, because I'm looking for guys like you who aren't so happy with the Soviet Union, aren't so happy with the Polish government, have a you know a revenge, want revenge against somebody who you know, purge your grandfather, you know something like that. So I get to know you and then I say, hey, you know, pop up, how would you like to go? And you know you want to get your lunch sometime. I know this cool little place out of the way, you know.
Speaker 3:I say out of the way because I don't want him to think we're gonna be in the middle of everybody, right? And if he says, yeah, well, that's, that's a good indication. So I, I move the thing along and at some point in time I get to know you and you start telling me things that you shouldn't tell me. You know you're the baby needs a new pair of shoes, the wife needs an operation. You know the white Russians came in and, you know, massacred your grandfather and you want to pay him back something fierce. And you're telling me this while we're drinking vodka and you're getting drunk and your arms around me and hand nudge, nudge, wink, wink, not say no more, yeah, I don't like your breath that much, but I'm gonna put up with it because that's my job, you know.
Speaker 3:And so at some point, you know, I go and I'm writing all the stuff up Right and back and forth the headquarters and talking to my chief of station, and at some point I'm going to go to the chief of station and say I want to pitch this guy you know, I can pitch it so that he can see how we can help him and his problems and he can help us with our problems. We, we need no, we need to understand. And so if it gets approved, then I go out to another lunch with you and I say you know, hey, you know I'm sure you have a suspicion that you know, I have duties other than my political reporting duties as an embassy officer and I could use your help, you know. But I don't want you to think I'm trying to use you, because here's what we can do for you. You know, the baby needs a new parachute. You know, hey, your wife needs that operation. I can get that done for you, I can finance, I can do, you know, whatever. And so we come to an agreement and all of a sudden you're a spy for the United States government. Now, as a case officer, I've got to be able to handle you in a way that doesn't get you caught and killed, right. So that's where all the tradecraft comes in and, thoughtly, you're looking for surveillance and you know having safe houses and all that sort of thing. So that's what a basic case officer is about, and it's not like you see on TV. I mean, it's it's personal relations. So sometimes you don't like the guy that you have personal relationship, but it's your job and you've got to do it. You know, and you're looking for sources for the US government in other governments and other government entities, or you know, commercial entities, depending on if the science and technology is what you're looking for, that kind of thing.
Speaker 3:Now, after 1991, the Soviet Union went belly up, right, and that was the reason for the CIA's existence. So when the Soviet Union went belly up, you know, see, I no longer had a primary mission and it was like a boat, an unmoored boat, bouncing around the ocean for 10 years. For 10 years, I knew one of 2001 looking for a new mission, and it found the new mission on September 11th 2001, when al-Qaeda attacked us and all sudden their mission was Counterterrorism, but really narrow counterterrorism like this. I mean really narrow counter. You know al-Qaeda, counterterrorism, individuals. You know we got to find this individual before he blows up that airliner and so that gets very specific. And it wasn't one of many targets, it wasn't like, well, we're gonna continue to watch, you know, china, and we're gonna continue to watch, watch Russia and all the rest of. No, we didn't watch the any of the world, we just watched al-Qaeda and that was what the whole country, that was what the whole world was focused on.
Speaker 3:And because the world Follows what the United States government did, because we're the leader of the world, they all did the same thing, and it's not just with the intelligence agencies, it's also with their military. So for 20 years, all the US government and military did for 20 years was counterterrorism. So there are people were trained and counterterrorism, that people were hired for counterterrorism. The tools they got were for counterterrorism. You know, nobody cared about the world, nobody cared about any of you learning Chinese or anything, who care? We need to find bin Laden. You know. That's what it was all about. And 20 years later, you know, all sudden, you know ISIS, we kind of, you know, kicked out ISIS in the butt, you know, in Iraq, and we destroyed their caliphate and we really denigrated al-Qaeda and it became less and less Necessary. And but what happened was the world became more and more important to us. Also, we realized that in our Taking a break from the world, the world grew up around us and they grew up capabilities Designed to go after our vulnerabilities right and we didn't realize that.
Speaker 3:Also, we went holy crap, we got a problem here, you know, and then we started to script, but that's only that only started like in 19, 2018. It was only enunciated in 2018, it only really got started in 2020 where organizations and institutions like CIA and defense intelligence agency and others started actually trying to turn that ship of state, you know, from professional counterterrorism guys to China experts.
Speaker 3:You can't do, you know, you can't just go like that and get that right, and the paramilitary guys are the kind of guys that you See on TV. I mean, you know, and they are great. I mean, I stand in awe of counterterrorism. I know, you know, special operators. Because what, what CIA did? We had an immediate need, right, al-qaeda had attacked us. They could attack us again tomorrow. We don't know, you know, we don't know. That's the thing we don't know. We got to find out, we got to be curious, we got to figure out who these guys are and where they are and how many of them are here, and all that. So so we didn't. You know, see, I didn't go. Well, we're gonna put out an offer for paramilitary officers, so all you kids send in your application. No, you can't do that because you've got an immediate need.
Speaker 3:So what the CIA did is they went to the teams. They went to seal team six and they went to Delta force. They went to all the seal teams and all the special forces groups and they went to the 75th Ranger Regiment and they went to Marine recon and they said, hey, you're getting out, you gonna re up, we'd like to have you come and work for CIA. And a lot of those guys said that sounds pretty cool, yeah, and we don't have to, and then we can follow different laws because CIA is a civilian organization, it's not a military organization. So we use, we have, we come under different laws. So the special operators that were working for CIA couldn't have done the things that they did for CIA In uniform, where it would have been an armed invasion by an armed force of a foreign country. So I mean, so that really that really mattered.
Speaker 3:But those guys are like the guys you see in the movies. You know, you got your M4, you got your cool scopes, you got your goggles. You know You're coming in on helos and you're going after the bad guys. You're going after that cell or that individual or whatever, and most of the time you're only surging abroad, you know, and maybe you go to Afghanistan for six months and you and you work in there for six months and then you go home again. So it's ceased being CIA, ceased for that whole 20 year period, ceased being the Premier civilian intelligence organization for the US government and just became another team CL team 6, delta CIA. You know, of course it was all pretty much the same because the guys who were in CIA were guys from Delta and CL team 6. You know so. So that's the difference between the different kinds of guys in intelligence the paramilitary special operator and the case officer.
Speaker 3:And what we're really deficient on now, raul, is we're really deficient on the case officer because we're, you know, all of a sudden CIA realized shit, we need to get back in the espionage right and we don't have any expertise in an espionage. We don't have any language capability. Nobody knows about China, you know. I mean, it's a whole different thing. You know that. So you can't snap your fingers and just have capability. You're looking at ten years to build capability right and in those ten years China continues to beat us in different technologies and so forth and so on when it strikes me, in that time that was going on where we were I'm gonna say it asleep at the switch with people like.
Speaker 2:China and Russia, which you know. Frankly, I don't think we could ever afford to just let them be in the rearview mirror. They're, you know, because their own Governments have sworn that. You know they don't have to worry about defeating us on the outside. They're gonna feed defeatist from the inside.
Speaker 2:So and you know they're, they know Right, I mean, they're gonna get us doing what we're doing now, it's just fighting amongst ourselves and forgetting the fact that, hey folks, we have a common enemy here. We have a commonality of who we need to protect ourselves from, and it's not the Republicans or the Democrats. I'm sorry, it just is not. So, yeah, so I wonder, when you're in the midst of that it I? One of the things I read not too long ago is that China and Russia were both very successful in Purging quite a few of our assets that we had there. So which was?
Speaker 3:We're losing the battle. Yeah, you know. I mean you're no doubt in my mind that we're losing the battle. But it's even worse than when you talk about China or Russia or North Korea or Iran, because there's a whole new thing now. I, about a year, a little over a year ago, I wrote a paper. I'm not just doing novels and stuff, I mean I write intelligence analysis type stuff and send it to my network and guys that are formerly in the spots and I send it directly. I'll send all those reports to CIA and to DIA and ODNI and the rest of them. And the title of the paper was the New Access of Evil the Anti-American Military Block Led by China. Now, that was written over a year ago.
Speaker 3:Well, the US government is only now just getting to the point where they're starting to realize that that's the situation, because we're so clueless about what's going on and we're so clueless for 20 years, but it's no longer. You can't. Biden looks and the Biden administration looks at China, russia, north Korea and Iran as separate problems to be dealt with and see it makes it easier for him because he's all. We can do this against China, but the little regional powers like Iran and North Korea. Well, we can deal with them on a separate basis. That's bull. And then the truth of the matter is and anybody my brother's got this saying he says anybody with a third grade education can tell whatever. Well, anybody with a third grade education who reads the media today, including government comments, about the conspiracies between Russia and North Korea and Iran and China I mean China is the leader of all of them. North Korea is providing I mean the Russian with North Korean missiles. Article just came out recently about how Hamas is using Chinese AK-47s and military material.
Speaker 3:It's one thing, and that one thing, that one new axis of evil, has a purpose, and their purpose is to divide us, divide and conquer, right. So not only divide our allies in the United States, but just to use resources that the United States has, because we only have limited resources. We only have so much money, so many intelligence personnel, so much military material, right. Now we're finding out, we're hitting the bottom of the barrel and some of this stuff because we've been given it to the Ukraine left, you know, left and right, because the problem is we don't have a plan.
Speaker 3:All this stuff is knee-jerk reaction, right? So if you don't understand that your enemy is a anti-American, a forced state, anti-american coalition that coordinates their actions against the United States for the express purpose of dividing our resources and scattering them to the four wins. You know, you can't come up with a plan to counter that because you haven't even identified the enemy yet. And that's what the enemy is right now. And so we're just playing catch-up. And, man, I mean, you got one. I know I'm going on and on here, but let me I can give you one example about China that blow your socks off.
Speaker 2:Well, it strikes me that that is the issue. I mean, I have friends of mine that are staunch Biden supporters or they're staunch Trump supporters, and I, frankly, don't care either way, and what, because what bothers me is that they're all illusory, they're all smoke and mirrors, and I have to sometimes wonder what team are they on, you know? Because we can say we're patriots all day long, but if we're not really keeping our eye on the ball and the ball is, these people hate us, they all hate us, they hate democracy. They want, they want us gone, period.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, you know. And if they see that you know, to our faces, they see that Right, right, and they don't have to worry.
Speaker 2:I mean, when I when I think about China. I was in the silk trade for a number of years and one of the things I learned about China really quickly is they have a six to 8000, I forget now 6,000, 8000 year history of how they have built the world and how they perceive the world. They look at our politicians, you know, with their four to eight year terms, and think, eh, whatever, you know, I don't have to worry about what this administration is going to do or that administration, because you guys can never agree with one another and having a unified plan going forward. So I'm just going to wait you out.
Speaker 2:You know, four to eight years, big whoop-de-doo, so, and that that mentality is so pervasive in the Chinese mentality and the way that they do things that I don't, I don't think we get it. I don't know where, where the politicians are in not understanding that for us to go and tell China well, you need to have these human rights things in place and you need to do this stuff to just, you know, take care of people and support people's right to do blah, blah, blah. They look at us and say what do you mean? This is like a five year old telling an adult what they should do, you know it's just stupid, it's, it's really disheartening.
Speaker 3:So you know several things about what you just said. One is that if you're Xi Jinping and you're talking to your director of Ministry of State Security which is their CIA, the MSS, ministry of State Security and you say, what do you think of the United States today? You know, mr Minister, you know I'm considering things that can get us to go to war with the United States. I need your best assessment. What that minister would tell them first of all is well, first of all, sir, the United States of America has negated the word United in their title. There is no such thing as the United States of America. There's the divided States of America or the dysfunctional States of America, or some in the United States would say the Trump States of America or the Biden States of America, but there's no United States of America, and Americans don't even know what it is. They don't know their own history, so they don't understand the ideals that they should be living up to, because they don't understand their own history and they don't teach their own history in school and they don't take civics. Most Americans couldn't even tell you that there are three. You know branches of government and you know, they're just a motley crew and they allowed themselves to decline to such an extensor that we, you know, we're just kind of walking all over them. And you know, as you've seen, you know, the American president begs you, literally begs you, sir, which is, you know, chinese really understand loss of face. And so the minister would say you know, which is a tremendous loss of face for the president Biden, he begs you for a meeting only so that you can tell him what you're going to do, and he gets nothing from the meeting and goes home but tells his people that, because he had a meeting with you, because you're so important, sir, he's important too, you know, and so that's how that that would go. So when it? And so because of that, because America is so polarized and divided, there's no such concept anymore of compromise, right, if you're a Trump or you're, everything you hate about Biden, you know, I mean you hate everything about buying their communists. If you're on the other side, you hate everything about Trump and so forth.
Speaker 3:And you know, I grew up in the United States were at once upon a time in the United States, even though there were Democrats and Republicans, there was some agreement across the aisle, and that agreement was mostly on matters of defense. You know, when it came to defending the United States, we're all American man. We made to have differ differences on taxes or whatever, but we're all Americans, we got to defend the United States. And now there's not even that anymore. And now every politician will use defense as a ploy in their own little micro managed political maneuverings to their best advantage, but not for the best advantage of the United States of America. And so we are.
Speaker 3:We're really, you know, in a bad way here and the Chinese are just advancing, you know, beyond us. I mean, we're, we are actually in decline and militarily we're in decline and we can't get anywhere closer, closer than a thousand miles from the Chinese coast or we're toast. You know, and that's that's why, you see, we're in the Middle East and we have all of our naval assets in the Middle East and we're running, but strafing runs and stuff on some of the, you know, hezbollah, the pop proxy groups and all that. But when you saw China encircle Taiwan, you know, for the fifth or sixth time you never saw any of that sort of thing around Taiwan. And the reason is and I can give you a great, because this is in Brian Fairchild talking. This is Brian Fairchild, the intelligence officer giving you intelligence.
Speaker 3:And the US Army in 2021 wrote a paper, an analytical paper, about the People's Liberation Army rocket force. They said the People's Liberation Army rocket force is the largest and most diverse rocket force in the world and they they focused on several different parts. They focused on nuclear capability and intercontinental ballistic missiles and medium range and intermediate range ballistic missiles. But they also focused on a key. The most key area for us was with anti ship missiles, because anything that goes on around Taiwan has to be naval right. We have to get our ship, we got to get our big carriers in, we have to be able to get our aircraft to fly off those big carriers and make runs and all that. And the Army said People's Liberation Army rocket force and this was back in 21, so you got to times this by a couple more thousand has so many anti ship missiles that they can hit every single American combatant in the South China Sea, to the extent that every surface combatant in the South China Sea from the United States has used up all that's missile defense and still have more over the sink those ships.
Speaker 3:That's why we can't. You never saw when they were encircling Taiwan. You never saw the USS Ford, you know, the biggest, best carrier in the world, get close to Taiwan and threaten them like we're doing in the Middle East. Because what are we going to do when they think, the first time they sink an aircraft carrier, the United States as a world power, is done, the balloon is burst because that's our big deal, right, naval power. Look at these immense carriers and our power and stuff. We can't even get close enough to the Chinese or to Taiwan or the Chinese border without getting blown out of the sea, and you know so that, and the key here, raul, is that none of this happened yesterday. Right, remember what I was saying 20 years we're focused on counter-attacking.
Speaker 3:Okay, farragut, where's your proof? Your viewers might say, yeah, anybody can say that stuff. Well, where's your proof? Well, china, right now, as China stands today, it has the number one, the largest navy in the world, has the largest armed forces in the world, it's got the largest rocket force in the world. It's got the largest ship building in the world. It's got the largest coast guard in the world. Those coast guard cutters can be fitted with cruise missiles. They're not like our coast guard cutters. So that's, they regard them as just another naval vessel. But they got the largest coast guard, they've got the largest maritime militia and those ships are not fishing ships, they're iron. You know iron hold, reinforced hold. You know military ships that they use for ramming and stuff. And you've seen that happen recently in the Philippines where they ram the Philippine coast guard ships and all that sort of thing.
Speaker 3:So they've got, and they've got hypersonic missiles. You know more hypersonic missiles than anybody else in the world, more accurate hypersonic missiles than anyone else in the world. And the United States doesn't even have one hypersonic missile. In fact, you know, millie, general Millie, formerly the chief chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said under his command, he said it's a plant, the. You know China's got these hypersonic missiles and we have no defense against it, none. So if you're a ship, if you're a Navy carrier, and they've got thousands right of hypersonic missiles, and you get close enough to the coast of China, they start lobbying. You know Salvos of hypersonic missiles at your carrier until you've used up all your, your, your, your air defense capabilities, and now they're pummeling you into the sea.
Speaker 3:So all the war, all the war games that we have run. Not we, me, the CIA and the United States government, military says. But, and here's the key, when we ran these military war games, we were, we inserted capabilities that the United States government had did not yet have, you know, but would we're assumed to be had in the next couple of years. So we didn't even have some of these capabilities. But they said in these war games that we might be able to keep China from actually Overtaking, you know, bringing all these massive troops in and over taking Taiwan. We might be able to stop them, but as such an expense that we would never be a world power again because it would. You know, it was at a minimum sink two of our carriers, 20 to 30 of our cruisers, the whole Japanese surface fleet, you know, and all the you know, and, and 900 aircraft, and we only have 1,800 aircraft in the entire world. So half of our aircraft be taken, you know, taken down, and we might, you know, actually succeed from keeping, you know, china from over taking Taiwan.
Speaker 3:But the other thing that they didn't account for is the new axis of evil, because there's not going to be any situation where we go to war with China over Taiwan and Russia, north Korea and Iran say okay, guys, no problem, hey, that's between you two. You go ahead and find out, we'll just watch. No, it's the new axis of evil. And as China, as we get into it with China, russia is going to be doing stuff, and Iran's gonna be doing stuff, and North Korea is gonna be doing stuff, and we don't have the resources to fight all of them at the same time.
Speaker 3:So I I don't mean to be a real downer and I'm sorry to your viewers that I'm, you know, ragging on the United States, but it's got to be done because I feel myself. I feel myself as, like Paul revere, I'm out there trying to sound the alarm. I'm, you know, the enemy is coming. The enemy is coming. I'm not the British, but the new axis of evil is coming, you know, and they're ready to come at any given time, right now. And then let it till you folks Understand this and get a hold of your politicians and say you kind of, we got to get back to where we need to be Right, and you, your folks, also go. You know, maybe I've got to be a little more willing to compromise on some of these policies and things. You know, we're never going to get it back.
Speaker 2:Well, that strikes me that the you're in, you've touched on it, the polarization process, the, the just pigheadedness of Our, our culture, our nation, right now, of not realizing that there is something bigger to all of this, then my political Beliefs, or my, my political allegiance, that to define ourselves as Democrat or Republican right now, to me it's just such a ludicrous definition in such a meaningless definition. If we don't Determine that we are first and foremost Americans, we're not, right, black Americans, we're not Chinese Americans, we're Americans. And we need to get that, that mentality that says what is our greatest common good, what is the, what is the thing that we most cherish? And if it is our freedoms, then we need to be able to realize that. You know, neither Quite, quite frankly, neither political system right now has done a very good job, nor do they seem to want to do a good job of addressing the issues you're talking about. They would rather play games with us to maintain power and wealth and whatnot, but it's all gonna be for naught if we don't wake up.
Speaker 2:So is there I get? I say all that because do you see, as an operative, or have you seen as an operative, any keys To waking people up? You know we talk about Wokeness, and I think the real wokeness is that you know going. Guys, come on. We have a country here, we have a democracy, we have a history, we have a wonderful paradigm in the Constitution For what we should and can be. Let's get it together.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I see none of that, and that's why I'm out here doing the Paul reviewer thing, you know, trying to get this across to people. Trying to get, because a lot of people, a lot of Americans that I talked to Well, first of all, most Americans don't know anything about overseas. You know, many Americans probably couldn't pick out China, which is our biggest threat in the world, on a map, you know, and until we're actually hit with something, americans are the kind of people that until there's a 9-11 attack and somebody rubs your nose in it, you know we don't react. And so you know, when you're busy doing your little political thing and your polarization and Communist fascist, you know all this sort of thing who cares about what's going on over there in the world? And they don't realize what the impact would be. So the impact would be this, and this is the thing. It's not. They're over there. It's like what are we doing To Russia and China right now that you see, and we're putting sanctions on them? Right, it had to stop them, but we hurt them, right, so their economies are hurt.
Speaker 3:Even even most Americans that don't know anything about foreign policy would say yeah, I hear those Chinese aren't doing very well in your economy though. Well, that exact same thing can be reversed, and they do it to us, and all they've got to do is take Taiwan. 60% of all the trade in the world goes right past Taiwan and and Taiwan to them is like you know. Cuba was for us when, when Nikita Khrushchev was putting, you know, nuclear missiles on Cuba, 90 miles off our bar coast, we couldn't abide that right. That was too much of a strategic threat. How can you let somebody have a military base 90 miles off your coast? Well, taiwan's a hundred miles off the Chinese coast and it's an American bastion. So, just from you know common sense, you can see Xi Jinping will not allow that to remain. I mean not without doing something or going to some kind of a fight. So he's going to take that and then, when he and when he does, because, like I say, we can't get within a thousand miles Of the coast without getting obliterated. So when he takes that, and he can take his time, because we're no real threat to him right now and we, he can see that we're starting to build up threats. We're starting the hardened Guam and we're starting to, you know, put marine Marines on Okinawa and stuff like that. But he knows that he's got years before he's got to worry about, because he's got missile salvos that can wipe all those people off the face of the map, you know. So he's not worried about it right now, but he will move Quickly, I think. And and there's a key time coming up for Taiwan, because on the 13th so today is the ninth, so four days from now Taiwan's going to have an election and basically China has said, if you Taiwanese are silly enough to Reelect the DPP, the Democratic Progressive Party, which is a party that's closest to the United States and whom we, you know, assistant arming Taiwan, that if you guys are silly enough to reelect them, we consider that an act of war. So you know, china may be getting ready to move against Taiwan and once they do, this is what's going to happen.
Speaker 3:The majority of the world's trade and and and the majority of all world trade is moving from Europe and the West to Asia and the East. I mean, any Economist will tell you this. This is the major, the major movement in the 21st century. Asia is becoming the thing. 60% of world trade goes past Taiwan. Soon, as he takes Taiwan and he puts more missiles on Taiwan and more armed forces on Taiwan and Capability and submarines and so forth and so on, and to do that He'll he will have had to have taken out Guam and Okinawa, you know, because he doesn't want us to be able to react to him.
Speaker 3:So then already we've got, you know, already we've got allies who say we're not so sure we want to side with you guys, you, you people in the United States, because You're not really very powerful anymore. Good example is we got, you know, biden recently created this Red Sea Task Force Because of Iran ordering Hamas to attack, you know, to attack Israel as part of the new axis of evil. Our response to that is rail, israel's response to that. And now Iran's got all the proxy teams, you know, taking us on and you know, and it's doing exactly what I said, right, I mean it's using up all of our resources and scattering our resources. You know, to the winds.
Speaker 3:But when Biden said we need a task force, our own allies don't want to join it. Right, I mean, they don't want to join it. You know, at one point they would have joined it like that because we were the number one power in the world and that Mitigated any threat that they, they faked, but now we're no longer that power and they see that China is that power and unless Biden does something fast like building naval hard power in the Pacific, you know they're not gonna join. Nobody's gonna join with us. You know, against China and Taiwan. They would even join with us on the task force in the Red Sea. You know.
Speaker 3:France you know, france and Germany say no, we don't want to do it. Australia sent 11 people to the task force. No, no walk. No, no vessels or anything, you know. So we're in that kind of a situation. And so once he does that, then all of trade is going to be Focused on China, and China will make sure that's the case, and China will impose its will, just like it's imposing its will Right at this minute against the Philippines, against Taiwan and against anybody who says we don't want to work with you. China exerts its will and forces them, bullies them, to work with them.
Speaker 3:So then, all of a sudden, you know we want to get in the mix. Hey, we want to trade to. Hey, we want to trade to, but China will shut us out, you know, or China's, oh yeah, we'll allow you to trade at these exorbitant rates and we're gonna sanction you on this, this and this, and you better Not start building up any more military power. Or we're gonna sanction that, that, that and that. And all of a sudden, the United States and its Citizens that thought they were the world's best and brightest are going to be spending $13 for a loaf of bread and going what happened? And I'm telling you what's happening right now. So that's what's happening. So if you want that to continue, then continue along the polarization of the United States, and that will happen, you know. So there's our problem.
Speaker 2:And we don't have time today To do the other part of this equation, which is it is not all doom and gloom. One of the thing that does make America great is that we do take adversity and turn it into Advantage. We do have a way of thinking outside of the box which is the envy of the world, because we are a melting pot. We have been the assimilating point for all Creative thinking and thinking. For the most part, we're not under the thumb of some fascist dictator that makes us do their will. We are and an eclectic and you know, a force of people that have a lot of individuality, and that is a powerful, powerful thing.
Speaker 2:So I want to talk about I want to talk about that part of it and how that I think Creativity. I think that you know our ability, our aspirations to be the better angels that we have. America have been in World War Two. You know we, we were throughout the all of the, the Cold War, that we can be, that we are still that, but we need to Relight that flame and turn off all of this make America great. Nonsense and this, you know, whatever is going on, that is really smoking mirrors, because if you want to make America great again. I think there are other ways than what we're doing so far it just yeah and yeah, and there are ways.
Speaker 3:There are ways of doing that. But first of all, you got to wake up the population. You know, I mean it was awakened, you know, in World War two because of Pearl Harbor. It was awakened against Al Qaeda because of 9-11, right now, hopefully, you know, guys like me, appealing to people and explaining the situation might get them to the point where you know they realize there's there's a problem before it happens, because it's likely to happen sooner rather than later. And you know I mean you can't do anything until you unite and say we got to work on this together. Well, we need to worry.
Speaker 2:I think, don't. I think we need to worry about more than anything is the rapidity at which it's going to happen. And you know, I even think of the Ukraine as much, as I have felt deeply for the the plight of the Ukrainian people, and you know what rush has been doing to them. I also realize that, on a very pragmatic level, we've been depleting our Minutemen, our patriot missile Batteries, at an astounding rate, at a rate that's far greater than we can restore them. So at this point in time. So we, I look at the way that our assets are being depleted, and I'm sure there's some. You know a whole task force of beam counters in China and Iran and you know North Korea that are going yep, yep, okay, they used another 16 today. We are intelligence is that they have 62. So we're down to the point. Now, okay, now, yeah, it will be meaningless for them to try to counter our attacks, because we'll just overwhelm them within three to six hours.
Speaker 3:Well spoken, which is the definition of that new axis of evil and what they're trying to do. Yeah, so you?
Speaker 2:know. If we have to, I guess I'm gonna ask you right now. We need to come up with another time that we can continue this conversation, because I it is. It is something that you don't get Better unless you confront what it is. It's like alcoholics anonymous. You don't get better fighting that war until you acknowledge the fact that you are an Alcoholic and you have a problem and it needs to be addressed. We are Americans and we have a problem and we need to address it and we need to stop playing all this nonsense stuff. Instead of focusing on what, what do we really want the world to look like in 20 years, because we just wasted 20? What do we want it to look like 20? What part do we want to play in it and what's the the best way to get there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think you probably have some good information on what that pathway could look like.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, if I wasn't optimistic, I wouldn't be on your show right now. It's trying to spread the word. I mean, right, first thing is like to say you got to make them understand there's a problem. You know, hey, boss, we got a problem. Okay, so that's what I'm trying to do right now. So you're trying to do so. If we can get them to understand, well, we got a problem, there are ways of going about that. It's gonna take time and there's no immediate, you know, fix, but we can do a whole lot better than what we're doing right now, because what we're doing right now is, you know, Squad.
Speaker 2:Right, I'm with you, brother, we're on track, we're doing this thing. We will we're two or more are gathered, there will be work. Things will happen, so it was the old. Margaret Mead saying never under Missed, underestimate the power of a small, passionate group of people to change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has. So yeah, and.
Speaker 3:Churchill. Here's a great quote, because a lot of the people that we're talking to, you know the polarized folks. They are thinking we don't need the rest of the world. Well, churchill had a great quote. He says the only worst thing, then, having allies is not having. So, you know, any American who's thinking we can do this on our own is wrong. I mean, it's just simply wrong. We can't, you can't, compete with the, the four major states Anti-American military block that we're facing right now alone, because we've got some major problem. You've got to have allies, and so that's gotta be part of the mix and so that.
Speaker 3:But that brightens you, you up, if you know, if you can get them behind you. But in order to get behind you, you've got to demonstrate that you're willing to take Leadership again and that you're doing what needs to be done. So there are things to be done and I, for one, I mean, if we get into the, you know, look crap, I'll be go, I'll be go back, I'll be going back and being an intelligent officer, I mean, if I was 80 years old, I'd raise my hand and say take me, I can do stuff. You know I can do stuff. To let other guys get free. I want to be part of the solution, you know so, oh yeah, yeah, but you've got to have people like that, willing to sacrifice and willing to do what they've got to do, and so, yeah, let's get back together and talk about it. I mean, anything we can do to raise the profile and get people to you know, understand is what I'm all about.
Speaker 2:Right. Raise high the banner. Folks have been talking with Brian Fairchild. He's a former CIA case officer with over two decades of experience. He is operated in the shadows under an official and non-official cover across Asia, southeast Asia, europe, the Arabian Peninsula, in Afghanistan, and he has a book called the hidden, which is fiction, but I suspect that it would give people a good understanding of what Kind of goes on in this that we don't even think about. I was gonna read the some of the Preface of that, your summary document, because I think that alone would get people to kind of wake up a little bit and think there's more at stake here than just my. You know whether or not.
Speaker 2:I can have my whatever you know pizza on Saturdays, so I'm lucky out a lot there. Yeah, yeah, don't take my Starbucks away, please. That's so important. So, brian, thank you so much for being with me. We'll be together soon. Folks, I hope you've enjoyed our conversation as much as I have. You've taught me much that now I need to go and do some research too, so that's a good thing. So thanks again, brian. My pleasure great being here. Thanks for joining us. People here on frame of reference, profiles and leadership.