Come Home to You
Welcome to "Come Home to You," a down-to-earth, wellness podcast hosted by Jenny Swim, a certified coach, specializing in leadership development and mental wellness.
Explore how to listen to your whole person, cut through the noise of the world, and foster a sense of home within yourself. With a focus on simplicity and curiosity, "Come Home to You" explores common concerns and provides practical tools to look within, listen to your own voice, and partner with your greatest resource: you.
Come Home to You
The Spy Within: What Spycraft Teaches Us About Mental Health
In this intriguing episode, we dive into the world of espionage — not to uncover international secrets, but to better understand our own minds. Joining us is David, a former CIA and FBI counterintelligence expert, who helps us explore the surprising parallels between spycraft and mental health. Together, we unpack how the same tools used to detect deception and foreign threats can help us challenge our own thinking, confront cognitive dissonance, and become more aware.
David shares how understanding the balance between convenience and security — a key consideration in national defense — also applies to the choices we make in our daily lives. He invites us to “know our enemy,” whether that enemy is external or the quiet voice of self-doubt and destructive habits within us. Tune in for a conversation that’s part spy thriller, part self-discovery, and entirely eye-opening.
David B. Bio:
David is a dedicated veteran, intelligence professional, and cancer survivor with a lifelong commitment to service. He earned a degree in Anthropology with a concentration in Underwater Archaeology from Longwood University while serving in the United States Navy Reserve (USNR) as an EOD Clearance Diver. During this time, he participated in numerous diving operations, one of which nearly cost him his life.
After graduation, David worked as a contract underwater archaeologist for NOAA before being recruited into the CIA in 1995. He served for seven years, starting as a CIA Police Officer and later joining the Protective Operations Cadre (POC), now known as the Global Response Staff (GRS). He provided critical security and operational support in Eastern and Northern Africa and was later recruited into the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, specializing in counterproliferation, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism.
In 2002, David transitioned to the FBI, where he served for 20.5 years as a Special Agent and Supervisory Special Agent in multiple field offices and divisions, including Portland, San Juan, Washington D.C., and the FBI Academy. Throughout his career, he and his wife, Lynlee, raised three sons — Noah, Jonah, and Elijah.
Following his retirement in December 2022, David joined System High Corporation as a Counterintelligence Referent. In June 2023, he was diagnosed with Stage IV Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a latent consequence of his USN service. Through aggressive treatment and the support of his church and loved ones, David achieved remission and returned to work in April 2024.
David is now creating the Blue Ridge Angler Veteran Endowment (B.R.A.V.E.), a nonprofit supporting veterans who can’t afford cancer treatment and offering therapeutic angling experiences for those coping with PTSD. He is also writing a book about his healing journey, titled "Reel River Therapy."
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