How KGB spies were trained | Jack Barsky and Lex Fridman

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GUEST BIO:
Jack Barsky is a former KGB spy and author of "Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Tangled Allegiances as a KGB Spy in America".

PODCAST INFO:

SOCIAL:

[johans]

I love how Lex is playing stupid here. He is well trained

[vedantmehra]

New age Russian FSB agent talking to a old school KGB agent, this could be a alumni meet at the lubyanka

[dominicgreen]

Came here because I saw Lex on Rogan & Bobby Lee...one of the best pods on the net, soooo interesting.
Thankyou

[Catalyst]

Interesting that they actively encouraged mental activity beyond the basics of the job and it’s all self reported and self determined. Never thought that would be part of how they operate but it seems obvious now.

[ShamBard]

Jack Barsky, “you might be interested to know…”

Yep, that’s a pretty safe bet, Jack.

Love this guy

[rayray]

This reminds me of the show, “The Americans”.

[Mr.NorthSacra]

I wouldn’t be shocked or surprised if Lex is a sleeper agent working for the FSB. Lol

[chraffis]

"Two spies walked into a podcast...."

[fancyfree]

People so easily embrace evil in exchange for power over others.

[stephenburke]

I surveilled this former KGB agent said “you bet” approximately 28 times.

[PullUps]

So is this dude saying that he manually decrypted text strings with one-half of an RSA key pair?! If so, then damn that's tedious.

[donhavrano]

In 15 years this clip is gonna be called "How KGB turned Lex" ;P

[peterharrell]

"How KGB spies want you to think they are trained." Better title.

[joekev]

7:55 is no one gonna mention how they just glazed over that like ummm hold up please tell me more.

[shanegill]

Do tell more Lex...
How are the algorithms designed these days???😂

[CranyumHipHop]

The Russian bots behind Lex are so well trained. It’s crazy. I’m starting to think America is just a sitcom show for Russia. #TrumanShowVibes

[ragemonkey]

lol embed code in pdfs. This is 20 years ago. It' not like this now. Barsky is old school and we have respect for what he is saying, but the spy craft has changed. Now you can have a folder on your pc that you can drop a file into that gets mixed into multiple channels, social, email, a text message, and it all looks seamless and looks like it never happened. You can transfer a message by viewing posts on a foreign website on knitting and a the recipient can reassemble it from the post id's and the order you looked at them. Even the time between the posts can mean something. Dead drops are not a thing anymore. It's all digital now.

[Chris-Someguy]

Dont forget the ol vacuum clean the carpet, so when you return you can catch the difference if someone had been inside while you were gone.

[chraffis]

9:10
Barsky: "Do you know what a microdot is?"
Me: . But what does LSD have to do with counter surveillance?"

[overclucker]

My takeaway from the discussion: Putin got to where he is today by watching... Sesame Street.