Interview with Eva Dillion

Eva Dillion - Spanning fifty years and three continents, Spies in the Family is a deeply researched account of two families on opposite sides of the lethal espionage campaigns of the Cold War, and two men whose devoted friendship lasted a lifetime, until the devastating final days of their lives. With impeccable insider access to both families as well as knowledgeable CIA and FBI officers, Dillon goes beyond the fog of secrecy to craft an unforgettable story of friendship and betrayal, double agents and clandestine lives, that challenges our notions of patriotism, exposing the commonality between peoples of opposing political economic systems.

Lecture given by Nigel West

Nigel West is a UK- based military historian and prolific author specializing in intelligence and security issues.  He will speak to us about intriguing intelligence issues such as those covered in his book The Crown Jewels which he co-authored with former KGB officer Oleg Tsarev, based on files made available to them by the KGB archives in Moscow.

Don Mahar who authored Shattered Illusions: KGB Cold War Espionage in Canada — talks about the case that lasted forty years.  Don’s book is the true account of the lives of the two men at the center of an espionage operation during the early years of the Cold War.   Yevgeni Brik and James Morrison were central figures in what was considered one of the most important Cold War operations in the West at the time. Their story, which involves espionage, intelligence tradecraft, Intelligence service penetrations, double agent scenarios, and betrayal is a piece of Canadian Cold War intelligence history that had never been fully told.

Francis Gary Powers Jr. discusses his father’s imprisonment in Soviet Union after being shot down in his U-2 spy plane.

Doug Best – RCMP officer discusses Counter Terrorism Operations and the courts in Canada.

Interview with Mubin Shaikh

Mubin Shaikh who, as a CSIS and RCMP source, penetrated the Toronto 18 terrorist group.  In 2004, a group of young Muslim men conspired to send Ottawa a deadly message. Enraged by Canada’s military involvement in Afghanistan, and fuelled by violent jihadi videos, they plotted to storm Parliament Hill and detonate truck bombs in downtown Toronto. The goal was to cause catastrophic damage, cripple the economy and unleash mass carnage.  Mubin’s testimony in five legal hearings over four years was a key component in the conviction of eleven aspiring militant jihadists.

John Whiteside - retired FBI agent discusses the penetration of the National Security Agency and the subsequent investigation. It has the distinction of being the longest open espionage case in US history.  John’s investigation resulted in the arrest and conviction of Robert Lipka.

Interview with Martha

Martha Peterson joined the CIA and became one of the first women operations officers ever assigned to Moscow in the mid-70s. She detailed the challenges of working covertly for nearly two years in Moscow, facing the potential of being discovered by the KGB, as she serviced dead drops and recovered secret packages from a highly valuable agent TRIGON. Peterson discovered that she could move freely around Moscow without a trace of surveillance coverage, unlike her male CIA colleagues who were smothered by KGB surveillance teams.

Amanda talks about her case

Amanda Lindhout - Considered one of the most dangerous places on earth, Amanda Lindhout and her cameraman arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia.  Mogadishu was a city under siege with competing war lords reigning over different parts of the city.  On their fourth day the two were confronted by masked men, kidnapped, hooded and spirited away to an uncertain future.  The two would be used as pawns in order to extort a heavy ransom from their families.   She is the author of “A House in the Sky”.

Robert Fowler was a dominant force in Canadian foreign affairs, as a policy advisor to three prime ministers, as a deputy minister of National Defence, and as Canada’s longest-serving ambassador to the United Nations.  Fowler lived, slept, and ate with his captors for over four months, gaining a rare first-hand insight into the world’s most feared terrorist group.  For those 130 punishing days, Fowler survived in extreme desert conditions at the whims of his volatile kidnappers.