John Lisle, a historian of science and the American intelligence community and author of The Dirty Tricks Department, joins the show to talk about the World War Two-era Office of Strategic Services and its Research and Development Branch.
▪️
Times
• 01:44 Introduction
• 02:10 “Wild Bill” Donovan
• 05:54 Donovan’s style
• 08:53 Stanley Lovell
• 12:35 An unconventional training process
• 16:40 Explosive pancake batter
• 19:24 Limpet mines and Java Man
• 23:33 A meaningful legacy?
• 27:34 Target: Werner Heisenberg
• 31:51 WMDs
• 35:40 Truth Serum
• 39:02 From OSS to CIA