Special Forces to CIA in Afghanistan Fighting the Soviets | Mike Vickers (throwback)
7/2/20261 hr 41 min
original air date 12/1/23
Michael Vickers joins us to discuss his path from 10th Special Forces Group to the CIA, including Cold War missions, Berlin tradecraft, Grenada, Beirut, and Ground Branch. We also get into the covert war in Afghanistan, the Reagan Doctrine, working with foreign partners like Pakistan and China, and how the U.S. helped drive the Soviet Union out by all means available.
Grab Mike's book here:
https://a.co/d/05Lzlki9
00:00 — Start
02:19 — Michael Vickers’ Origin Story
03:39 — 10th Special Forces Group During the Cold War
07:14 — Berlin, Detachment A, and Denied-Area Tradecraft
08:28 — Training With Man-Portable Nuclear Weapons
12:30 — OCS, Panama, and 7th Special Forces Group
15:16 — Embassy Rescue Prep and the RST Mission
21:16 — Leaving Special Forces for the CIA
22:27 — CIA Training, Suriname, and the Road to Grenada
26:16 — First Combat in Grenada
30:33 — Beirut, Hezbollah, and Failed Policy
33:49 — Ground Branch and the Afghanistan Assignment
40:31 — How the Afghan Covert Action Program Evolved
45:12 — “By All Means Available”: Defeating the Soviets
50:45 — Blowpipe, Stingers, and Escalating the War
53:12 — Selling the Strategy to Foreign Partners
56:18 — Working With Chinese Intelligence
01:00:07 — The Soviet Withdrawal From Afghanistan
01:03:32 — Reagan Doctrine and the Global Irregular War
01:10:21 — CIA Covert Action vs. Special Forces
01:18:23 — China, the New Cold War, and U.S. Power
01:30:38 — Cyber Attacks as Acts of War
01:37:09 — Chips, Rare Earths, and Protecting U.S. Infrastructure
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
PNC Bank brings you [animal roaring] Call of the Wild Money Moves. You hear that?
Michael Vickers· Guest0:05
[laughs] YOLO.
Speaker 10:07
That's an internet troll telling you to put all your money into a single investment.
Michael Vickers· Guest0:10
YOLO. YOLO, YOLO.
Speaker 10:12
He wants you to liquidate your emergency fund- YOLO, YOLO ... and buy a digital racehorse named Silicon Steve.
Michael Vickers· Guest0:20
[laughs] YOLO.
Speaker 10:21
Stay vigilant. He's very persistent.
Michael Vickers· Guest0:24
YOLO.
Speaker 10:25
[animal roaring] Guard against wild money moves with PNC Bank, brilliantly boring since 1865.
Speaker 30:30
You know what? It sucks to be bored, but when I get on my phone and play real casino games on SpinQuest.com, the time flies by. That two-hour wait at the DMV seems like 10 minutes. Play your favorite spots, live blackjack, live craps, with a live dealer. New players, $30 coin packs are on sale for 10 bucks. Play SpinQuest.com and you'll never be bored again.
Speaker 40:53
SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Void where prohibited. Visit SpinQuest.com for more details.
Jack Murphy· Host0:59
So, Mr. Vickers, really appreciate your, uh, your patience with us and your, uh, being gracious with your time. We'll jump right into it here. Uh, could you tell us a little bit about your origin story, sort of about how you grew up and how that took you and led you towards governmental service?
Michael Vickers· Guest1:15
Uh, sure. So I, uh, grew up in Southern California and went to Hollywood High School, and had dreams of being a, uh, professional baseball player or football player or quarterback. And, uh, my, uh, passions