Andrew Bustamante is a former covert CIA intelligence officer and US Air Force veteran who founded EverydaySpy, an online platform that teaches intelligence skills to ordinary people. A graduate of the US Air Force Academy, he worked in nuclear missile operations before being recruited into the CIA, where he spent seven years before leaving in 2014. He is co-author, with Jihi Bustamante, of Shadow Cell: An Insider Account of America’s New Spy War (2025).
Brian Rose has interviewed Bustamante three times on London Real: in 2022, 2023 and 2025. They have talked about how the CIA recruits and trains officers, surveillance and digital privacy, the war in Ukraine, China and Taiwan, the Israel and Hamas war and Iran, and the 2025 US strike on Iran.
Each interview is listed below in order with a short summary.
CIA Super Spy: The Truth About Government Lies, Surveillance and UFOs (2022). His longest London Real interview, and the one that tells his own story, from nuclear missiles to the CIA, alongside his views on geopolitics. For his take on the Middle East, follow it with Donald Trump Had No Choice But to Strike Iran (2025).
Bustamante argues that the CIA has always taken everyday people and trained them into elite operators. Speaking in 2022, he said the same skills, such as reading people and managing your own behaviour, are the key to everyday life, which is the idea behind EverydaySpy.
In his 2022 interview he described the idea that every person lives a public life, a private life and a secret life, and explained how intelligence officers learn to reach someone’s secret life.
Speaking in November 2022, he called the war in Ukraine a Western war against Russia fought through Ukraine, said Putin could not afford to lose, and argued that China was watching the West’s response with Taiwan in mind.
In November 2023 he argued that Iran backs Hamas as a strategic tool, and that the attack on Israel was aimed in part at disrupting Israel’s improving relationship with Saudi Arabia.
Bustamante told Brian Rose in 2022 that digital privacy no longer really exists, and discussed what it would take to go completely off the grid.
Andrew Bustamante is a former covert CIA intelligence officer and US Air Force veteran. He founded EverydaySpy, which teaches intelligence skills to the public, hosts the EverydaySpy podcast and co-wrote the book Shadow Cell.
Yes. According to his publisher, he was recruited into the CIA’s National Clandestine Service after serving in the US Air Force, spent seven years with the agency and left in 2014.
EverydaySpy is the online platform Bustamante founded to teach spy skills, such as reading people, negotiation and situational awareness, to everyday people. It also runs the EverydaySpy podcast.
He talked about his recruitment and life in the CIA, surveillance and digital privacy, the war in Ukraine, China and Taiwan, the Israel and Hamas war, Iran, and the 2025 US strike on Iran.
Start with CIA Super Spy from November 2022, which covers his own story and his wider views. Then watch the 2025 episode on Iran for his most recent analysis.
Three times: in November 2022, November 2023 and June 2025.
Speaking in June 2025, he argued that Donald Trump had no choice but to strike Iran. He also discussed whether Iran really had a nuclear bomb and what regime change in Iran could mean.
Shadow Cell, published in 2025 and co-written with Jihi Bustamante, is an insider account of their time in the CIA. The publisher describes it as the story of a small team of officers who built their own cell inside the agency during an intelligence crisis.
Official site: everydayspy.com
Join 6 million+ followers & subscribers. Full-length interviews with world-class guests, straight to your inbox every week.
We take your privacy seriously. We will never sell your information.
Chat
