SNAFU with Ed Helms – Details, episodes & analysis

Former Church Committee Staffer Loch Johnson helps us dig deeper into the Church Committee Hearings to cover the appalling findings we didn't get to in Episode 7 of our season. Then, he takes us straight through to present day surveillance, where we try to answer the question: Where is the right balance between citizen rights and national security? Do we even have any privacy left anymore?

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The FBI tries to clean up its act, but will all those lessons learned later be… forgotten? Plus, the legacy of the Media Burglary.

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From Executive Producer Ed Helms comes a new podcast, Broomgate: A Curling Scandal. Over the course of six episodes, semi-professional curler and fully professional comedian John Cullen (Blocked Party) is exposing the unbelievable, never-before-told scandal that rocked the sport of curling. Yes, curling. Listen here.

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Back in World War II, a group of Nazis tried to overthrow American democracy, with the help of some U.S. congressmen, no less. We’re talking about The Great Sedition Trial of 1944, and it’s the subject of a history podcast hosted by Rachel Maddow called ULTRA. SNAFU and ULTRA have so much in common. Both podcasts are deep-dives into important moments in American history, which are largely forgotten – and yet, they feel oddly prescient to our world today. Ed recently sat down with Rachel to discuss these two extraordinary stories, the roots of authoritarianism, and how it all weaves into current events.

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Bonus Episode – Ed speaks with former sleeper agent for the KGB, Jack Barsky. Together, they recount Jack’s life trajectory from super spy to American author, and discuss the Soviet paranoia permeating throughout the Soviet ranks during the high-intensity of Able Archer ‘83. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.

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Bonus Episode – Ed speaks with actor Matthew Broderick, and director John Badham about their time on the seminal 1983 classic, “WarGames” and how it played a part in the cultural zeitgeist of the Cold War. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.

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The Finale of Snafu: Season One! The holy grail of classified Able Archer documents is finally revealed. Will it hold the answers we seek? Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.

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Sheer terror about the near disaster recedes over time, and intrigue sets in. Competing theories emerge as Nate Jones and others uncover reports that have been buried in archives for decades. Time casts a new shadow on Gordievsky and Rupp’s Able Archer heroics. Myth, propaganda, and reality melt into one big cloudy soup. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.

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Lt. General Leonard Perroots faces down the single most critical decision of his career: to escalate, or not? He knows the situation is bad, but he has no idea just how bad. The man’s got the fate of the world in his hands. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.

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It’s Opening day for Able Archer 83. The Soviets have front row seats to NATO’s autumn military exercises. Tens of thousands of soldiers are playing pretend war in West Germany. The Soviets are NOT enjoying the show. And then… the war game actors begin ‘launching’ nukes. Holy sh*tballs, this is not looking good. The spies try to thwart disaster, and one man is faced with a cataclysmic decision. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.

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