David McCloskey

But of course, members to the Declassified Club can listen to this entire series right now, get early access to all of it.

You will also get access to our bonus interviews, doing an interview, as we mentioned, with Patrick Radden Keefe, the author of Say Nothing, looking at this kind of intelligence conflict inside the troubles.

And you can sign up for all of that at therestisclassified.com.

Oh, the live show.

We'll see you next time.

For exclusive interviews, bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to series, first look at live show tickets, a weekly newsletter, and discounted books, join the Declassified Club at therestisclassified.com.

How do you run an undercover agent inside an organization like the IRA?

And do you let your agent commit murder?

This is a story that neither the IRA nor the British state have wanted to be told.

Welcome to The Rest is Classified.

I'm David McCloskey.

And I'm Gordon Carrera.

And today we are starting a series looking at maybe one of the most controversial agents ever in British intelligence history.

A man with the code name Stakenife, a British spy at the heart of the Irish Republican Army, the IRA.

And we do a lot of stories

obviously on this podcast about agents inside groups, CIA agents or assets inside the KGB,

assets inside MI6, Russian assets inside MI6.

We look at their motivation for doing what they do, how they're handled, what happens with the intelligence they provide and the difference it makes.

And this story is similar in many respects.

It's about an agent that's being run inside the heart of the IRA, but it has a twist that is, I think, much darker and much more complicated.