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The AFIO Now series offers the association’s members and the public prerecorded interviews and presentations that feature intelligence experts, historians and officers from the U.S. intelligence community. Content includes historical reviews and analyses of past and current domestic and global events, career insight, intelligence related author and national security reporter interviews.
AFIO NOW videos are released first to our members. Please consider joining AFIO to have access to these videos months before they are released to the public. Already a member? Log in to your account.
Released to members on 14 Apr 2026
Run time: 29 minutes with many Q&As.
AFIO Now Series Host: James Hughes, AFIO President and former CIA Operations Officer, and Former NSA Associate Deputy Director of Operations.
The discussion centers around Ghosts of Sicily, a non-fiction book by actor Mark Harmon and retired NCIS agent Leon Carroll Jr., set for release on April 14, 2026, detailing the true story of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) forming an alliance with the Mafia, including Charles "Lucky" Luciano, during WWII to protect U.S. waterfronts from Nazi spies and U-boats. The book follows ONI agents on missions in America and Italy, involving secret meetings with criminals and undercover operations, and is the third in their Ghosts of... series.
"Absorbing history of an unlikely alliance.” - Kirkus Reviews
From the New York Times bestselling authors of Ghosts of Honolulu comes their most harrowing true story yet.
It's 1942, and New York City is at war. German U-boats are sinking ships just miles offshore, and Washington, DC, is convinced that waterfront spies are providing intelligence targeting the ships. To thwart the threat, the Office of Naval Intelligence reaches out to those with the most sway along the waterfronts of Brooklyn and Manhattan – the mob. The result will be a triumph for the ONI and one of the most successful and controversial operations in the long history of what we now know as NCIS.
Released to members on 14 Apr 2026
Run time: 33 minutes with several Q&As
AFIO Now Series Host: James Hughes, AFIO President and former CIA Operations Officer, and Former NSA Associate Deputy Director of Operations.
Interview of 25 March 2026 of Sean M Wiswesser, former CIA Operations Officer, on his latest book, "Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks: Russian Intelligence and Putin's Secret War". Co-hosted with Paul Hollingsworth PhD, former Senior CIA Officer and Analyst, they discuss the covert world of Russian espionage and how the Russian Intelligence Services (RIS) - the SVR, GRU, and FSB, including their use of double agents, surveillance, and “street work,” honeytraps, sabotage, active measures, assassinations - operate across the globe including the tactics, tradecraft, and mindset of the RIS. And the RIS roles in the Russo-Ukraine War.
Check out the Events section on the member home page for information about upcoming book events at the Spy Museum (April 30) and the Institute of World Politics (May 4).
To view our publicly available AFIO Now videos, please visit AFIO on YouTube or browse through the playlists below. To view other items in the playlists, select the icon with three lines and a small arrow on the bottom that is to the right of the title.
To listen to the AFIO Now series as audio only, please download from wherever you get your podcasts.
"AFIO Now" Interviews and Podcasts are sponsored by Northwest Financial Advisors. Read the Press Release on this new Joint Arrangement.