Ep. 69 • Rachel Cuda • Inside The CIA: The Story They Didn't Want Told 🔱🇺🇸🏴‍☠️

From growing up around the SEAL Teams - to building her own career alongside them as a CIA Case Officer - to ultimately building a life with a Navy SEAL husband, Rachel Cuda has experienced the special operations community from a perspective few people ever will. But this story isn't about the SEAL Teams and she's far from a "plus one" - being a Main Character in her own right, you'll quickly realize why we invited Rachel to pull up a chair and a mic at the Liberty Risk table, and why she earned it on her own. Don't expect this to be a four-hour interview (you already know we do way too many side quests to do "interviews" 😂). It's four hours of stories, laughs, friendly sh!t talking, sharing incredible experiences, and eventually, one of the most powerful conversations we've ever had. Exactly what you've come to expect from hanging with us. As always, the conversation goes everywhere. Growing up on Coronado with a father in the SEAL Teams, hilarious stories from life in the NSW community, meeting and marrying a Team Guy (and the awkwardness of him meeting the "father in law"), CIA training at The Farm, surveillance tradecraft, overseas adventures, Russian intelligence, and the kind of unfiltered conversations you've come to expect from spending time with Liberty Risk. But somewhere along the way, the conversation shifts. Rachel opens up about the event that changed her life, being assaulted by a fellow CIA co-worker, the retaliation that followed from inside the Agency when she challenged it, and the fight that ultimately led her to testify before Congress in pursuit of accountability and richteous reform. This is a conversation about family, service, purpose, resilience, and having the courage to stand up for what's right when the institution you dedicated your life to no longer lives up to the values it claims. Topics include: Growing up as the daughter of a Navy SEAL in Coronado What life around the SEAL Teams was really like in the 1990s Meeting and marrying a Team Guy Becoming a CIA Case Officer Training at The Farm Surveillance, tradecraft, and overseas operations How Russian intelligence really works and working abroad Life inside the CIA Whistleblowing, accountability, and institutional reform 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️ If you're wanting to dive deeper into Liberty Risk lore & hang LIVE with the hosts and other cool people, check out our Patreon Community!  Here you can get exclusive access to the behind the scenes action, the hidden conversations between breaks, a private community chat, and LOTS more, including discounts on Liberty Risk merch as well as some of our partner brands. We also have a monthly virtual (Zoom) cigar meetup where you can interact and have REAL 2 way conversations with all Kevin, Nick & Ryan, as well as other cool people in our top tier Patreon group, and also some special guests. 🤫🤫 Come check it out and join the conversation! https://www.patreon.com/LibertyRisk     Get to know Rachel better at the following link: ✖️ Rachel's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rachel.cuda    Liberty Risk Hosts: ✖️ Ryan Williams - https://www.instagram.com/invictus5326 ✖️ Kevin Kent - https://www.instagram.com/therealkevinkent ✖️ Nick Betts - https://www.instagram.com/n_betts   Liberty Risk Podcast Sponsored by: ✖️ Black Rifle Coffee - https://www.blackriflecoffee.com  ✖️ Bulkhead Energy Drink - https://www.bulkheadenergy.com  ✖️ Liberty Risk Merch - https://www.liberty-risk.com/collections/shop-all ✖️ Industry Threadworks (screen printing apparel) - https://www.industrythreadworks.com ✖️ Archive 3PL (fulfillment for E-com brands) - https://archive3pl.com ✖️ Krupto Strategic Media - https://kruptostrategicmedia.com ✖️ K-Squared Advising - https://www.k-squared.cc