This week Justin welcomes Dr. Luca Trenta. Luca is an associate professor in international relations at Swansea University in Wales, and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Higher Education Academy. He's written extensively on covert action and assassination as tools of foreign policy. He's the host of the Out of the Shadows Podcast with nine episodes available now, and he has appeared on four episodes of the Secret Wars Uncovered series on the History Channel. This is Lucas's second appearance on the podcast. Today, he's back to discuss his research into the effects of covert action on the relationship between the US executive and legislative branches, specifically as it applies to Operation PB Success, the overthrow of the Guatemalan government in 1954. PB Success took place during what could be called the Golden Age of Intelligence Operations, which also coincided with very little formal oversight by Congress.

Check out Luca's first appearance on episode 150: 'The President's Kill List' here.

Connect with Luca:
swansea.ac.uk/staff/l.trenta
Bluesky: @lucatrenta.bsky.social
Check out the article, ' Secrecy and the Politics of Selective Disclosures: The US Government's Intervention in Guatemala', here.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02684527.2023.2279317

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