The Sixth Bureau
Bloomberg and iHeartPodcasts
It’s an open secret that the Chinese government has engaged in a global campaign to acquire intellectual property from foreign rivals. At the center of that campaign is the Ministry of State Security, China’s elusive intelligence agency. The US has apprehended hundreds of people accused of giving information to the MSS, but the agency’s inner workings have been a mystery – until now.The Sixth Bureau from Bloomberg News follows an MSS intelligence officer whose mission was to snatch the crown jewels of American aerospace companies. With aliases, blackmail and the occasional break-in, he targeted corporate giants. In the end though, After years of work, his sloppiness – and a cunning FBI sting – led to a stunning reversal: Xu Yanjun became the first Chinese intelligence officer ever convicted on American soil.The Sixth Bureau is the story of superpowers, their secrets and how one Chinese spy got caught.
Episodes
Mentioned books
23 snips
Mar 23, 2026 • 35min
6. Nothing Is Holy
A tense recounting of a chilling phone connection and the web of aliases that led to a major intelligence arrest. Follow the ripple effects of that capture across U.S. prosecutions and a controversial prisoner swap. Experts debate ethics of industrial espionage, China's tech rise, and whether spycraft would change if global power shifted.
27 snips
Mar 9, 2026 • 33min
5. One Way In, One Way Out
Emily Gladfelter, a federal prosecutor who worked the case, and Bradley, an FBI counterintelligence leader who ran the operation, walk through the sting. They recount the lure in Europe, the fabricated cover stories, the tense surveillance and arrest in a tight coffee shop, evidence recovered from phones, the courtroom drama and the 20-year sentence. The human costs and national stakes come into sharp focus.
15 snips
Mar 2, 2026 • 34min
4. The Duck Analogy
Bradley Hall, an FBI counterintelligence special agent who led the investigation, shares firsthand details. He walks through spotting initial leads like secondary airline screening and cash. The story follows flipping an insider, manipulating contacts with digital clues, and staging a European meeting that forces a major confrontation.
25 snips
Feb 20, 2026 • 21min
3. Suck, Squeeze, Burn, Blow
A deep dive into why jet engines are so technically guarded and which companies dominate that field. A look at air shows as intelligence hunting grounds where operatives blend in. Tales of surveillance tradecraft, targeted recruitment using LinkedIn, and a sting that exposed a trove of operational evidence. Personal motives and workplace slights that drove risky behavior are also explored.
79 snips
Feb 16, 2026 • 30min
2. The Spy’s Diary
Investigators uncovered an online diary that mixes personal life with classified tradecraft notes. Recordings reveal methods for recruiting and cultivating Western experts for aerospace theft. Stories include spotter networks, hacking and social distractions, long-term recruitment tactics, and a taxonomy describing levels of covert sources.
22 snips
Feb 16, 2026 • 13min
1. Your Friend From Nanjing
A deep undercover meet in a Chicago hotel that may have been a warning or a setup. Coded identity signals invoking Nanjing to build trust. A planted phone, staged evidence, and a controlled interaction monitored by the FBI. The unraveling of an intelligence operation tied to efforts to acquire advanced jet engine technology.
Feb 13, 2026 • 1min
Introducing: The Sixth Bureau
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Sep 29, 2025 • 44min
IVF Disrupted Ep 5: The Baby Project
A Kindbody employee discovers the company is helping an imprisoned billionaire father multiple children through surrogates and egg donors. In this episode, reporter Jackie Davalos investigates Greg Lindberg's "baby project" and how it exposes the dark side of America's unregulated fertility industry—where with enough money, almost anything becomes possible.Read more: IVF Disrupted: The Kindbody StorySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 29, 2025 • 41min
IVF Disrupted Ep 4: Fertility Care, Meet Sales Targets
Kindbody implements quotas requiring doctors to perform more lucrative procedures, internal company documents show In this episode, patients report being pushed toward expensive IVF cycles and questionable add-ons. Reporter Jackie Davalos investigates how financial pressure drove medical decisions at the struggling fertility chain—including one woman's painful and seemingly unnecessary procedure that would leave her questioning everything. Read more: IVF Disrupted: The Kindbody StorySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 29, 2025 • 33min
IVF Disrupted Ep 3: Rocketship to Nowhere
Kindbody doubles its size overnight through a major acquisition, with executives telling employees they'll be rich enough to buy private jets. In this episode, reporter Jackie Davalos reports on internal documents revealing that the company is hemorrhaging cash. As layoffs reduce the number of patient-facing employees, one clinic's staffing crunch sets the stage for an error that led one woman to give up on her dream of motherhood. Read more: IVF Disrupted: The Kindbody StorySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
