SPYCRAFT 101 - Shadows Of The Cold War: A Murder Investigation With Fred Burton

A .38 caliber bullet hole in the windshield of his car marks the scene of the murder of Joseph Alon, an Israeli Air Force officer and military attaché working in Washington, DC. Alon was murdered outside his home in Bethesda, MD one night in 1973, in a case that shocked the nation as the first murder of a foreign diplomat inside the United States.  

    Alon returned home from a long day at work only to see an unknown assassin step out from the bushes surrounding his home and fire multiple times, even as his wife and daughters were inside awaiting his arrival. His last moments were spent in their arms, waiting for an ambulance to arrive.  

    The case soon went cold, and no suspects were arrested, even as Alon’s widow and daughters did everything they could to petition for more assistance from both the US and Israeli governments. For decades it remained unsolved.  

The Pan Am Podcast Episode 32: Terror on the Airline, New Lockerbie Arrest, and the Quest for Justice

On December 11, 2022,  Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi (Mas’ud), the suspected bomb maker in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, was arrested by the U.S. Department of Justice and brought to the United States for prosecution. 

In this episode we are joined by two distinguished guests, Fred Burton and Mark Zaid, who discuss counterterrorism, the intelligence community, the Lockerbie investigation spanning more than three decades, and the quest for American justice.

Due to the sensitivity of these topics, listener discretion is advised. 

Fred Burton is a former police officer, special agent for the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. State Department, and a New York Times best-selling author.  He's served on the front lines of high-profile investigations like the attempted hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan in 1986, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the hunt for and arrest of the mastermind behind the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993; the 1988 plane crash that killed a U.S. Ambassador and the President of Pakistani; and the search for Americans kidnapped by Hezbollah in Beirut, Lebanon.

His best-selling books include his personal memoir GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent and his other books Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent's Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice, Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi and Beirut Rules: The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollah’s War Against America.

He was selected by Security Magazine as one of the Most Influential People in Security in 2021 and his non-fiction books have been featured in fictional thrillers by Brad Thor, Jack Carr and Tom Clancy’s Target Acquired by Don Bentley. 

Fred Burton Interview - HOW TO GET ON A WATCHLIST EPISODE 3: HOW TO ASSASSINATE A DIPLOMAT

In the third installment of our new podcast, we sit down with Fred Burton to discuss threats to diplomats around the world. Fred is a former police officer, special agent and New York Times best-selling author. He’s served on the front lines of high-profile investigations like the hunt for and arrest of Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind behind the first World Trade Center bombing; the 1988 plane crash of PAK-1 that killed U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel and Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq; and the search for Americans kidnapped by Hezbollah in Beirut, Lebanon. As Executive Director of the Ontic Center for Protective Intelligence, Fred now spearheads strategic consulting to physical security leaders at major corporations, advising how to keep their people safe. His best-selling books include Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent, Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent’s Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice, Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi and Beirut Rules: The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollah’s War Against America.