{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspytalk.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fa-spys-life-in-congress-rx1px_2g","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"A Spy’s Life in Congress","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/1ac8ead0-fa5e-4d37-9dad-d8f0517d067f/aa3d3bf8-2759-4e21-b8ee-1defa3138a43/finalspytalk-1.png","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"","height":200,"description":"Can a good spy become a good politician? I mean, not as an undercover agent—spy agencies are pretty good at that—but in an overt way, in, say, the messy US Congress. \n\nOr, put another way, can the skills that a CIA officer employs in clandestine operations—gregariousness, empathy and, let’s face it, a learned talent for manipulating people, be put to good use in a place like a deeply polarized Congress?\n\nThis week I’m putting those questions to Abigail Spanberger, a former member of the CIA’s clandestine service, who in 2018 won a seat in Congress from Virginia as a Democrat, breaking, by the way, a nearly 40-year long Republican chokehold on a sprawling district in the near and far suburbs Washington, DC. Since then Spanberger has developed a strong reputation for working across the aisle with Republicans on bills that help constituents. And now she’s running for governor of Virginia with no primary opposition.\n\n\n\n"}