11/18/25 Barry Eisler on the CIA, Venezuela and Using Novels to Wake People Up

The Scott Horton Show from The Libertarian Institute

<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>

Download Audio.

Scott interviews novelist Barry Eisler about his background at the CIA, how he woke up to the realities of the American empire, the insanity of Washington even considering a war with Venezuela, how he writes his novels and more.

Discussed on the show:

• The Heart of the Matter – Eisler’s Substack
• Endings: The Good, the Bad, and the Insanely Great

Barry Eisler is a novelist and Substack writer. He formerly worked for the CIA but grew disillusioned and left to work as a lawyer and write thriller novels. Check out his books and story at his website BarryEisler.com

Audio cleaned up with the Podsworth app: https://podsworth.com

Use code HORTON50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings, sound like a pro, and also support the Scott Horton Show!

For more on Scott’s work:

Check out The Libertarian Institute:

https://www.libertarianinstitute.org

Check out Scott’s other show, Provoked, with Darryl Cooper https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show

Read Scott’s books:

Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine https://amzn.to/47jMtg7 (The audiobook of Provoked is being published in sections at https://scotthortonshow.com)

Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism: https://amzn.to/3tgMCdw

Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan https://amzn.to/3HRufs0

Follow Scott on X @scotthortonshow

And check out Scott’s full interview archives: https://scotthorton.org/all-interviews

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Incorporated https://rrbi.co Moon Does Artisan Coffee https://scotthorton.org/coffee; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom https://www.libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=1616 and Dissident Media https://dissidentmedia.com

You can also support Scott’s work by making a one-time or recurring donation at https://scotthorton.org/donate/

https://scotthortonshow.com or https://patreon.com/scotthortonshow