The State We’re In, 28 November 2009: This week, TSWI offers something different on the idea of giving thanks: we celebrate the 20 years since the end of the Cold War by interviewing the men who say they’re responsible for keeping the world safe: spies.

Listen to this week's show in full:

 
We're always searching for personal stories about human rights and how we treat each other. Do you have a story to share with us? If so click here.
  
OR - You can visit our Facebook page where you can discuss the program and send in ideas.
 
The perfect job
Oleg Kalugin was the youngest KGB general of his generation and was at the forefront of the spying game against the US. For him, it was exhilarating: “When you win over someone who was an enemy just a month ago and you turn him into your friend and colleague, it makes you feel excited and happy.” It also turned him into a big Doris Day fan!
 

  
Russian trainspotting
Leslie Woodhead was sent to a ‘spying school’ to learn Russian as a member of Britain’s vast intelligence network. His expertise was used to listen into Russian pilots' conversations. It was excessively boring he says, like trainspotting. Fifty years later, Leslie took a closer look at his Cold War experience and realises that it wasn’t such a waste of time after all – and that he played a small but significant role in helping the world avert nuclear self-destruction.
 

  
The new truth
What sort of spying takes place now and between whom? The Cold War may be over but countries are spending as much as ever on intelligence gathering. What form does it take and how has it changed? We speak with Professor Anthony Glees who is the Director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at The University of Buckingham in England.
 

  
Lead photo: Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George Bush Snr about to share a meal on board the Soviet cruise ship Maxim Gorky, Marsaxlokk Harbour, Malta - Wikipedia