CI Press, Episode 83: Two Badges, One Life: An Army Counterintelligence Love Story Part 1
CI Press Podcast — Special 3-Part Series (Part 1)
This episode marks the beginning of a special three-part CI Press series – one that steps slightly outside our usual analytic lane to tell a story that’s just as central to the counterintelligence profession.
In Part 1, Leslie Gwinn shares her personal CI journey at Fort Huachuca and Korea to life as the spouse of an Army counterintelligence agent. She offers a candid look at the realities behind the mission – training pipelines, deployments, constant transitions, and the quiet sacrifices made far from briefing rooms and secure facilities.
Leslie’s story isn’t about tradecraft or threat actors. It’s about the human dimension of counterintelligence: family decisions, resilience, missed moments, and the hard choices that shape both careers and marriages in this line of work.
This episode is intentionally different. As we head into Christmas, we wanted to pause and reflect on the people who stand beside CI professionals – the partners and families whose support makes the mission possible, even when the cost is high.
Part 2 will feature Mike Gwinn’s perspective, followed by Part 3, where Leslie and Mike come together to compare notes, experiences, and lessons learned from both sides of the CI life.
Sometimes the most important stories aren’t classified, but they are rarely told.