The FBI Double Agent Who Targeted the GRU | Naveed Jamali

Demetri Takos (0:00)

Hey, Jack.

Jack Murphy (0:01)

What's going on?

Demetri Takos (0:03)

Guess who our new presenting sponsor is. Tell us about it.

Jack Murphy (0:07)

We've heard a lot over the last few years about whether it's possible to build things in America. Our presenting sponsor today, VAER Watches, is putting that question to the test. VAER was founded in Venice, California in 2016 with a simple goal, to rebuild US watchmaking, while producing watches tough enough to withstand the toughest outdoor environments. Today, VAER is the largest independent watch assembler in America, assembling watches in California, Arizona, Rhode Island and Alabama, while also manufacturing its leather straps in Illinois and Florida. Every VAER watch is built for active use with a guaranteed waterproof warranty, scratch-resistant, sapphire crystals, and high-quality materials and components throughout. That combination has helped VAER earn more than 10,000 five-star customer reviews, including thousands from people who rely on VAER watches every day in demanding professional environments. All of us here at The Team House have been wearing our VAER watches for a while now.

You can check mine out right here. This is the Meridian Diver Watch in Navy Blue.

It's a very classy watch. And this is the actual rubber dive watch band if you wanted to take it in salt water. But it also comes with a normal silver band and a nylon band if you prefer that. And what kind of watch are you wearing there?

Demetri Takos (1:31)

I have the C4 Tactical Field Watch. It's solar powered too. I'm loving it. And it's funny because I had this laying on my coffee table the other day actually when my homie came in to watch football or whatever and he's a watch guy and he's like, oh, is that that VAER one? I'm not even making this up. I'm not even bullshitting. I'm like, holy shit. Yeah. They're going to be presenting sponsor for The Team House. And they sent us all a bunch of watches. Like, yo, I love this watch and I literally sold the watch. I sent them the link, the Team House link, and I'm like, yo, buy a watch from this link. Because if you do buy a watch from that link, which is vaerwatches.com/theteamhouse, when you purchase a watch, you get a free watch roll that you could fill up with three watches. So you could travel with your watches and stuff like that. It's really cool. It's leather.

Yeah.

And I was so excited when he was like, yo, is that that VAERwatch? I see it all the time. I was like so amped that he came up with that.

Jack Murphy (2:30)

Yeah, it's nice. I really like the like nice big watch face.

Demetri Takos (2:34)

You can find them at vaerwatches.com/theteamhouse. That's vaerwatches.com/theteamhouse.

And if you use our link, you'll get a free watch roll with $59 with your purchase. Also, VAER does offer a 20% discount for active duty military, veterans and law enforcement and first responders. So you could check that out at any time if you are any one of those. Yeah, I'm excited about this sponsorship. So I really hope people go and check out VAER.

Jack Murphy (3:02)

Yeah, absolutely.

Hey everyone, welcome to The Team House. I'm Jack Murphy and we are happy to have in studio another guest. Today, it's Naveed Jamali. He is the author of How to Catch a Russian Spy, which is about some of your misspent youth, I think, when you were working with the FBI to help them, help the counterintelligence guys catch a Russian spy here in New York. And then you went on to have a career as a Naval Intelligence Officer, and now you work in journalism.

Naveed Jamali (3:36)

Indeed. Yeah.

It's, I mean, that's the Cliff Notes. It was, we were talking a little before we started, just sort of our path to the military, and mine was very much a non-traditional one. So I really, I didn't want to be a spy, but it's this funny thing, Jack, where it's like, you know, I had wanted to get into the Navy as an intelligence officer. I applied once, didn't get in, and I thought like if I applied again, I had this great recruiter who was like, hey, you can apply again, you just have to show some growth in your resume. And I know there's a lot to go into here, but basically I had this harebrained idea that if I helped the FBI with the Russians, I could literally use it as something to put on my resume to show that I had intelligence experience.

Jack Murphy (4:21)

And to my surprise, that actually panned out for you somehow.