“Oh, heavens no,” says John Kiriakou, host of Sputnik Radio’s Loud and Clear. I’ve just asked him whether he believes Russian-sponsored news outlets, like the one he works for, are trying to destabilize American democracy. “No, that’s ridiculous,” he says.

Back in 2013, when Kiriakou’s life was spinning out of control, a New Yorker profile described him as someone with “the exuberance of a Labrador retriever.” Five years later—after two spent in prison—the description still stands.

We had tentatively planned to meet at his employer’s offices, where I would shadow him and watch him tape a radio show. But the Sputnik legal team objected: The organization, they said, was being forced to register as a foreign agent by the Justice Department. They’d prefer not to allow a reporter in the building.

Instead, we wander across the street to a nearly empty coffee shop. I mention I’m trying to cut caffeine, and Kiriakou nods politely, saying that sounds like a good idea. He proceeds to drink a large decaf, slowly, over the course of the next hour and a half.

Russian propaganda efforts have reached a fever-pitch: The state-sponsored targeting of foreign readers, listeners, and viewers is at a level potentially not seen since the height of the Cold War, if ever. Building on success sowing division during the 2016 election, the strategy involves magnifying extreme voices in a way that destabilizes the republic. And sitting across from me, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, is a fifty-year-old ex-spy who’s found himself at the center of it.