At the CIA's top-secret training facility near Williamsburg, Virginia, known as "The Farm," new recruits learn the shadowy world of espionage—essentially, how to get people to spill their most closely guarded secrets.

Jim Olson, who spent 31 years as a CIA officer and even served as Chief of Counterintelligence, knows this world inside and out. During the Cold War, Olson worked in Moscow, trying to convince Russians to betray their country and share secret information. He explained to CNBC reporter Eamon Javers that the key to espionage isn’t fancy gadgets or wild action scenes—it’s the human element.

"We're in the business of head-hunting," Olson said. "We need to find people who will work with us and share their secrets." Essentially, it's about figuring out who has valuable information and getting them to give it up.

This dangerous and delicate game is at the heart of CNBC’s podcast series, “The Crimes of Putin’s Trader.” In this podcast, Javers dives into the incredib...