Episode Details
Back to Episodes“The Most Famous Art Detective in the World” – with ex-FBI Legend Robert Wittman
Episode 614
Published 2 years, 4 months ago
Description
Summary
Robert Wittman (Website; Twitter) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his career and the FBI’s Art Crime Team. Bob recovered over $300 million worth of stolen art and cultural property over the course of his career.
What You’ll Learn
Intelligence
- How the FBI’s Art Crime Team (ACT) was formed
- The intelligence angle when investigating provenance
- Living and working undercover abroad
- Museums & Intelligence
Reflections
- The importance of cultural property
- Questions of ownership and belonging
And much, much more …
Quotes of the Week
“The motivation for writing the book was to get the word out how important cultural heritage is. It really is important to make the public realize that this is an important program that should be supported by law enforcement both local and federal.” – Robert Wittman.
Resources
SURFACE SKIM
*Featured Resource*
- Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures, R. Wittman (Crown Publishing, 2011)
*SpyCasts*
- The Gambling Capital of the World: Intelligence, Las Vegas Style! with James Lockhart and Keith Michaels (2023)
- Venice’s Secret Service with Ioanna Iordanou (2023)
- 70th Anniversary of James Bond, Special with Alexis Albion on 007 (2023)
- How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Spy Game with Mike Susong (2023)
*Beginner Resources*
- Why art gets stolen time and again, R. Pryor, The Art Newspaper (2020) [Short article]
- FBI Art Theft Program, FBI, YouTube (2013) [6 min. video]