The Quiet Professional, a part of Vigilant Media Inc., is a podcast that strives to educate listeners and inspire change through candid and critical exploration of topics centered around national security, intelligence, law enforcement, and justice.
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S5E46: From the Canadian War Museum - The Long War: Canada in Afghanistan | Dr. Andrew Burtch
Original Recording Date: 2026OCT02.
Co-host Sgt. Ben Klick (Ret.), Canadian Armed Forces
Audio editing by Stephanie Bosch.
Views and opinions of the participants are their own.
Find #TheQuietProfessional across all podcast platforms and more content through the convenient Linktree ▶️ https://linktr.ee/tqp780 ◀️
Guests:
Dr. Andrew Burtch has been the Historian, Post-1945 at the Canadian War Museum (CWM) since 2006. His main areas of research include Cold War history, nuclear civil defence, United Nations peacekeeping missions, the Korean War, war and memory, and oral history. Dr. Burtch is one of the key voices in the CWM’s podcast series, The Long War: Canada in Afghanistan.
Topics:
In 2001, Canada went to war in Afghanistan. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, Canada joined a coalition to pursue al-Qaeda and unseat the Taliban. Canadians served across Afghanistan, from the rural battlefields of Kandahar to the bustling city of Kabul, until 2014 when Canada ended its presence there.
More than 40,000 Canadians served in Afghanistan. More than a thousand were wounded. A diplomat and 158 soldiers died.
The consequences of the war in Afghanistan continue to ripple through our politics, the military, and the lives of those who served. The Long War: Canada in Afghanistan tells their stories. We examine why Canada went to war in Afghanistan, what happened there, and the war’s complicated legacy.
References & Resources:
Canadian War Museum, The Long War: Canada in Afghanistan — website and social media: https://www.warmuseum.ca/dod/podcasts/the-long-war
Canadian War Museum, In Their Own Voices exhibit website: https://www.warmuseum.ca/your-stories/in-their-own-voices
Ripples of War: The Canadian Veteran Experience, from UBC Press: https://www.ubcpress.ca/ripples-of-war
12 Oct 2026
S5E45: Why Here, Why Now? The Mindset Difference Between Control and Chaos | Chris Aboussafy
Original Recording Date: 2026OCT01.
Audio editing by Stephanie Bosch.
Views and opinions of the participants are their own.
Find #TheQuietProfessional across all podcast platforms and more content through the convenient Linktree ▶️ https://linktr.ee/tqp780 ◀️
Guests:
Chris Aboussafy is a retired Phoenix Police Department officer with more than 31 years of law enforcement experience and the founder of Bishop One, a training organization built around Trapdoor Tactics and the Why Here, Why Now? risk assessment framework.
Topics:
⚔️ Inside the Modern Battlefield of Policing – From training grounds across the U.S. to the sharp edge of small-team tactics, Chris shares what is really shaping officer survival and performance today.
🚨 The Cost of Waiting for a Crisis – Why does meaningful training so often arrive only after tragedy strikes? We examine the enduring struggle between front-line realities and organizational inertia, and ask whether the cycle can ever be broken.
🧠 Mental Management Wins the Fight First – Before tactics, tools, or physical skill, there is mindset. Chris explains why mental preparation is often the deciding factor between control and chaos, and how neglecting it can put officers, partners, and the public at risk.
References & Resources:
Bishop One website: https://www.bishoponetraining.com/
Bishop One on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bishoponetraining/
Chris’ book, Why Here, Why Now?: Assessing Risk Without All the Clutter on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0aGfu0pq
Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-aboussafy-84a29785/
5 Oct 2026
S5E44: Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: Government Secrecy & Those Fighting Back | Miranda Spivack
Original Recording Date: 2026SEP16.
Audio editing by Stephanie Bosch.
Views and opinions of the participants are their own.
Find #TheQuietProfessional across all podcast platforms and more content through the convenient Linktree ▶️ https://linktr.ee/tqp780 ◀️
Guests:
Miranda Spivack is a veteran reporter and editor who spent 20 years at the Washington Post. She is the award-winning author of Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back.
Topics:
Backroom Deals in Our Backyards – A journey into the shadows behind Miranda’s investigations, exposing the hidden influence shaping communities from behind closed doors. Meet the ordinary people who chose to stand up when looking away would have been easier.
The Walls Around Information – From trade secrets to deliberate cover-ups, powerful barriers are built to keep the truth out of reach. We examine the tactics used to control the narrative and silence scrutiny.
The Cost of Fighting Back – The price of resistance goes far beyond money or personal risk. When reputations are attacked and those you're fighting for turn against you, the battle can become a lonely one.
References & Resources:
Miranda’s website: https://www.mirandaspivack.com/
Miranda on Substack: https://backroomdeals.substack.com/
Book info: https://thenewpress.org/books/backroom-deals-in-our-backyards/
Use discount code ‘Backroom30’ at checkout.
Buy the book at Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/backroom-deals-in-our-backyards-how-government-secrecy-harms-our-communities-and-the-local-heroes-fighting-back-miranda-s-spivack/a8d510bdbc184f26
Inside a recent episode
S2E15: Hate, Definition, Violence - David Jones - Manager of Applied Research at the Organization for the Prevention of Violence.
Published 27 Feb 2023 · Transcript excerpt
[…] So where what it means to be a member of a country is that you have to be part of like the dominant ethnicity in that country. And you know, whether it was Western Europe from most of its history, China now, like when we see that what it means to be a part of a nation is to be a member of a certain ethnicity that almost always leads to bad things. But what I think that civic nationalism and by that I mean the sort of sense of like just being Canadian means things like, you know, respecting each other, respect for the rule of law, that kind of stuff. That's a really good way that we can all come together as a country around these kind of these shared beliefs in democracy and freedom and liberty and caring for each other. […]
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