Ian Hurst, better known to some as “Martin Ingram” was a member of the Force Research Unit, an intel gathering and spy-handling British security forces group and spent time as a handler in Derry during which time he worked with Frank Hegarty.

Ian is best known for co-authoring the book ’Stakeknife” which exposed the exploits of one of the North’s most notorious informants, Freddie Scappittici aka Agent Stakeknife.
Ina tells us about his time in the FRU, what goes into recruiting and running an agent, his thoughts on whether Martin McGuinness or Gerry Adam were informants, his many thoughts on the recently published Operation Kenova and much more.

Ian, at various stages in the episode, discusses agents Frank Hegarty, Willie Carlin, Brian Nelson and of course agent Stakeknife.

TIMESTAMPS 
00:00 Was Martin McGuinness an informant??
13:00 JOINING THE FORCE RESEARCH UNIT
43:15 Did FRU operate both sides of the border? 
48:00 Was Ian ever shot at ? 
53:00 Work as an FRU handler 
57:30 Thoughts on Operation Kenova 
1:28:40 HOW handlers met w/ informants/agents 
1:39:20 Story about IRA man drove into the FRU offices 
1:41:10 Did the IRA ever have info on IAN ?? (Ian potentially has his life saved by an IRA man’s wife)
1:46:30 Any FRU killed ?
1:49:20 HOW DID FRU RECRUIT AGENTS/INFORMERS ?
2:12:05 HOW WAS SCAP (STAKEKNIFE) RECRUITED ?? WAS HE A “WALK-IN”?? & More thoughts on Operation Kenova 
2:32:55 When agents are suspected by IRA
2:36:40 ’Spy-masters dilemmas” (Frank Hegarty’s case) 
2:46:50 Psychology of handling an agent 
2:52:00 Killing Rage (book by Eamonn Collins)
2:59:55 More thoughts on Operation Kenova 
3:09:15 Was Gerry Adams an informer?