Florida: Low Profile St. Petersburg Couple Who Volunteered at Church Were Former CIA Spies

Elevate Christian Network :: News and Events

Aftering serving in the U.S. Air Force as a nuclear missile officer, Andrew Bustamante already had the highest security clearance available. But he was “still a hippie at heart,” so he applied to the Peace Corps, thought he’d feed hungry children, maybe learn to play guitar.

Serving in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Though there’s no way to verify exactly what Bustamante did between 2007 and 2014, timelines, tax records and employment documents suggest his story is true. According to him, it goes like this: At “the farm,” the CIA taught him helicopter operations, fast rope rappelling, how to fight, how to drive, how to navigate. Disguises. Changing his body language to appear decades older. How to be ignored. Most importantly, they taught him to manipulate.

Espionage is about carefully crafted relationships that uncover hidden truths. Using a scientific, cognitive base, people can be programmed to do things that make no sense, Bustamante said, things not in their best interests. They taught him to steal without getting caught.

Bustamante Meets His Future Wife

He met a fellow officer named Jihi at an orientation. Don’t get to know the other people in this auditorium too well, they were told. They did not listen, but at the start of their relationship, they didn’t even know each other’s full names and communicated through a secure system.

Years later, she would redact their early conversations so there would be a non-classified record of their getting-to-know-you courtship chit-chat. Once married, they worked cases together. Her specialty was targeting. His was operations. “We were kind of the right and left hand for our government wherever we needed to go,” he said.

Many spies have nobody to talk to, but when Bustamante decided his priorities as a husband and father had changed what he was willing to risk, she could understand. When he realized that even as a master manipulators, their masters at the CIA would always, in a way, be manipulating them, she heard him. When he said, lets get out and go to St. Petersburg, she eventually agreed.

Life After the CIA – Moving to Florida

But a clandestine officer’s cover can’t be lifted overnight. When he got to St. Petersburg in 2014, Andrew Bustamante’s past was fake. His resume, written by the CIA, was a fabrication.

She misses the CIA life more than he does. He feels 80/20 about being out of the game. Eighty percent of him is relieved — no more lying to about his job, no possibility of 13-hour days in a secret SCIF. The other 20 percent misses the knowing — the truth about what’s really going on in North Korea, in the upper echelons of the Chinese government, at the G7 Summit.

They’re a normal family, but do some things differently, Jihi Bustamante said. Trips to the mall come with an operation plan. They keep “go bags” packed. They drive a burgundy Honda Odyssey minivan. |  Read the full story…. tampabay.com

 

Andrew Bustamante presents Practical Persuasion

Andrew Bustamante: Persuasion can seem like a super power, but its actually a practical skill that can be mastered through practice and knowledge. This demonstration shows how simple persuasion can be by using specific persuasive appeal to drive audience behaviors.

About Andrew Bustamante

As a US Air Force combat veteran, former CIA intelligence officer and Fortune 10 corporate advisor, his mind has always been the cornerstone of my success. He believes the mind is the window to opportunity. He believes all people can learn to master their mind, leverage their talents, and achieve their potential. | Visit him online at: https://andrewbustamante.org

 

 

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