Andrew Bustamante is a former covert CIA intelligence officer, decorated wartime military veteran, and US Air Force Academy graduate. He’s now a prolific Fortune 10 corporate advisor, where he specializes in human and technical operations. And as the founder of “Everyday Spy” he provides spy tips, tactics, and insights to give you an unfair advantage in everyday life.

Andy knew he’d be in the military at a young age:

“I’m one of those people that grew up knowing I was going to join the military. My family is an all-veteran family. My cousins were all going to the military. My aunts and my uncles were all military. I’m a first-generation American citizen, so there was a lot of pride in the 80’s and 90’s when I was growing up, in going to the military. It was just a matter of whether I was going to go enlist or whether I was going to try to become an officer, or whether I was going to try to go to college and then go to ROTC. It was never a question of if, it was just a matter of when and how.”  

His experience as an Air Force nuclear missile officer:

“The people who actually sit underground with the nuclear launch codes and the nuclear launch keys around their neck – those people are called nuclear missile officers. And that was my Air Force specialty code (AFSC). That specialty code was ’13 Sierra.’ And there’s only ever a few hundred ’13 Sierras’ at a time. And even now, as you and I are talking, there are somewhere around 80-120 men or women who are 100 feet underground at different locations around the United States, with nuclear launch codes in a safe and a nuclear launch key around their neck.”

Andy’s never-ending loyalty to the CIA:

“The day that you walk across the seal at CIA headquarters, it’s not like you feel lukewarm about your career. You are absolutely on fire; you are never going to leave. So, even now, having left CIA, having started my own business, having had incredible success outside of CIA; if I were to get a phone call today from CIA asking me for anything, I would say, ‘yes.’  Even though I disagree with them … even though they’re full of problems, the mission is so strong: the support and security of the United States. How can you say ‘no’ to that? You can’t say ‘no’ to that.”

Does alien life exist:

“In my opinion, and from my experience, what you see when people talk about extraterrestrial or alien life, you’re seeing people grasping for something that’s irrational. It’s rational to believe that there is alien life; that there is intelligent life in the universe. It’s rational to believe that because, probability-wise, it’s almost impossible that there isn’t. … However, to then come to the conclusion that not only is their intelligent life, but that intelligent life is technologically superior to us and they’ve discovered Earth, and they’ve traveled to Earth, and they’ve been able to remain undiscoverable from us on Earth …  now the probabilities become less and less.”

How his company, Everyday Spy, helps people learn their “secret superpowers”:

“When Everyday Spy goes through the process of teaching people their superpower, what we look at is both how they respond personality-wise but also how their personal experience, their upbringing, shaped their personality. And once you combine those two things together you have a really solid idea of what strengths and weaknesses an individual inherently has.”

The relationship between fear and courage:

“Moshe, courage is doing what you are afraid of anyway. So, you have to be afraid. Fear has to be part of the equation for courage to even exist.”

How to recognize someone’s body language:

“Body language is something that is super helpful but also it can be misleading. There are two basic, rudimentary forms of body language. There’s open language and closed language. Open language is … your arms are open, you’re leaning back but your chest is exposed, your face is exposed, you’ve got a smile on your face. Open usually means receptive or curious. But then, closed body language is when you see people with their arms crossed, or their hands closed together, or their legs crossed, or somebody who has a furrowed eyebrow or a frown. That’s closed body language. That means somebody is inherently suspicious or trying to keep themselves distant.”

How to react based on their body language:

“If you just understand those two basic rudimentary forms of body language, when you see open language, you can lean in with more aggressive or more penetrating questions. When you see closed language, you want to ask fewer questions and instead talk more about yourself. Because what you need to do is crack through their closed body language.”