espionage
The CIA Recruited 'Mind Readers' to Spy on the Soviets in the 1970s
During the tense period of the Cold War, the U.S. government sought to deploy a potent new weapon against the Soviet Union: mind-reading. In a highly classified project conducted first in a California research lab in the 1970s, and later at an Army base in Maryland, the CIA, Army ...read more
When the CIA Learned Cats Make Bad Spies
The most famous kitty in spy history is probably the white Persian of James Bond flicks. The image of a faceless villain stroking the cat in the early 1960s films is now a meme (see: Inspector Gadget, Austin Powers). Lesser known is the cat whom, during the same decade, the CIA ...read more
Edward Snowden discloses U.S. government operations
On June 6, 2013, Americans learned that their government was spying broadly on its own people. That’s when The Guardian and The Washington Post published the first of a series of reports put together from documents leaked by an anonymous source. The material exposed a ...read more
The WWII Spy Who Faked His Death for 36 Years
After World War II, a critical MI5 spy named Juan Pujol Garcia faked his own death, and kept it secret for almost four decades. And that’s not even the most interesting thing about him. Pujol was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War who had come to loathe totalitarianism, both in ...read more
Undercover Ink: How Spies Use Tattoos
Tattoos are more common in the workplace than ever before, but they can still be an occupational hazard. Particularly when your profession happens to be spy. Spycraft often involves moving between legal and criminal worlds—and few things are as risky as being discovered while ...read more
Pigeon Cameras and Other CIA Cold War Spy Gear
When James Bond needed nifty espionage gadgets, like a Rolex-turned-circular-saw or a peel-off fake fingerprint, he could count on the Q branch of the British Secret Service. When American operatives need to snap photos on the down-low or transmit a secret code, they have the ...read more