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Spies

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Women Spies of the Civil War

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Spying in the Civil War

Confederate Spies in Washington Located 60 miles south of the Mason-Dixon Line, Washington, D.C. was full of southern sympathizers when the Civil War broke out in 1861. Virginia’s Governor John Letcher, a former congressman, used his knowledge of the city to set up a nascent spy network in the capital in late April 1861, after […]

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1780: Capture by Americans of John Andre (1751 - 1780) on his way to negotiate with turncoat Benedict Arnold with regard to the betrayal of Yorktown. The incriminating documents were hidden in his boot. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

The Culper Spy Ring

The Dangers of Spying In mid-September 1776, the American officer Nathan Hale was hanged without trial in New York City. British authorities had caught Hale when he was on his way back to his regiment after having penetrated the British lines to gather information. Hale’s death illustrated the grave dangers inherent in spying for the […]

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GRU

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The Spy Who Kept the Cold War From Boiling Over

Double agent Dmitri Polyakov was one of the Cold War’s greatest spies—and likely the most damaging mole in the history of Soviet intelligence.

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James Armistead

How an Enslaved Man-Turned-Spy Helped Secure Victory at the Battle of Yorktown

James Armistead provided critical intel to the Continental Army as a double agent during the Revolutionary War.

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Karl F. Koecher, center, a former CIA contract employee, being escorted by FBI agents from the agency's headquarters in 1984. Koecher was arrested on charges of delivering classified national security information to the Czechoslovakian intelligence service.

The Sex Party-Loving Soviet Spy Who Infiltrated the CIA

Karl Koecher and his wife lived a swinging, gold-plated life in New York City—all the while funneling classified information to the Soviets.

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Officers and crew of the United States Navy ship U.S.S. Pueblo being led away after being captured by North Korean forces in international waters in 1968. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

North Korea Once Captured and Detained the Crew of a U.S. Spy Ship for 11 Months

The captured crew were beaten and nearly starved in the 1968 incident that almost led to another war—and the ship remains in North Korea.

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This Day in History

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2013

Edward Snowden discloses U.S. government operations

Crime
1962

U.S.-Soviet spy swap

Cold War
1942

German saboteurs executed in Washington, D.C.

World War II
1960

Captured U.S. spy pilot sentenced in Russia

Cold War
1917

Dancer and spy Mata Hari is executed

European History
1780

Benedict Arnold commits treason

American Revolution
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