A subterranean space once used by British spies has been sold to fund manager Angus Murray, who has grand ambitions for it.
Monday, September 25, 2023
Secret ‘James Bond’ Tunnels May Become a Tourist Attraction
A subterranean space once used by British spies has been sold to fund manager Angus Murray, who has grand ambitions for it.
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
14 Hilarious Moments from Spy Spoofs and Comedies
Thursday, June 8, 2023
Notable US Spies Fast Facts
Timeline Summaries* of Spies Who FailedAldrich Ames
1962 - Aldrich Ames, son of a CIA analyst, joins the agency as a low-level documents analyst.
1970-1991 - David Boone serves in the US Army as a signals intelligence analyst. During the late 1980s, he is assigned to the National Security Agency as a senior cryptologic traffic analyst.
1996 - Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins makes visits to Russia to meet with their intelligence agents. He is given a code name and signs a settlement “attesting that he wanted to serve” them.
Noshir Gowadia
1968-1986 - Noshir Gowadia is employed by Northrop Grumman where he works on technology relating to the B-2 Spirit Bomber, aka the “Stealth” bomber.
Robert Hanssen
January 12, 1976 - Robert Hanssen joins the FBI.
Ana Montes
1984 - Ana Montes is recruited to spy for Cuba. She is never paid for her spying.
Walter Kendall Myers
1977 - Walter Kendall Myers begins working for the US State Department on contract, as an instructor.
Harold James Nicholson
1980 - Harold Nicholson joins the CIA after serving in the United States Army.
Ronald Pelton
1965-1979 - Ronald Pelton works for the National Security Agency, with top-level security clearance.
Earl Pitts
1983-1996 - Earl Edwin Pitts works at the FBI.
1979 - Pollard is hired to work at the Navy Field Operational Intelligence Office. He had been rejected previously from employment at the CIA due to drug use. His specialty is North America and the Caribbean.
George Trofimoff
1969-1994 - George Trofimoff, a naturalized American citizen of Russian parentage, works as a civilian for the US Army at the Joint Interrogation Center in Nuremberg, Germany. He also attains the rank of colonel in the Army reserve. *Complete timelines for each spy.
America’s ‘Most Damaging’ Soviet Spy Dies in Prison
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Alleged Russian 'Spy' Whale Spotted in Sweden
Friday, April 21, 2023
Kim Jong Un Says North Korea’s 1st Spy Satellite is Ready for Launch
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has built its first-ever military spy satellite and that he planned to launch it on an undisclosed date, state media reported Wednesday.
Previous missile and rocket tests have demonstrated that North Korea can send satellites into space, but many experts question whether it has cameras sophisticated enough to use for spying from a satellite because only low-resolution images were released after past launches. more
Spies That Don't Come in From the Cold
China is looking to expand its presence in Antarctica by resuming construction on the country’s fifth station in the region.
“While the station can provide tracking and communications for China’s growing array of scientific polar observation satellites, its equipment can concurrently be used for intercepting other nations’ satellite communications,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a new report. more
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Quiz - Would You Make a Good Spy?
The following questionnaire has been designed to determine the degree of your suitability as a prospective secret agent. The results of this test will also indicate what type of spy or agent you are likely to become – for example, an informer, a “stinker”, a double agent, a resident, master spy, a spymaster.
These terms will be explained later. For the present you should approach the test with an open mind. You will not have to show your answers to anyone, and therefore you can afford to be absolutely honest in your replies.
There are three to five possible answers to each question. Mark the one that is closest to the truth, and after you have answered all ten questions, award yourself the number of points indicated in the key that follows the questionnaire. An evaluation of your point total and an analysis of each of the questions follows. You may study it at your leisure only after completing the test. (If you want an honest and comprehensive appraisal, don’t look ahead now.) THE SPY QUIZ
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Former U.S. Analyst Convicted of Spying for Cuba Released From Prison
Montes, 65, was released on Friday after serving a majority of her 25-year sentence, according to a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, adding that her early release was based on good behavior.
Montes was an analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency for 16 years, starting in 1985. During her career, she was highly regarded for her expertise about Cuba. But under the radar, Montes used coded messages and water-soluble paper to disclose classified information. Among the secrets she gave to the Cuban government were the identities of four U.S. spies in Cuba. more
Thursday, October 6, 2022
New Spy Show Is An Experimental TV First
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Former Twitter Employee Convicted as Saudi Spy, or @jailbird
Federal prosecutors said that former Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo, a U.S. resident born in Egypt who held dual U.S.-Lebanese citizenship, worked as a media partnership manager, helping promote the company while working with journalists and celebrities in the Middle East and north Africa. Feds further claimed that while in that job he had been working as a spy on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government from late 2014 to March 2015.
Monday, March 28, 2022
FBI Trolls Russian Embassy with Geotargeted Ads for Disgruntled Spies
The FBI’s latest counterintelligence operation against Russia is hardly secretive—you just have to be standing in the right place.
In the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the FBI stepped up its recruiting efforts in the US, hoping to attract Russians who are dissatisfied or disillusioned with the war. People standing in close proximity to the Russian embassy in Washington, DC, can see the ads, which appear in Russian, on Facebook, Twitter, and Google.
One ad appeared in a Washington Post reporter’s Facebook feed when he was standing on the sidewalk next to the embassy’s walls on Wisconsin Avenue NW, but none appeared in his feed when he crossed the street.
“It’s a brilliant recruiting strategy because I think there’s probably a lot of folks within the Russian government that are incredibly dissatisfied with Putin’s war, and therefore it’s a great opportunity to see if any of those dissatisfied people could help us understand Putin’s intentions better,” Peter Lapp, a former FBI counterintelligence agent, told the Post. more
Monday, March 21, 2022
Snopes Fact Checks Spy Shoes Story
For the last few years at least, an image has been circulating on the internet containing a bright yellow pair of shoes with lifted heels where the toes should go. The image was often shared alongside commentary that the shoes were warn by spies, who used them to throw would-be spy hunters off their trail.
We were unable to locate the original photograph, but there is no evidence that the pictured shoes were worn by real spies, during World War II or any other time.
We reached out to the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., asking whether the shoes look like anything that could have plausibly been worn by real spies... more
Saturday, March 12, 2022
Ex-Russian Spy who fell in love with target blasts Putin:
A former Russian spy who says she was trained in the same grueling military program as Vladimir Putin is speaking against her country’s president, claiming he will stop at nothing to win the war in Ukraine.
Aliia Roza, 37, hit headlines last year after it was revealed she had fallen in love with a target she had been trained to honeytrap.
The brunette beauty — who fled Russia after barely escaping with her life — says Putin is used to getting exactly what he wants and won’t take kindly to any kind of loss. more
Thursday, February 17, 2022
RIP: Peter Earnest
Mr. Earnest acknowledged that his personality sometimes made it difficult to spend years working undercover. “It’s hard when you’re an open person by nature,” he told Washingtonian magazine in 2013. “In some cases, people say, ‘You don’t seem like a spy.’
“The best spies don’t seem like spies.”
In a video interview for the Spy Museum,
Mr. Earnest described what he called “my Bond moment” at the CIA, in
which he slipped out of a black-tie reception at the home of an asset
and bugged the person’s office. Lying on his back, with a handkerchief
positioned on his chest to catch the shavings, he drilled small holes in
the bottom of the target’s desk and installed a recording device. more
Thursday, August 19, 2021
Apple's Double Agent Spy Blows Cover Over Pay
An active member of the Apple jailbreak and leaking community reportedly served as a "double agent" and spied for the Cupertino tech giant's security team.
Andrey Shumeyko, who goes by handles JVHResearch and YRH04E, advertised leaked Apple apps, internal company documents, and stolen devices to a community that traded in such commodities. However, unbeknownst to others in the community, he also shared a wealth of details about its inner workings to Apple.
According to Motherboard, Shumeyko reportedly provided Apple with the personal information of people who sold stolen prototype devices and Apple employees who leaked information online...
Shumeyko said he is sharing his story because he felt like Apple took
advantage of him and didn't compensate him for the information that he
provided to the company's Global Security team. more
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Italy Appoints First Female Spy Chief
The department oversees the country's foreign and domestic intelligence services and reports directly to the Italian government.
Ms Belloni, 63, has a long career of firsts. more
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Spy-turned-TV Host Anna Chapman Urges Russians to Get Vaccinated
The flamed-haired former femme fatale told viewers on REN TV that “the health of your loved ones depends on your decision.”
Chapman, who had been working in real estate in New York, made headlines in 2010 when she was revealed to be part of a Russian sleeper cell.
She was deported to Russia shortly after along with nine other spies as
part of a massive prisoner swap and is now a TV presenter. more
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Ion Mihai Pacepa, Key Cold War Defector, Dies at 92
A general in the Romanian intelligence service, he later revealed the corruption and cruelty behind his country’s Communist regime. He died of Covid-19.
Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, a senior Romanian intelligence official and an adviser to his country’s president, Nicolae Ceaucescu, arrived in Bonn, West Germany, one day in June 1978 on a diplomatic mission. Mr. Ceaucescu had given him a message for the German chancellor — and orders to devise a plan to assassinate an American journalist who covered Romania.
An engineer who specialized in industrial espionage, Mr. Pacepa had no interest in murder. And so, he entered the U.S. Embassy and announced his intention to defect. When he landed at Andrews Air Force Base a few days later, he became one of the highest-ranking officials to flee the Soviet bloc during the Cold War.
Mr. Ceaucescu offered a $2 million reward for his death, and reportedly hired Ilich RamÃrez Sánchez, a Venezuelan terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal, to find him. more
Friday, January 22, 2021
Antonio ProhÃas - 100th Anniversary of his Birth
Antonio ProhÃas arrived in New York in May of 1960 with just $5 in his pocket, pressured to leave Cuba after Fidel Castro accused him of being a CIA agent.
It took a Cuban illustrator to really capture the essence of Cold War intelligence and counter-intelligence for the MAD-reading public. After penning one too many cartoons that were critical of Fidel Castro, ProhÃas — who was a prominent cartoonist and illustrator in his home country — headed for New York, writes Eric Grundhauser for Atlas Obscura. At the time, he didn’t speak a word of English.
“In New York, ProhÃas took work in a factory during the day, while working up his illustration portfolio at night,” Grundhauser writes. He changed the appearance of one of his characters from the strip he published in Cuba, El Hombre Siniestro, and gave him a counterpart: Spy vs. Spy was born.
“The sweetest revenge has been to turn Fidel’s accusation of me as a spy
into a moneymaking venture,” ProhÃas said in a 1983 interview with the
Miami Herald. “One of these days I am going to have to make a sign
saying, ‘Thank You, Fidel.’ ”
On the 100th anniversary of his birth last Sunday — the Cienfuegos native died in Miami in 1998 — ProhÃas is still spreading laughter with his Cold War spies,
who pummeled each other brutally with whatever sophisticated weapons
they could grab from the black humor bag of their creator. more & more