When the planes crashed into the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, CIA officer Gary Schroen knew that Osama bin Laden was responsible. Delaying his retirement, Schroen led the first…
The saying goes, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Sometimes, however, it’s both. There are times in life when knowing the right person can give you knowledge that can change your outlook. Occasionally, we meet someone interesting wh…
Have you ever looked at the old SR-71 Blackbird and wondered how awesome it would be as a fighter jet? So did the United States Air Force (for the most…
In 1984, the CIA issued a burn notice on a former Iranian secret police officer and arms dealer, Manucher Ghorbanifar. Ghorbanifar once worked for the Shah of Iran’s SAVAK internal…
While we tend to think of drones as a very modern addition to the battlefield, the truth is, America’s Defense Department has long been interested in the concept of unmanned aircraft. In fact, for a short window of time in the 1960s, America’s sup…
Spies have had all sorts of great tools and gadgets, from self-inflating blow-up dolls during the Cold War to special listening devices deployed around the world today. But perhaps one of the most surprising devices was the rectal toolkit issued to …
On May 1, 1960, a U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis. Built by Lockheed and operated by the CIA, the single-jet U-2…
Hollywood depicts the CIA as planning and executing insane assassination schemes of foreign leaders — everything from poisoning a doctor’s stethoscope in “Spy Game” to weaponizing human robots in the Bourne series.
But it turns out …
Saying the Cold War was a very interesting time for the United States is like saying Adolf Hitler was “an unstable veteran of World War I.” It’s technically true, but…
Happy 69th BRRRRRRRRRRThday, U.S. Air Force! In a very special episode of “things you didn’t know,” Team Mighty decided to give a shout out to the youngest branch of the U.S. military and fill in the blanks to help people, civilians and non-Airm…