How the KGB trained its ‘illegal’ sleeper agents
Contrary to what some science fiction and superhero movies might have you believe, the KGB – the Soviet Union’s state security and intelligence service – didn’t grow its agents in…
This is the toolkit spies carried in their butts
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 …
Sabotage and subversion: How secret agents helped win WWII
In 1940, following the fall of France, Winston Churchill authorized the establishment of a volunteer fighting force to wage a secret war against Hitler’s armies. This unique force became known as the Special Operations Executive (SOE), and their ma…
Meet the prolific Confederate spy dubbed the ‘siren of the South’
11 American spies who did the worst damage to the US military
History has shown that all spies are not created equal in terms of the damage their efforts have done to military readiness. Here are 11 of the worst:
1. Julius Rosenberg gave Russia plans for nuclear bombs.
How the FBI busted the largest-ever espionage ring in the United States
While visiting his family in Germany before World War II, William Sebold was approached by an operative of the Abwehr, Hitler’s secret intelligence service. Sebold was an American immigrant from…
How female spies change the course of the Civil War
In almost every war in history, spies have had a big role in the outcome of the war. Those who played both sides, put themselves in danger in order to…
This spy led Germans on a wild goose chase during WWII
Acting as a double agent can be a dirty, confusing game of keeping one’s stories straight. But in a time of war, it can be a necessary gig that top…
A Soviet and an American spy became best friends while trying to turn each other
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…
9 infamous KGB assassination attempts straight out of spy novels
It’s well known that the fearsome Soviet spy agency, the KGB, used brutal tactics to eliminate and intimidate rivals.
Legend has it that when Soviet diplomats were kidnapped by terrorists in Lebanon in the mid-1980s, KGB officers kidna…