Ian Fleming, James Bond and the CIA
Bronze bust of the author Ian Fleming by the British sculptor Anthony Smith. Commissioned by the Fleming family to commemorate the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth in 2008. Photo: Fortheloveofknowledge…
Vertx Gamut Gen 3: Redefining EDC Backpacks
Vertx Gamut Gen 3. Vertx®, a subsidiary of the Fechheimer Brothers Company, was founded over a decade ago in response to a federal agency’s need for low-profile, functional tactical pants.…
Lucien Conein: From OSS to CIA
Lucien Conein with South Vietnamese general involved in 1963 coup against Diệm, Lucien Emile “Lou” Conein was born on November 29, 1919, in Paris, France. At the age of five,…
The Welwand: SOE Assassin’s “Sleeve Gun”
SOE demonstration of how Welwand is employed as sleeve gun. The Welwand. or “Sleeve Gun”, as ir was nicknamed, was a modification of the more recognized Welrod pistol of World…
Mansfield George Smith-Cumming: The Man Behind the Birth of MI6
Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming KCMG CB, born on April 1, 1859, was a British naval officer who served as the first chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also…
Peter J. Ortiz: A Hero in War and on Screen
Peter J. Ortiz. Peter Julien Ortiz, born on July 5, 1913, in New York City, was the son of a French-Spanish father and an American mother of Swiss descent. He…
Whispering Death: The Welrod Pistol
Welrod Mk II at Parham Airfield Museum, Parham Airfield, Suffolk. Museum of the British Resistance Organisation. Photo: Gaius Cornelius / CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED. The Welrod is a fascinating piece…
James Armistead Lafayette: Hero Spy of the American Revolution
James Armistead Lafayette. Credit: US Army. James Armistead Lafayette was born into slavery around the year 1748 in New Kent County, Virginia. He was raised on the property of Colonel…
The Langley Files: The CIA’s First Public Podcast
For decades, the Central Intelligence Agency has lived in the American imagination as a place of shadowy operatives, coded messages, and high‑stakes secrets. It’s an institution built on silence, one…
The NRO: Pioneering Space-Based Intelligence
Aerial photograph of the National Reconnaissance Office by Trevor Paglen. Commissioned by Creative Time Reports, 2013. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a pivotal institution within the United States Intelligence…