Operation CROSSBOW: Countering the V-Weapons
The La Coupole V-2 launch site at Wizernes in France was destroyed by bombing before it could be brought into use. Photo by Clare Wilkinson / CC By 2.0. Operation…
Watcher Secrets: MI5’s WWII Advice to New Recruits Revealed
Major Samson, an officer at Latchmere House, MI5 Intelligence Centre in World War II. Photo courtesy Imperial War Museums. The newly declassified British Security Service (MI5) World War Two “watcher”…
Operation JUNGLE: MI6’s Covert Baltic Mission
Three German Silbermöwe-class motorboats, used during the last phase of Operation Jungle. Operation JUNGLE was a daring and clandestine program conducted by the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly referred…
Colonel Dick Ellis: Architect of Modern Intelligence Agencies
Charles Howard “Dick” Ellis Colonel Charles Howard “Dick” Ellis CMG CBE TD was an extraordinary figure in 20th-century intelligence, with a life story that traverses continents, governments, and crucial moments…
Numbers Stations: Broadcasting Secrets
Soviet SWL A. Kozlow (URS3-108-B) with his short-wave receiver KUB-4. Broadcast receiver SI-235 on foreground. Borisoglebsk city, 1941. Numbers stations are one of the most intriguing phenomena of shortwave radio.…
Champagne 101: A Guide to Sparkling Elegance
“Champagne is the wine of civilization and the oil of government.” — Winston Churchill Champagne, often synonymous with celebration and luxury, is a sparkling wine that hails from the Champagne…
Greville Wynne: The Spy Who Became “The Courier”
Greville Wynne during Soviet trial for espionage. From rom 1963 Soviet propaganda film, The 2021 film The Courier, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Greville Wynne, brings to life the gripping true…
Spies on the Small Screen: A History of Espionage in Television
Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo in the “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”. The episode is “Vulcan Affair” (1964). It was the first episode of the series. NBC Television. Spy fiction is…
Hidden in Plain Sight: Concealment Devices of the OSS
Photo courtesy CIA. During World War II, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)—the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)—pioneered a new era of espionage. Tasked with gathering intelligence and…
Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service: A Legacy of Espionage Excellence
The iconic SIS Building seen from Vayxhill Bridge. The SIS Building (or MI6 Building) houses the headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS / MI6), Photo by Laurie Nevay…