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…
Before Email: The CIA’s Pneumatic Tube System
Vacuum-driven carrier. Messages traveled at more than 30 feet per second through the pneumatic tubing. Photo courtesy Central Intelligence Agency. Before the advent of email and the digital revolution, organizations…
Lessons Learned from the French Underground
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmlIOYl53hs
“Espionage – Target You”: A Window into Cold War Espionage
Set against the simmering tensions of the Cold War, the 1964 U.S. military training film Espionage – Target You offers an exploration of the clandestine realm of intelligence operations. Amid…
The St Nazaire Raid: The Greatest Raid of All
British Commandos, 1942. Photo credit: Malindine E G (Lt) War Office official photographer. The St Nazaire Raid, known as Operation Chariot, conducted on March 28, 1942, during World War II,…
Operation Biting: The Daring Raid that Altered the Course of WWII
Troops of the covering force and paratroopers practice their withdrawal to the landing craft during training in Britain for Operation Biting. From collection of the Imperial War Museum. Operation Biting,…