Billy Waugh: Legendary Special Forces and CIA Operative
Billy Waugh at home in 2011. US. Air Force photo by Nick Stubbs. William Dawson Waugh, known as Billy Waugh, was born on December 1, 1929, in Bastrop, Texas. Inspired…
Odette Hallowes: WW2’s Most Decorated Spy
Odette Marie Léonie Céline Brailly, later known as Odette Churchill, Odette Sansom, and Odette Hallowes, was born on April 28, 1912, in Amiens, France. Her early years were marked by…
The CIA Directorate of Operations: The Heart of American Intelligence
Aerial view of the CIA headquarters, Langley, Virginia. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States’ premier intelligence organization, has a long and storied history. One of its most critical…
The OSS Morale Operations Branch: Pioneers of Psychological Warfare
The OSS Gallery at the CIA Museum at the George Bush Center for Intelligence, Virginia. All warfare is based on deception.” — Sun Tzu, “The Art of War.” The Morale…
Hidden History: The OSS’s Secret Base on Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island satellite image. In the annals of World War II history, the role of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) stands out as a testament to the power…
Kompani Linge: Norway’s Answer to Nazi Occupation
Commandos in action during raid on island of Vågsøy, 27 December 1941. Photo by Malindine, E G (Lt), War Office official photographer. Imperial War Museum. The Norwegian Independent Company 1…
Lights, Camera, Espionage: Hollywood and the OSS
Alan Ladd on cover of “Modern Screen”, April 1946. Cropped. Throughout the course of the Second World War, a significant number of Hollywood’s finest chose to serve their nation by…
James Bond: A Mirror of His Times
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 by…
Somerset Maugham: Celebrated British Writer and Spy
Photo of Maugham by Carl Van Vechten, 1934. Photo cropped. Library of Congress. William Somerset Maugham, known as Somerset Maugham, was born on January 25, 1874, in Paris, France. He…
The Hashshashin: Assassins of Persia
Remains of the Alamut Castle in Qazvin, Iran. Photo by Alireza Javaheri / CC BY 3.0 Copped/DEED. Cropped. The Hashshashin, also known as the Assassins, were a religious sect of…