MetaFilter posts tagged with spies

"a real-life James Bond. His boozy amours, his tough postures, his intelligence expertise..."

The Whelk — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:55:35 -0800

In 1948, when John was five, Guy Burgess came to stay for a holiday. John's mother resented Burgess and his close relationship with her husband, and began staging accidents to claim attention; she once reported being mugged in her car, and on another occasion set fire to the living room, suffering serious burns. She was later sent to a Swiss clinic for treatment. Philby was posted to the United States the following year. The strange life of John Philby, the son of "the most hated man in England", Kim Philby, a member of the notorious Cambridge Five spying ring. (via)

The FBI was as close to Leonard Bernstein as his nearest telephone

NemesisVex — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:07:44 -0800

Alex Ross examines the 800-page FBI file of Leonard Bernstein. (single page print link.)

Background to Danger

Artw — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:07:21 -0800

For Graham Greene he was "unquestionably our best thriller writer". John le Carré once called him "the source on which we all draw". With the six novels he wrote in the years leading up to the second world war - five of which have just been reissued by Penguin Modern Classics - Eric Ambler revitalised the British thriller, rescuing the genre from the jingoistic clutches of third-rate imitators of John Buchan, and recasting it in a more realist, nuanced and leftishly intelligent - not to mention exciting - mould. - The writing of Eric Ambler

hatchink fiendish plan to catch moose and squirrel

shothotbot — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:14:05 -0800

Interested in Soviet era spying by the KGB in the United States? Bummed that you cant get into the KGB archives? Well it turns out that someone copied all the good stuff already, and you can take a peek. Alexander Vassiliev was a KGB officer who turned to journalism in 1990. From 1993-96 he had access to the KGB archives for the 1930s to early 1950s to write notes for a book project on Soviet spying in the Stalin era. His original notebooks - including extensive verbatim transcriptions - were left behind in Moscow when he moved to London but smuggled out via an elaborate plan. There are eight notebooks, on the Cold War International History site there are scans, transliterations and translations of each notebook, free for nothing. Vassilev assisted in the transcriptions and transliterations. The whole story is in Alexander Vassiliev’s Notebooks: Provenance and Documentation of Soviet Intelligence Activities in the United States (pdf). "Since the KGB’s archives remain closed, Vassiliev’s notebooks are as close as we are likely to get to the actual documents for many years, likely decades"

Who said what now?

blue_beetle — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:08:12 -0800

Wired: Obama Sides With Bush in Spy Case. "The Obama administration fell in line with the Bush administration Thursday when it urged a federal judge to set aside a ruling in a closely watched spy case weighing whether a U.S. president may bypass Congress and establish a program of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants."

Brought Men to Their Knees

netbros — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:04:21 -0800

"Well behaved women rarely make history," said Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Scandalous Women brings you the lives, loves, and sexual adventures of some of the most fascinating women who rocked the world. Like Olimpia Maidalchini who managed to achieve something that no woman ever has, for the 11 years of her brother-in-law Innocent X's reign as pope, Olimpia was the real power at the Vatican; or Elizabeth Armistead, wife of a cabinet minister, courtesan to many. Read the bios and follow the tales of nearly a hundred women of scandalous pursuit from Mata Hari to Typhoid Mary.

A Tale of Two Airplanes

kurmbox — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:35:34 -0800

"Once Upon A Time... there were two very special airplanes that lived.... far.... far.... away on a tiny island in the Bering Sea. One was named Rivet Ball and the other was named Rivet Amber. Very few people knew anything about these two planes or the men that flew them. Even family members knew very little. That's because their mission was... TOP SECRET." (some photos and language within are NSFW) [via the wonderful PointNiner]

Storytelling with Google Maps

brain_drain — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:34:53 -0800

The 21 Steps is a spy thriller short story that is told using Google Maps. [via mefi projects]

Comrade J: What's true in the world of spies and lies?

Atreides — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:53:28 -0800

"My defection was the major failure of the Russian intelligence, probably in all of history," - Sergei Tretyakov, former colonel in the Russian intelligence service and the subject of Comrade J: by Pete Earley. His claims of Russian turned Canadian politicians, Russian scamming of the UN for millions, and of a Russian duped ranking member of the Clinton Administration have been denied, while legal action has frozen plans to sell Comrade J in Canada.
Two contrasting reviews of Comrade J, here and here.

Delmar

Xurando — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:31:50 -0800

In October, Vladimir Putin posthumously awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation to George Koval, who, using the code name Delmar, successfully penetrated the Manhattan Project as an agent for the Soviet Union. But, he wasn't the only one. Some think the award is just a disinformation campaign orchestrated by the Russians.

The Mystery of Ales

anastasiav — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:21:53 -0800

The Mystery of Ales :: a new take on the Alger Hiss problem

Story of two CIA operatives captured in China in 1952 who were held for 20 years

Kattullus — Thu, 03 May 2007 20:15:55 -0800

There may be some among us who can imagine 20 days in captivity; perhaps a fraction of those can imagine a full year deprived of liberty and most human contact. But 20 years? Downey and Fecteau have consistently sought to downplay their period of imprisonment; and neither has done what arguably too many former CIA officers do these days with far less justification: write a book. Downey has said that such a book would contain "500 blank pages," and Fecteau says the whole experience could be summed up by the word "boring."

Extraordinary Fidelity: Two CIA Prisoners in China, 1952–73 [secure link] by Nicholas Dujmovic, a CIA historian and a veteran intelligence analyst. Time article about Downey and Fecteau from 1954.

"It was just six years of my life."

amyms — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 11:28:15 -0800

WANTED: The Limping Lady. The Gestapo's poster read "She is one of the most valuable Allied agents in France and we must find and destroy her" but Virginia Hall, who used a prosthetic limb after losing a leg years before in a hunting accident, eluded them and saved countless Allied lives while working as a spy during WWII. Additional biographical information, as well as the biographies of other famous female spies, at WWII Female Spies (which has many outgoing links to other great informational resources about female spies in WWII).

"Let the game begin..." - Tomlinson v. MI6

jack_mo — Wed, 24 May 2006 08:11:47 -0800

Richard Tomlinson is a former spy. Jailed under the Official Secrets Act in 1995 for publishing his memoirs, famed for claiming there's a cover up surrounding Princess Diana's death and allegedly leaking a list of active MI6 agents, he is still fuming about his dismissal from the Secret Intelligence Service. So he started a weblog, complete with posts containing sensitive information. The British authorities are displeased.

Above Ground Covert-Ops

panoptican — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 20:24:20 -0800

Global Options, Inc. Have you been unfairly attacked by: the media? trial lawyers? disgruntled workers? terrorists? overzealous federal regulators? competitors? hackers? industrial spies? one-issue activists? extortionists? intellectual property thieves? or even the Russian mafia? Global Options has your back. [warning: radar beeps.]

So much for #31#

riffola — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 08:48:51 -0800

$110 gets you last 100 calls made by any cellphone. Apparently it is legal.

NOC, NOC, Who's There

digaman — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 16:23:47 -0800

Why outing Plame mattered. If you wonder what's really at stake behind all the media buzz around the Fitzgerald indictments, read this lengthy and cogent analysis by Stratfor's no-nonsense George Friedman. "Rove and Libby had top security clearances and were senior White House officials. It was their sworn duty, undertaken when they accepted their security clearance, to build a 'bodyguard of lies' -- in Churchill's phrase -- around the truth concerning U.S. intelligence capabilities... The minimal story -- that they talked about Plame with a reporter -- is the end of the matter."

MI6 online

Phanx — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 00:11:42 -0800

The Secret Intelligence Service, aka MI6, now has its own website. MI5 has had one for a while, and apparently now gets most of its job applications that way.

Where there's smoke there's fire.

mk1gti — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 05:29:03 -0800

Where there's smoke there's fire. The AIPAC spy scandal, new developments with foreign lobbies compromising our nation's security, major government officials involving themselves in drug money laundering, military weapons procurement for dangerous nations, penetration of our intelligence agencies and the pentagon by foreign spy agencies. When will the smoke turn to fire?

Espionage and the Orange Revolution

Tullius — Mon, 17 Jan 2005 08:46:36 -0800

Espionage and the Orange Revolution -or- How Ukranian spies prevented a crackdown on protestors in Kiev. (NY Times)

Thunderwear

kavasa — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 12:48:48 -0800

Has your local supplier of ninja stars dried up? Want to set your truck up with armor plating, oil slick, and caltrops but not sure where to go? Been wondering where to go to get something to eat the paint off your boss' Benz?

Well then! Brandon Enterprises has got you covered!

Clandestine Radios

monju_bosatsu — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 14:30:47 -0800

U.S. Clandestine Radio Equipment catalogs "facts, observations, anecdotes, and stories about clandestine radio equipment as used by the United States." Includes a section on "mystery" equipment.

free speech gagged--thanks to the Patriot Act

amberglow — Sun, 30 May 2004 20:26:26 -0800

National Security Letters and John Doe --once only issued against suspected terrorists and spies, NSLs now can be used, thanks to the Patriot Act, against all and any of us. John Doe, the currently gagged owner of a small ISP was targeted for the political speech of his customers and is fighting, along with the ACLU and others. More here (and more inside)

CIA Online Spy Museum

fenriq — Sat, 27 Dec 2003 09:08:17 -0800

The CIA's Online Spy Museum

Report on 9/11 Suggests a Role by Saudi Spies

Postroad — Sat, 02 Aug 2003 03:29:33 -0800

Report on 9/11 Suggests a Role by Saudi Spies If this article in the NY Times is accurate, then The Saudi request that the classified pages be made public, and the Bush refusal to do so, is a cooperative effort to keep the public from knowing the Saudi involvement rather than an attempt to protect intelligence methods etc as had been claimed by Bush. Ot, Bush is right (we won't know) and the Times wrong. Take your choice.