MetaFilter posts tagged with spies

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.