Ten scientists, some from the CIA, gathered in a cabin in Maryland for their semiannual review and conference in November 1953. On day two, a bottle of Cointreau — spiked with LSD — appeared; after it was emptied, Sidney Gottlieb, a CIA program director, informed his colleagues that they were in for a wild ride….
Category: Military History
Military History: The USS Akron, One of the Worse Air Ship Disasters in U.S. History
On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg airship caught fire as it was trying to dock at Naval Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, New Jersey. Thirty-six of the 97 people onboard were killed, in addition to one crewman on the ground. The disaster is often called the most devastating loss of life during the zeppelin era,…
Know Your Weapons: The History of the SIONICS Suppressor
In the early 1960s, former U.S. Office of Strategic Services operative Mitchell WerBell III founded a company dedicated to the development of cheap and efficient sound-suppressors for automatic weapons. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, WerBell had joined the U.S. Army, serving briefly as a second lieutenant with the Signal Corps before volunteering to…
Military Weapons From the Past: The Lewis Gun
It must be an automatic rifle, Robert Jordan thought. “How much does it weigh?” he asked. “One man can carry it, but it is heavy. It has three legs that fold. We got it in the last serious raid. The one before the wine.” “How many rounds have you for it?” “An infinity,” the gypsy…
Obscure Weapons: 1846 Norwegian Knife-Pistol
This is one of the more practical knife/pistol combinations I have seen – it actually has a pretty reasonable grip when used in either capacity. It has two muzzleloading smoothbore barrels, with a percussion cap hidden under each top ear of the crossguard and a folding trigger in the body of the grip. After I…
World War Two History: The Rosenberg Diary
Secret Nazi Journal Reveals Inner Workings of Third Reich “Between 1936 and 1944, the Nazi mastermind kept a secret journal detailing his life in the corridors of power.” ALFRED ROSENBERG was a true believer. Remembered as the “chief philosopher” of the Third Reich, the Estonian-born National Socialist was member of Adolf Hitler’s early inner circle and helped author…
Espionage and Cold War Files: Extraordinary Lecture by Legendary Soviet Mole and Spy Kim Philby Emerges
A videotaped lecture by Kim Philby, one of the Cold War’s most recognizable espionage figures, has been unearthed in the archives of the Stasi, the Ministry of State Security of the former East Germany. During the one-hour lecture, filmed in 1981, Philby addresses a select audience of Stasi operations officers and offers them advice on…
Crusader Corner: ISIS Uses Mustard Gas in Syria
Islamic State militants attacked Syrian army troops with mustard gas in an offensive against a Syrian military airport in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor that borders Iraq, state media said on late Monday. Syrian state media did not disclose how many casualties were sustained in the latest drive by the hardline fundamentalist Sunni militants…
World War Two History: The Battling Belles of Bataan
If you ever had occasion to do an R&R in Tai Pei, you know why a 19 year old, hormone engorged, no-time-in-grade Army sergeant would consider Tai Pei and “The China Seas Club” a prime destination. As far back as I can remember, my parents always kept a house in the Shilin District overlooking Tianmu….
Military Defense News: USMC Implements New Security Guard Detachments after Benghazi
It has always been said that New Regulations in the Military are Written in Blood and are Painfully Slow to Happen…This is a CLASSIC Case in Point. -SF The Marine Corps is taking big steps to help prevent another attack like the one on a diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 that left…