U.S. Navy Lt. Edward Lin, a native of Taiwan, speaks about his path to US citizenship at a naturalization ceremony in Honolulu, Hawaii, in this US Navy handout photo taken December 3, 2008. Lin, a US Navy officer with access to sensitive US intelligence, faces espionage charges over accusations he passed state secrets, possibly…
Category: Spycraft
Espionage Files: CIA Agent to Be Extradited to Italy to Face Charges of Kidnapping
First rule of being a Spy: Don’t Get Caught. If you are interested in reading more about this case, and the CIA Practice of Rendition that occurred Post 9/11, check out A Kidnapping in Milan: The CIA on Trial. -SF The Portuguese Supreme Court has upheld a decision to extradite to Italy a former C.I.A….
Espionage Files: CIA Funds Cosmetics That Can Collect DNA
SKINCENTIAL SCIENCES, a company with an innovative line of cosmetic products marketed as a way to erase blemishes and soften skin, has caught the attention of beauty bloggers on YouTube, Oprah’s lifestyle magazine, and celebrity skin care professionals. Documents obtained by The Intercept reveal that the firm has also attracted interest and funding from In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of…
World War Two Books Worth A Damn: Church of Spies
“There’s a man who leads a life of danger To everyone he meets he stays a stranger With every move he makes another chance he takes Odds are he won’t live to see tomorrow Secret agent man, secret agent man” So said Johnny Rivers in the theme to the ’60s show Secret Agent. Mark Riebling…
Espionage Files: U.S. Naval Officer Accused of Passing Secrets to China
The U.S. Navy held a preliminary hearing to review criminal charges against one of its officers on Friday. According to a redacted report obtained by USNI News, investigators suspect the seaman of two counts of espionage and three counts of attempted espionage. The Navy didn’t release the name of the officer but sources close to…
Espionage Files: Turkey Arrest Senior Official For Selling Weapon Plans to U.S. Firm
A senior official of Turkey’s state-run weapons manufacturer has been arrested on espionage charges, after he was caught selling weapons blueprints to the employee of an arms firm based in the United States. The official was named by Turkish authorities as Mustafa Tanriverdi, the general manager of one of Turkey’s largest weapons production facilities, located…
Espionage Files: The Strange Trip Surrounding MK-Ultra
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….
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…
Espionage Files: A CIA Officer’s Long, Futile Secret War
WASHINGTON — In Douglas Laux’s final days as a CIA officer, the futility of his mission prompted him to quote George Orwell to his boss. Laux had spent months in 2012 working with various Middle Eastern nations that were trying to ship arms to Syria to help disparate rebel groups there. But it had become…
Espionage Files: CIA Trained Spy Allegedly Arrested in Russia
The Russian government says it has arrested a senior Ukrainian intelligence officer, who was allegedly trained by the United States Central Intelligence Agency and tasked with infiltrating the Russian secret services. In a statement published on Thursday, Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as FSB, said the alleged infiltrator is a “senior level employee” of the…