Spycraft

Zusatztext "Reveals more concrete information about CIA tradecraft than any book." The Washington Times "This is a story I thought could never be told." James M. Olson, former chief of CIA counterintelligence "The first comprehensive look at the technical achievements of American espionage from the 1940s to the present." Wired Informationen zum Autor Robert Wallace Klappentext An unprecedented history of the CIA's secret and amazing gadgetry behind the art of espionage In this look at the CIA's most secretive operations and the devices that made them possible, Spycraft tells gripping life-and-death stories about a group of spytechs-much of it never previously revealed and with images never before seen by the public. The CIA's Office of Technical Service is the ultrasecret department that grappled with challenges such as: What does it take to build a quiet helicopter? How does one embed a listening device in a cat? What is an invisible photo used for? These amazingly inventive devices were created and employed against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions-including the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and continuing terrorist threats. Written by Robert Wallace, the former director of the Office of Technical Service, and internationally renowned intelligence historian Keith Melton, Spycraft is both a fantastic encyclopedia of gadgetry and a revealing primer on the fundamentals of high-tech espionage. "The first comprehensive look at the technical achievements of American espionage from the 1940s to the present."-Wired "Reveals more concrete information about CIA tradecraft than any book."-The Washington Times "This is a story I thought could never be told."-JAMES M. OLSON, former chief of CIA counterintelligence Leseprobe SECTION I: AT THE BEGINNING Chapter 1: My Hair Stood on End The weapons of secrecy have no place in an ideal world. Sir William Stephenson, A Man Called Intrepid On a quiet autumn evening in 1942, as World War II raged across Europe and Asia, two men sat in one of Washington's most stately homes discussing a type of warfare very different from that of high-altitude bombers and infantry assaults. The host, Colonel William J. Donovan, known as Wild Bill since his days as an officer during World War I, was close to sixty. A war hero whose valor had earned him the Medal of Honor, Donovan was now back in uniform. Donovan responded to the call to duty and put aside a successful Wall Street law practice to become Director of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and America's first spymaster. Donovan's guest, for whom he graciously poured sherry, was Stanley Platt Lovell. A New Englander in his early fifties, Lovell was an American success story. Orphaned at an early age, he worked his way through Cornell University to ascend the ranks of business and science by sheer determination and ingenuity. As president of the Lovell Chemical Company, he held more than seventy patents, though still described himself as a sauce pan chemist. Donovan understood that the fight against the Axis powers required effective intelligence operations along with a new style of clandestine warfare. Just as important, he appreciated the role men like Lovell could play in those operations. I need every subtle device and every underhanded trick to use against the Germans and the Japaneseby our own peoplebut especially by the underground in the occupied countries, he had told Lovell a few days earlier. You'll have to invent them all because you're going to be my man. The wartime job offered to the mild-mannered chemist was to head the Research and Development (R&D) Branch of the OSS, a role Donovan compared to that of Professor Moriarty, the criminal mastermind of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Lovell, al...

"Reveals more concrete information about CIA tradecraft than any book."—The Washington Times

"This is a story I thought could never be told."—James M. Olson, former chief of CIA counterintelligence

"The first comprehensive look at the technical achievements of American espionage from the 1940s to the present."—Wired

Auteur

Robert Wallace

Texte du rabat

An unprecedented history of the CIA's secret and amazing gadgetry behind the art of espionage

In this look at the CIA's most secretive operations and the devices that made them possible, Spycraft tells gripping life-and-death stories about a group of spytechs-much of it never previously revealed and with images never before seen by the public.

The CIA's Office of Technical Service is the ultrasecret department that grappled with challenges such as:

What does it take to build a quiet helicopter?
How does one embed a listening device in a cat?
What is an invisible photo used for?

These amazingly inventive devices were created and employed against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions-including the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and continuing terrorist threats. Written by Robert Wallace, the former director of the Office of Technical Service, and internationally renowned intelligence historian Keith Melton, Spycraft is both a fantastic encyclopedia of gadgetry and a revealing primer on the fundamentals of high-tech espionage.

"The first comprehensive look at the technical achievements of American espionage from the 1940s to the present."-Wired

"Reveals more concrete information about CIA tradecraft than any book."-The Washington Times

"This is a story I thought could never be told."-JAMES M. OLSON, former chief of CIA counterintelligence

Échantillon de lecture
SECTION I: AT THE BEGINNING

Chapter 1: My Hair Stood on End The weapons of secrecy have no place in an ideal world.

—Sir William Stephenson, A Man Called Intrepid

On a quiet autumn evening in 1942, as World War II raged across Europe and Asia, two men sat in one of Washington’s most stately homes discussing a type of warfare very different from that of high-altitude bombers and infantry assaults. The host, Colonel William J. Donovan, known as “Wild Bill” since his days as an officer during World War I, was close to sixty. A war hero whose valor had earned him the Medal of Honor, Donovan was now back in uniform. Donovan responded to the call to duty and put aside a successful Wall Street law practice to become Director of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and America’s first spymaster.

Donovan’s guest, for whom he graciously poured sherry, was Stanley Platt Lovell. A New Englander in his early fifties, Lovell was an American success story. Orphaned at an early age, he worked his way through Cornell University to ascend the ranks of business and science by sheer determination and ingenuity. As president of the Lovell Chemical Company, he held more than seventy patents, though still described himself as a “sauce pan chemist.”

Donovan understood that the fight against the Axis powers required effective intelligence operations along with a new style of clandestine warfare. Just as important, he appreciated the role men like Lovell could play in those operations. “I need every subtle device and every underhanded trick to use against the Germans and the Japanese—by our own people—but especially by the underground in the occupied countries,” he had told Lovell a few days earlier. “You’ll have to invent them all… because you’re going to be my man.”

The wartime job offered to the mild-mannered chemist was to head the Research and Development (R&D) Branch of the OSS, a role Donovan compared to that of Professor Moriarty, the criminal mastermind of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Lovell, although initially intrigued by the offer, was now having doubts and came to Donovan’s Georgetown home to express those reservations. He had been in government service …