Author Archives: SpyBlog

The Best SPY Fiction

Dr. Thomas Boghardt, Historian Espionage fiction has long influenced people’s notions of intelligence. And there are a good number of first-rate espionage authors to choose from, including John le Carré, Graham Greene, and Ian Fleming. But who did it best? … Continue reading

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SPYCast: The Terrorist Challenge

Listen Here: The Terrorist Challenge January 8, 2010 Continuing the Spy Museum’s SPYCast®, Peter Earnest, Museum Executive Director and 36 year veteran of the CIA, is interviewed by Museum Historian Dr. Thomas Boghardt on this week’s breaking intelligence news. The … Continue reading

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Sneak Peak Author Debriefing: How the Cold War Began: The Gouzenko Affair and the Hunt for Soviet Spies

Q&A Amy Knight author of How the Cold War Began: The Gouzenko Affair and the Hunt for Soviet Spies. Learn more  about Gouzenko and ask the author your questions at SPY on Wednesday January 20th. Q: Who was Igor Gouzenko? A: … Continue reading

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Today in SPY History: Conviction of the Spy Who Wasn’t

 Dr. Thomas Boghardt, Historian In 1894 the French army obtained a letter revealing that a high-ranking officer was selling secrets to Germany. Suspicion fell on Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer. Ignoring the fact that Dreyfus’ handwriting did not match … Continue reading

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Hacking Drones

Dr. Thomas Boghardt, Historian Today The Wall Street Journal ran an article revealing that militants inside Iraq have hacked U.S. Predator drones and were able to access real time information used by the military.   Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or drones, … Continue reading

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A Mysterious Visit

Dr. Thomas Boghardt, Historian The International Spy Museum’s permanent exhibition ends with the following quote: “The most successful spies—those too clever to be caught, too loyal to defect, too shrewd to speak up—will never be recognized, their missions never revealed.” … Continue reading

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Intelligence Online

  Dr. Thomas Boghardt, Historian Intelligence agencies are facing two principal challenges—the acquisition of secret information, and its twin, the peril of information overload. The difficulty of finding the proverbial needle in the haystack has exponentially grown since the introduction … Continue reading

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Breaking the Enigma

Dr. Thomas Boghardt, Historian The Enigma looked like a typewriter and was the Germans’ most prized cipher machine. Germany’s air force, army, navy, and secret services used it from 1928 to encipher and decipher sensitive communication. If Germany’s foes succeeded … Continue reading

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Cyber War: Weapon of Mass Disruption

Dr. Thomas Boghardt, Historian   Computer experts have repeatedly warned about our nation’s vulnerabilities to cyber attacks. These concerns are certainly not unwarranted, given the rising number of cyber incidents registered by U.S. networks, ranging from destructive viruses to spyware. … Continue reading

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The Spy Who Got Away

Dr. Thomas Boghardt, Historian In the Pantheon of spies, George Blake deserves a special place. An SIS (British intelligence) officer recruited by the KGB in 1955, he provided Moscow with prodigious amounts of classified information at the height of the … Continue reading

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