The International Spy Museum’s Top Ten Sexiest Spies

Our next list outlines some of the notoriously sexy spies of all time – male and female. We’ve included this in our crash course in espionage because all new agents need to be aware of the dangers of extra-seductive operatives. As Johnny Rivers once said, a pretty face can hide an evil mind.

1. Valerie Plame –

This glamorous blonde worked for the CIA until Robert Novak, of the Washington Post, blew her cover in 2006. As a result, Vice President Cheney’s aide, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was convicted of obstruction of justice for allowing her cover to be leaked to journalists. Novels written by Plame and her husband were adapted into a film, Fair Game, starring Naomi Watts. If a brilliant and beautiful covert operative doesn’t make you love America, we don’t know what does, and for that, she makes the list.

2. Barbara Lauwers –

As the brains behind psychological warfare campaigns to break Axis morale, this American cutie created and circulated the “League of Lonely War Women” letter among German troops to make them believe their wives at home were leaning towards infidelity. Babs earns a spot on the countdown for psyching out the Nazis and looking good while doing it.

3. Dimitri Bystrolyotov –

Dmitri Bystrolyotov was a man out of the movies: dashingly handsome and fluent in many languages, he was a sailor, artist, doctor, lawyer, and artist.  He was also a spy for Stalin’s Soviet Union.  By seducing women, including a French diplomat, the wife of a British official, and a Gestapo officer, he was able to deliver many secrets back to his masters in Moscow.  His espionage career came to an end in 1938 when Stalin sent him to the Gulag.

 

4. Vladimir Putin –

Though we know him better as Russia’s current president, Vlad started in the KGB, managing spies in East Berlin before his promotion to director. Whether it’s suiting up to fix Russia’s economy or fishing shirtless, this comrade makes our list for having a license to thrill.

 

 

 

 

5. Krystyna Skarbek –

This British beauty, a British Special Operations Executive, earned Churchill’s favor by strategizing numerous intelligence and sabotage missions in Nazi Poland and France. Supposedly, Ian Fleming based his character, Vesper Lynd, on Skarbek. There’s nothing sexier than being the inspiration for the original Bond girl.

 

 

 

6. Violette Szabo –

Szabo helped organize the French Resistance during WWII. She even parachuted behind enemy lines for sabatoge missions. Though she was eventually captured, tortured and killed by the Nazis, she never gave up any information. We honor this brave beauty for never being a damsel in distress.

 

 

 

 

7. Casanova –

Although infamous as a lover, poet, and conman, he was also a spy for both Venetian and French courts, using his charm and powers of seduction to procure valuable information from gamblers, courtesans, and criminals. He was portrayed onscreen by none other than Heath Ledger. This Renaissance spy makes the list for mixing work and pleasure.

 

 

 

8. Anna Kushchenko Chapman –

This knock-out Russian national married into British citizenship before moving to NYC to start an international real estate company. Yeah, right. The deep-cover Russian intelligence agent is best known for her arrest as a Russian illegal – and all the suggestive photo shoots that followed. She recently rocked a runway in her home country flanked by two male models dressed as secret agents. She gets a spot on our list for using her blown cover to kick off a steamy modeling career.

 

9. Josephine Baker –

Already a famous singer and dancer, this provocative performer secretly aided the French Resistance during WWII by slipping across German borders with secret messages written in invisible ink on her sheet music. She was awarded the French Legion of Honor for her service when the war ended. This siren could certainly carry a tune to save her life – and countless others as well.

 

 

 

10. Mata Hari –

This exotic dancer from the Netherlands was accused by French intelligence of being a German double agent during WWI. Though she wasn’t the most effective spy, she was certainly one of the sexiest, even blowing kisses to the firing squad at her execution.

 

 

There you have it, agents. Beware of those sultry, seductive operatives that will do anything to get the job done. Even if it means breaking a heart or two.

 

That’s all the intel for now. More to follow soon. Over and out.