The Quiet Birth of America's Spy Agency
On September 18, 1947, the National Security Act took effect and the Central Intelligence Agency came into existence — born from the shock of Pearl Harbor and the chill of the Cold War.
Tagged: espionage
Mata Hari: The Dancer Executed as a Spy
On October 15, 1917, the dancer Mata Hari faced a French firing squad at Vincennes, convicted of spying for Germany.
The Cold War's Most Famous Walk: The Bridge of Spies Exchange
On a freezing Berlin morning in 1962, a downed American pilot and a Soviet master spy walked past each other into freedom on the Glienicke Bridge.
The Spy Who Fell from the Sky: The U-2 Is Shot Down, 1960
On May 1, 1960, CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union, and the lie America told about it wrecked a peace summit.