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Intelligence & Spec Ops

The secret wars. Spies, saboteurs, and the operations history almost forgot.

4 Entries

Cicero: The Spy Who Photographed Churchill's Secrets and Was Paid in Forged Money

Elyesa Bazna, valet to the British Ambassador in Ankara, photographed the most sensitive Allied documents of World War II for German intelligence. The Germans paid him 300,000 pounds sterling. Every note was counterfeit.

Apr 21, 2026

Vietnam War

The Phoenix Program

Between 1965 and 1972, the CIA's Phung Hoang program targeted the Viet Cong's political infrastructure. Over 81,000 operatives were neutralized. The program's methods continue to shape debates about counterinsurgency ethics and effectiveness.

Apr 21, 2026

US Navy SEALs conducting a combat operation

Intelligence & Special Ops

SEAL Team Six: From Mogadishu to Abbottabad

Naval Special Warfare Development Group—known publicly as SEAL Team Six—is the most elite tier of American special operations. Its operational history traces the evolution of counterterrorism from Cold War hostage rescue to the targeted killing campaign of the post-9/11 era.

Apr 18, 2026

Major General William "Wild Bill" Donovan, Director of the OSS

Intelligence & Special Ops

The OSS: America's First Intelligence Agency and the Template for Modern Espionage

The Office of Strategic Services, founded in 1942, was America's first centralized intelligence agency. In three years of operation it developed the doctrines, methods, and institutional culture that would define American intelligence for the rest of the century.

Apr 17, 2026