Espionage activity Penkovsky was the highest-ranking Soviet official to provide intelligence for the West up until that time, and is one of several individuals credited with altering the course of the Cold War. He was arrested by the Soviets in October 1962, and tried and executed the following year.
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby ORB, OL ODN (1 January 1912 – 11 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union.
Vasily Zaytsev, possibly the best-known Soviet sniper, celebrated for his role during Second World War.
The Normandy Landings of 6 June 1944 marked the beginning of the liberation of occupied Western Europe. The Security Service made a significant contribution to the success of D-Day through its double agent Juan Pujol, codenamed GARBO, who has been described as the greatest double agent of the Second World War.
Russian Lt. Col. Oleg Penkovsky, portrayed by actor Merab Ninidze in the Benjamin Cumberbatch thriller The Courier (2020), is hailed as 'the spy who saved the world', the West's most valuable Cold War double agent, and the man who risked his life to stop a nuclear war between superpowers.
Among other honorifics, George Washington—known as Agent 711 in the Culper Spy Ring—is often heralded as a great “spymaster,” and indeed, he was. Under Washington's astute watch, several networks of spies operated in both close-knit circles and far-reaching societies.
Learn how Virginia Hall, woman with a prosthetic leg, became the most feared allied spy in WWII. See how she eluded Nazi capture and aided in a victory at D-Day.
Overall, the CIA had the technological advantage. One event that somewhat caught both the KGB and the CIA off guard was the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
The KGB was succeeded by the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK) of Russia, which was succeeded by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB).
Late on 22 November, Litvinenko's heart failed, and he died the following day; the official time of death was 9:21 pm at University College Hospital in London. The autopsy took place on 1 December. Litvinenko had ingested polonium-210, a poisonous radioactive isotope.
Mata Hari embodied all the intrigue of espionage and remains the most famous female spy in history. The dancer turned WWI spy is said to have seduced diplomats and military officers into giving up their secrets.
Local spies are hired from among the people of a locality. Inside spies are hired from among enemy officials. Reverse spies are hired from among enemy spies. Dead spies transmit false intelligence to enemy spies.
According to the FBI, Robert Hanssen became the “most damaging spy” in Bureau history. “Hanssen's espionage activities began in 1985,” the history of Hanssen's case from the FBI reads. “Since he held key counterintelligence positions, he had authorized access to classified information.
He had spied for the Russians for nearly a decade. Aldrich Ames and his wife both pled guilty on April 28, 1994. Aldrich Ames was sentenced to incarceration for life without the possibility of parole. Rosario Ames was sentenced on October 20, 1994 to 63 months in prison.
A triple agent blew himself up at Forward Operating Base Chapman — a U.S. military base in Khost, Afghanistan — killing seven CIA officers and one Jordanian officer. It was the second-worst day in terms of casualties in the agency's history, exceeded only by the attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut in 1983.
A triple agent is a spy who pretends to be a double agent for one side, while they are truthfully a double agent for the other side. Unlike a re-doubled agent, who changes allegiance due to being compromised, a triple agent is usually considered to have been always loyal to their original side.
A 00 (typically read "double O" and denoted in Fleming's novels by the letters OO rather than the digits 00) is a field agent who holds a licence to kill in the field, at their discretion, to complete any mission.