One of the most significant photos I remember as a teenager was the image of a Saigon evacuation helicopter at the end of the Vietnam War. We were led to believe this shot was  from the US embassy.

Years later, we learned it was actually from the roof of an apartment building that housed senior CIA personnel.

The CIA was formed in 1947 by President Harry Truman, partly as a replacement for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was disbanded after World War II. 

The CIA created the “Glomar response” (the “neither confirm nor deny” response) in response to media inquiries about a covert agency program. Notably, when the CIA launched its Twitter account, its first tweet humorously stated, “We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.”

In 2010, US military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning provided more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to Wikileaks.

Weeping Angel

We learned US and British personnel, under a program known as Weeping Angel, developed ways to take over a Samsung smart television, making it appear it was off when in fact it was recording conversations in the room.

The CIA and White House declined comment. “We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents,” CIA spokesman Jonathan Liu said in a statement.

Operation Mockingbird

In the 1950s, the CIA launched Operation Mockingbird to influence domestic and international media, enlisting over 400 leading American journalists to create a propaganda network.

CIA operatives such as Frank Wisner and Phil Graham of The Washington Post orchestrated it, recruiting journalists from major US news outlets to covertly advance the CIA’s agenda.

Crypto AG

For 50 years, Crypto AG, a Swiss company that produced encryption devices and sold them to 120 countries, secretly included backdoors in their products. In 2020, it was revealed that Crypto AG’s real owners—the CIA and BND (German Intelligence Agency)—used these backdoors to compromise the devices.

Shoe Lace Communication

CIA agents have secretly communicated by using different lacing patterns on their shoes.

Go Go Gadgets

Due to his fascination with James Bond novels, CIA Director Allen Dulles encouraged the agency to develop real-life versions of Bond’s gadgets. While the poison-tipped shoes reportedly worked, many other gadgets failed.

The CIA developed a gun that could shoot darts causing a heart attack. The dart left only a tiny red dot upon skin penetration, and the poison denatured quickly. Congressional testimony from 1975 revealed this weapon.

CIA Director Allen Dulles and other top officials masterminded Project Fat F**ker, which aimed to pressure King Farouk of Egypt into making political reforms to prevent a communist takeover.

When Farouk refused to change, the CIA shifted its support to the Free Officers Movement, which ultimately overthrew the king in a coup on July 23, 1952, establishing a government.

24 Hour Probe

In 1959, the CIA covertly accessed, disassembled, photographed, and reassembled a fully operational Soviet lunar probe, which they obtained from a Soviet exhibit touring several countries. The team of CIA officers had 24 hours of unrestricted access to the probe, allowing them to gather invaluable intelligence on its design and capabilities before returning it undetected.

Gary Webb

Gary Webb, the journalist who exposed the CIA’s involvement in the Contra-Crack scandal, tragically died by suicide under suspicious circumstances, with two gunshot wounds to the head.

“Kill the Messenger” is a 2014 biographical crime thriller film about Webb and how he uncovered the CIA’s involvement in drug trafficking to fund Nicaraguan Contras in the 1980s.

CIA Robots

During the 1990s, the CIA developed a robotic catfish named “Charlie.” The CIA designed this unmanned underwater vehicle to covertly collect water samples using a line-of-sight radio handset. However, the details of its missions remain classified.

They also used an “insectothopter,” a tiny robotic dragonfly that could eavesdrop on otherwise inaudible conversations. 

SR-71

At Area 51, the CIA tested the SR-71 radar signature by mounting it on a pole in the desert. Every day, just before a Soviet satellite passed overhead, they removed it.

However, the shadow left on the hot desert dirt created a temperature differential, revealing the jet’s exact shape to the Soviets.

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