The fake film company that gave six Americans a way out of Tehran
The CIA’s Argo cover brought Hollywood paperwork to a Canadian rescue effort. Six diplomats had spent almost three months hidden in Canadian homes.
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A fake Russian handler drew out the secrets of an American interrogation chief
George Trofimoff’s filmed meeting with an undercover FBI agent became central evidence in the espionage trial that ended his years of freedom.
The spycatcher who guessed a retired NSA clerk’s secret password
An undercover FBI officer used a chess clue to gain Robert Lipka’s trust decades after his Soviet spying. The old case ended in a guilty plea.
The CIA mole whose cash deposits outpaced the hunt for him
Aldrich Ames sold secrets to Moscow for nine years. An inspector general review later traced the missed opportunities that delayed his arrest.
The convicted satellite spy who vanished through a prison drainage hole
Christopher Boyce escaped while serving a 40-year espionage sentence. Nineteen months later, marshals found him outside a small restaurant in Washington state.
The U-2 pilot’s survival exposed Washington’s weather-flight story
Francis Gary Powers survived being shot down over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. His capture gave Moscow the evidence to unravel America’s cover account.