for questions about claims based on espionage and spies.
Questions tagged [espionage]
15 questions
59
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2 answers
Did the Allies reverse the threads on secret microfilm-hiding buttons to thwart the Germans?
Here is an anecdote that I recall reading as a child:
During World War II, the English found a way to smuggle microfilm past the German authorities. They sewed a hollow button to their jackets that could be unscrewed to reveal a tiny, secret…
Oddthinking
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28
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Can mobile phones be tracked when they're switched off?
Seeing as mobile phones aren't sending signals when switched off, is it possible to track a mobile phone when it's switched off?
NSA growth fueled by need to target terrorists
By September 2004, a new NSA technique enabled the agency to find…
Jan Vladimir Mostert
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27
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Did the FBI plant an informant in the Trump campaign during the Obama administration?
Donald Trump has tweeted allegations of the US's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) planting spies in his 2016 presidential campaign:
Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI “SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT.”…
Mawg says reinstate Monica
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Are these reports alleging the existence of blackmail material by the Russian intelligence on Donald Trump a hoax perpetuated by 4chan?
Buzzfeed published this PDF alleged to by from a former British intelligence officer containing notable allegations including:
The Russian regime has been working with Trump for at least five years
Donald Trump engaged in 'golden showers' in a…
dwjohnston
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Was Oppenheimer a spy passing nuclear secrets to Soviet agents?
From Los Angeles Times:
A Soviet spy chief's memoirs published here today claim that the late J. Robert Oppenheimer, head of the U.S. atomic bomb project during and after World War II, passed nuclear secrets to Soviet agents.
Was Oppenheimer a spy…
Carlo Alterego
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19
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Did the CIA feed false information to McCarthy to discredit his true claims that they were infiltrated by Soviet agents?
In Legacy of Ashes (which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction), Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Tim Weiner, claims that:
McCarthy's file grew thick with allegations that "the CIA had unwittingly hired a large number of double…
Jayson Virissimo
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19
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Is Kaspersky Lab a military unit?
In this article, McClatchy DC bureau claims that one of the certificates the Kaspersky Lab received from Russian FSB/KGB reveals that the entire Kaspersky Lab joint-stock company is actually a FSB military unit #43753.
Kaspersky Lab is a company…
Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
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Is Huawei the front for a Chinese espionage attempt?
There are a lot of rumors and claims being made that products manufactured by Huawei act suspiciously or in a non-standard way in order to send information "back home" or to facilitate unauthorized access. The more general claim is that Huawei is…
Sonny Ordell
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Was a server owned by Donald Trump configured to selectively communicate with a Russian bank?
Recently, reports in left-leaning publications have come out alleging potential cooperation (for lack of a better word) between Donald Trump and Russian sources.
In particular, Slate.com's "Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia?" documents…
rougon
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Were many of the people McCarthy accused paid Soviet spies?
According to an answer on this question on the WorldBuilding StackExchange
There were plenty of communists in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. It's popular today to laugh at the paranoia of Joe McCarthy et al. But in fact when the Soviet…
Fluidized Pigeon Reactor
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8
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Is Yuri Bezmenov still alive?
Yuri Bezmenov, was a former KGB agent who defected to the USA, and is well known for his claims that the KGB was/is involved in an attempt to "brainwash" the USA through ideological subversion.
Wikipedia references a Windsor Public Library obituary…
Kenshin
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5
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Does the Chinese government officially have access to IT equipment sold abroad?
In this segment from an RT program with Rick Sanchez, published June 6th 2019, a person named James Jordan, from the Stanford U Hoover Institute, claims (03:20) that "Chinese government agencies have access by law and by right to all tech products…
einpoklum
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Do 100,000 foreign spies reside in the US?
CNN Declassified, "Spies among us: Get a peek at their playbook" by Thom Patterson, Updated July 18, 2017, reports of an expert estimate of 100,000 foreign agents:
(CNN)Spies are living among us.
In the United States alone, one expert estimates…
agc
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Was the "Chinese spy balloon" a project of the University of Fairbanks to study the weather above the North Pole?
When asked about his take on the balloon shot down that the US government say was a Chinese spy balloon, Seymour Hersh says it was more likely a [federally funded] project of the University of Fairbanks, to study the weather above the North Pole.…
Fizz
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Did CIA interrogator Charlie Wise die?
I'm interested in Charlie Wise, the CIA interrogator and torturer. Several sources indicate that he died.
However, it seems quite plausible to me that these reports were part of an effort by the CIA to prevent Wise's prosecution and stymie further…
sondra.kinsey
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