The History of

Espionage
for the
United States
Mr. Markle
United States History

George Washington
Spymaster

Not only the father of our

country, Washington proved
to be the father of our
countrys spy system
Washington deployed
numerous spies throughout
the colonies during the war,
valuing the information
that they could provide him
He oversaw the vast
network that was created,
thus establishing himself as the spymaster

Espionage
and the
American Revolutionary
War

The deeper Commander-in-Chief George Washington got in his war for American
Independence, the greater became his conviction that espionage was an essential
component of his outgunned and outnumbered Continental Army.
Washington contrived to allow a known British agent to steal a specially prepared
document that put his Continental Army at twelve thousand strong. The boy who
"could not tell a lie" had grown into a man who made deception a fine art.
However, early in the war he functioned alone. His first attempt at creating a
"professional" American espionage organization had ended badly, with the deaths
of two of his elite "rangers," Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton and Captain
Nathan Hale. Both men, though wise to the ways of the forests and fields, were
alas unfamiliar with the particular tricks of spycraft.
By the summer of 1777, George Washington had evolved an elaborate system of
spies and back-ups to spies, in order that he might cross-reference his intelligence
data as well as avoid total disaster if the enemy captured more agents.

The Mechanics

1st known intelligence network in the colonies (for

the Patriot side)
Also known as the Liberty Boys
Sprung from the Sons of Liberty that had grown
in opposition to the Stamp Act
Surveyed British troop movements and known
Tories
Stole British supplies and sabotaged their
fortifications

Washington retained full and final authority over Continental Army intelligence
activities, but he delegated significant field responsibility to
trusted officers specially designated to assist him in conducting intelligence
operations. The first to assume this role appears to have been Joseph Reed, who
fulfilled the duties of Secretary, Adjutant General, and Quarter Master. A later
successor was Alexander Hamilton, known to have been deeply involved with the
Commander-in-Chief's intelligence operations, including developing reports
received in secret writing and investigating a suspected double agent.
The Culper Ring was organized by Benjamin Tallmadge in the summer of 1778.
The Ring's task was to send messages about British activities and sabatouge, and
was active through 1781.
Hercules Mulligan, an Irish immigrant, was the first to alert Washington to two
British plans to capture the American Commander-in-Chief and to a planned
incursion into Pennsylvania. Besides being an American agent, Mulligan was an
active member of the Sons of Liberty and the New York Committees of
Correspondence and Observation.

Nathan Hale

American folk hero and revolutionary war centerpiece Nathan

Hale is widely regarded as the first American spy. Hes the
man who said the oft-quoted line I only regret that I have but
one life to give my country,

Major John Andr was captured on a mission for British Secret

Intelligence, in which he was attempting to purchase the surrender of
West Point from American General Benedict Arnold. He s been called the
British Nathan Hale, and was compared to the American while in
captivity. He was found to be so likable in this way that the American
guards themselves befriended him.

John Honeyman and the

Battle of Trenton

Was a spy recruited for specific purpose: to provide information on the

British winter quarters at Trenton
In fall of 1776, moves to New Brunswick, NJ and begins life as a cattle
farmer
Sells meat to British troops, so he is publicly viewed as a British supporter
December 22nd, 1776: Washington arrests Honeyman
While being detained, he reveals to Washington that the British had
returned to New York City leaving only the Hessians, He also provided
maps of the incomplete and weakly defended fortifications
Honeyman escaped from Washington and quickly reported back to the Hessians
He informed them that Washingtons army was in no way prepared to fight; lulled
them into a sense of security

Espionage
and the
American Civil War

Belle Boyd has been called the Cleopatra of the Secession, and she gave
information to Confederate General Stonewall Jackson during the war.
Belle was turned against the Union army when a group of soldiers
assaulted her mother and she was forced to fire upon and kill one in her
defense. Since that moment, though she was later exonerated in court, she
did not ever seem to get over the ordeal, and began eliciting information
from the army officers using her feminine whiles. She would then ferry
the information using slaves, as she was in Virginia at the time.

Rose O'Neal Greenhow was a rich, attractive, and outgoing widow, born in Maryland.
She was a very popular member of Washington's social circle so most of her friends
were former presidents, senators, and generals.
Her job was to gather valuable information to report for Rebel Government. Allan
Pinkerton was very suspious about Rose's activities so he arrested her in August
1861. They searched her house and found very detailed maps of Washington's
fortifications. She was then sent to prison in January 1862.
After getting out of jail she had another assignment, she was forced to the sand bar.
She was very scared someone would catch her and place her in prison again, so
they took a small life boat. There was a large storm during the time she was gone, a
few days later her body had washed up on shore.

Prior to his service with the Union Army, Allan Pinkerton developed several
investigative techniques that are still used today. Among them are "shadowing"
(surveillance of a suspect) and "assuming a role" (undercover work). Following the
outbreak of the Civil War, Pinkerton served as head of the Union Intelligence Service
in 186162 and foiled an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland, while
guarding Abraham Lincoln on his way to his inauguration. His agents often worked
undercover as Confederate soldiers and sympathizers, in an effort to gather military
intelligence. Pinkerton served in several undercover missions under the alias of Major
E.J. Allen. Pinkerton was succeeded as Intelligence Service chief by Lafayette Baker.
The Intelligence Service was the forerunner of the U.S. Secret Service. He arrested
Rose O'Neal Greenhow, an actress/Confederate spy, by looking through her window.

Espionage
and the
First World War

During the First World War, Sylvanus Griswold Morley gathered intelligence about
and reported on the movements of German operatives in Latin America,
information which was of keen interest to the U.S. Government. Morley was one of
a number of Naval Intelligence operatives working in the region under the guise of
conducting scholarly research. Their mission was to seek out evidence of proGerman and anti-American agitation in the Mexico-Central America region and to
look for secret German submarine bases. Morleys archaeological work provided a
ready excuse to travel the countryside armed with photographic equipment, and he
himself traveled more than 2,000 miles along the coastlines of Central America in
search of evidence for German bases.

The Security Service commonly known as MI5 (Military Intelligence, Section 5),
is the United Kingdom's counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of
the intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6)
The Security Service is derived from the Secret Service Bureau, founded in 1909
in a national climate of pre-war paranoia and possibly influenced by invasion
literature to control secret intelligence operations in the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland and overseas, particularly concentrating on the activities of the
Imperial German government as a joint initiative of the Admiralty and the War
Office. MI5, in essence, supplies the US with both intelligence and assisted in the
training and establishment of an American intelligence organization, as well as
creating a nearly perfect deep cover moles.

Mata Hari

Born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, Mata Hari is one of the

most widely known names in history. Beautiful, scandalous,
sexy and shrewd, this exotic dancer and courtesan is believed
to have worked her way into the fabric of World War I as a
double agent.

Espionage
and the
Second World War

OPERATIVES, SPIES, & SABOTEURS: The Men and

Women of World War II and the OSS

Well before D-Day, America was waging a covert war throughout

the Nazi-controlled lands of Europea war of espionage, intrigue,
and savage violence. Deep behind German lines, saboteurs blasted
bridges and tunnels, spies ferreted out crucial information and
relayed it back to the Allies, and uniformed soldiers parachuted from
blacked-out planes to organize resistance movements (much as
Special Forces soldiers did in Afghanistan and Iraq). Sometimes
these "shadow warriors" fought pitched battles against the Axis foe;
sometimes the killing was silent and targeted. In Operatives, Spies,
and Saboteurs, author Patrick K. ODonnell draws upon recently
declassified archives and hundreds of interviews with OSS veterans
to reveal the intricacies of this fascinating covert war.

Way back in the ancient times, before MI6 and the CIA, there was Scotland Yard. And from this
old-timey British spy-hub, there was a man on a mission, and his name was Sidney Reilly. A
Ukrainian born Jew, born Georgi Rosenblum, Reilly would come to be known as the Ace of
Spies as he swaggered his way across Europe and Asia in the name of Crown and Country. His
entire life was shrouded in mystery while simultaneously flaunted and recorded for posterity.
He is the basis for Ian Flemings creation: James Bond. Amazing that today, we dont come
across this extraordinary mans name unless weve got our noses buried in history books.

The Cambridge Five: While only four of the original group were ever
discovered and captured, the group was always known to be five members
at its core, and the Cambridge Five made waves during the great red-scare
at the end of the second World War and into the 1950 s by spying for the
Soviets in the UK.

Espionage
and the
Cold War

Working concurrently to the Rosenbergs to get atomic bomb data to the Soviets,
Fuchs was convicted in 1950 and sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment. They do
things a bit differently in British courts, apparently. His confessions implicated a man
who would just three years later become the chief witness against the Julius and
Ethel Rosenberg. He is largely credited with playing the largest role of all spies in the
USSRs successful acquisition of nuclear bomb technology at break-neck speed
something that had until that point baffled the American scientific and intelligence
communities.

Making history by becoming the first civilians to be executed for

espionage in the United States, the Rosenbergs had been accused and
found guilty of divulging secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviets in the
early 1950s. They were both put to death by the Sing Sing electric chair at
sundown on June 19th, 1953 in New York.

Spy Equipment
Without reliable means of communication,
any information gathered would be useless.
Communication devices often preceded or at
least equaled the most modern technology
available.
Defense against the bad guy was an ugly, but
necessary part of survival.

The most commonly-used espionage

camera was the Minox; shown with a
British camera that fit inside a match box.

List of codes to be used by a British agent, printed on silk,

containing four letter codes for a large number of sentences.
Time on the air was the greatest danger as the Gestapo
direction finders could rapidly pinpoint transmissions

The Office of Strategic Services provided agents with a wide

range of espionage tools, including silk maps; crossbows and
arrows; miniature telescopes and compasses; barter kits; and a
pipe that could be smoked without damaging the hidden
compass and maps concealed inside.

This case displays a wide array of spy equipment, including cameras, garrotes, and
various firing devices. Among the items shown: A woman's shoe with a concealed
heel blade; a paratrooper hatchet used by the Resistance to cut telephone and
electric lines; a sword blade with a dagger handle, made by the OSS and dropped to
Filipino guerrillas; cigarette lighter cameras; and a full range of cameras, both from
the U.S. and the Soviets