Kiriakou also wrote Doing Time Like a Spy: How the CIA Taught Me to Survive and Thrive in Prison. The book has been described as being a “part jailhouse memoir and part tradecraft manual”, which shares the CIA skills that kept him at the top of the prison pecking order. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Intelligence Tradecraft P - Z. 'The Spies Who Are Really Out in the Cold.' Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 22-28 Jan. 'One of the most sensitive debates in the U.S. Intelligence community is whether to step up the overseas use of NOCs 'nonofficial cover' officers, not only by the CIA but also by the Pentagon's Defense.
For decades, rumors of top-secret “magic” manuals swirled within CIA circles.
The long-lost guides were said to have been written by a prominent magician, but many officers dismissed them as myth, believing them too fantastical to be true.
But in 2007, retired CIA officer Robert Wallace unearthed an extraordinary archived file and is now making its contents available to the public for the first time.
The file contained once highly-classified manuals written in the early 1950s by American magician John Mulholland that detailed the secrets of magic that could enhance the art of espionage.
It was thought that every copy of his reports had been destroyed in 1973.
But Wallace obtained surviving copies and, with intelligence historian H. Keith Melton, combined the two manuals — one examining sleight of hand techniques and the other on covert signaling — into one book, recently released by publisher HarperCollins.
Complete with illustrations, “The Official C.I.A. Manual of Trickery and Deception” describes a wide range of Mulholland’s Houdini-like tricks designed to help spies pull off a number of clandestine operations, such as slipping poison into an enemy’s drink or surreptitiously removing documents.
Other magician-historians previously established Mulholland’s connection to the CIA and printed portions of his reports – and one, Michael Edwards, said he received full copies of the reports from the CIA in 2003. But the authors say their book is the first to publish the historical documents in their entirety.
Mulholland’s manual describes how a spy could use the friendly gesture of lighting another person’s cigarette to covertly drop a pill into the person’s drink
‘Magic’ Manual Was Part of CIA Effort to Counter Russians
“The idea to overlap the tradecraft of espionage and the rich tradecraft of magic is very innovative and certainly established a pattern of activity and relationships that continue to make the country stronger,” said Melton, a specialist in clandestine technology who has written several books on spycraft. “What we learn about is how to use deception, and how deception can be tactically employed to support the work of intelligence officers in the field.”
Peter Earnest, a 36-year veteran of the CIA who now serves as executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, said though he knew that the agency consulted with individuals of varying expertise through the years, until Wallace and Melton’s book, he didn’t know it had worked with John Mulholland, a top American magician at the time.
“It has significance. It was very tightly held,” he said. “It’s an interesting piece of agency history.”
Wallace said Mulholland’s work was commissioned as part of a larger secret CIA project called MKULTRA. Launched in 1953, the Cold War-era program’s goal was to understand and counter claims that the Russians had mastered mind control and other unorthodox interrogation and surveillance techniques. Bijoy bayanno 2018.
Convinced that the Soviets employed more sophisticated tactics, the CIA charged MKULTRA officers with exploring all kinds of unconventional areas. Some projects researched LSD and other exotic chemicals; others probed the possibility of honing ESP and other paranormal skills.
To stealthily remove a document from a desk, Mulholland recommends dotting the bottom of a book with a special wax. When the book is lowered on top of the paper, it will affix the paper to the book and allow the spy to remove the paper without attracting attention.
CIA Convinced the Russians Employed More Sophisticated Techniques
Wallace and Melton’s book describes how MKULTRA chemists attempted to develop “invisible” inks and poisons derived from shellfish and cobra venom. It even details several creative plots targeting Cuban leader Fidel Castro, including dusting his boots with a chemical that would make his beard fall off to mar his “macho” image.
Melton said that though these schemes may sound surreal, at the time the CIA believed it needed to cover all its bases and explore all possibilities, no matter how far-fetched they seemed.
“This wasn’t done for fun, this wasn’t done for amusement, this was activity undertaken by the leadership of this nation for its defense and protection,” he said. It was “a time when the U.S. government faced a serious international threat from the spread of communism, and the government turned to the CIA to develop techniques and capabilities that could sustain world freedom.”
Mulholland describes how a modified fuel tank, only partially filled with gas, could conceal a person in a special cavity.
While Mulholland’s contribution wasn’t the central focus of MKULTRA, Wallace said it was still significant. As scientists developed new materials that could be used in clandestine operations, officers needed equally clandestine ways to deliver them.
“Who could teach you covert ways of delivering small objects or powders?” he asked. “Magicians.”
Mulholland Wanted to Establish Magic as a Fine Art
Ben Robinson, magician and author of “The MagiCIAn: John Mulholland’s Secret Life,” said Mulholland’s manuals marked just one part of his more than 20-year involvement with the CIA.
As the CIA’s “magician in residence,” Mulholland was also tasked with exploring the paranormal and distinguishing real psychics from imposters, Robinson said.
But Robinson emphasized that the CIA fascinated Mulholland because “his entire life’s purpose was to spread the gospel that magic was an art, like ballet or painting — one of the fine arts.”
“Consequently, his work for the intelligence world was the pinnacle of that artistic achievement because he was practicing the magician’s craft in a completely hidden milieu,” he said.
Knowing that his audience was composed of those mostly unfamiliar with his craft, in his manuals Mulholland described his techniques as plainly as possible.
Mulholland’s advice was surprisingly simple, Wallace said, emphasizing that the conjurer’s feat is accomplished with the most common objects. Unassuming items like lead No. 2 pencils and matchbooks make the difference in many a Mulholland magic trick.
But while there isn’t evidence that any of Mulholland’s tricks were executed by CIA officers, Wallace said the principles and techniques have been applied in field operations.
“What we do know is that many of the concealment techniques, as well as covert signals and passing of documents, were regularly used in the field,” he said. “They are parallel to what he wrote in the manual.”
Cia Tradecraft Manuals
Given both the magician and the spy’s concern with secretive communication, concealment and misdirection, the authors said Mulholland’s guidance had a lasting impact.
The Magician and the Spy Both Deceive and Misdirect
“Prior to that point, I believe that people kind of intuitively had adopted the principles of deception without realizing that what they were doing was essentially exactly what magicians do,” Melton said.
The magician and the spy face different stakes — one risks reputation, the other his life. And while the magician can control the stage, lighting and the audience’s line of sight, the spy must work in an unpredictable environment, Melton said.
Still, he emphasized, both must plan a process of deception and misdirection to successfully execute a performance.
“The lesson of Mulholland is that events don’t happen as single isolated events. ?They become part of a clandestine choreography that when successful allows the operation to take place without any awareness of surveillance or bystanders,” he said. “Mulholland taught that the world is a stage and everywhere you perform you can prepare it so that there’s more chance for success.”
But the spy is unlike the magician in one more key way: He never gets to take his bow.
“When it’s successful,” Melton said. “Silence replaces applauses.”
To deliver a special liquid, Mulholland suggested inserting a small container in the fold of a wallet. When the wallet is closed and squeezed the liquid would be discharged.
Tradecraft, within the intelligence community, refers to the techniques, methods and technologies used in modern espionage (spying) and generally, as part of the activity of intelligence assessment. This includes general topics or techniques (dead drops, for example), or the specific techniques of a nation or organization (the particular form of encryption (encoding) used by the National Security Agency, for example).
Examples[edit]
- Agent handling is the management of espionage agents, principal agents, and agent networks (called 'assets') by intelligence officers, who are typically known as case officers.
- Analytic tradecraft is the body of specific methods for intelligence analysis.
- Black bag operations are covert or clandestine entries into structures or locations to obtain information for human intelligence operations. This may require breaking and entering, lock picking, safe cracking, key impressions, fingerprinting, photography, electronic surveillance (including audio and video surveillance), mail manipulation ('flaps and seals'), forgery, and a host of other related skills.
- Concealment devices are used to hide things for the purpose of secrecy or security. Examples in espionage include dead drop spikes for transferring notes or small items to other people, and hollowed-out coins or teeth for concealing suicide pills.
- Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties (called adversaries).[1] More generally, it is about constructing and analyzing communications protocols that block adversaries.
- A cut-out is a mutually trusted intermediary, method or channel of communication, facilitating the exchange of information between agents. People playing the role of cutouts usually only know the source and destination of the information to be transmitted, but are unaware of the identities of any other persons involved in the espionage process. Thus, a captured cutout cannot be used to identify members of an espionage cell.
- A dead drop or 'dead letter box' is a method of espionage tradecraft used to pass items between two individuals using a secret location and thus does not require them to meet directly. Using a dead drop permits a case officer and agent to exchange objects and information while maintaining operational security. The method stands in contrast to the 'live drop', so-called because two persons meet to exchange items or information.
- 'Drycleaning' is a countersurveillance technique for discerning how many 'tails' (following enemy agents) an agent is being followed by, and by moving about, seemingly oblivious to being tailed, perhaps losing some or all of those doing surveillance.[2]
- Eavesdropping is secretly listening to the conversation of others without their consent, typically using a hidden microphone or a 'bugged' or 'tapped' phone line.
- False flag operations is a covert military or paramilitary operation designed to deceive in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by entities, groups, or nations other than those who actually planned and executed them. Operations carried out during peace-time by civilian organizations, as well as covert government agencies, may by extension be called false flag.
- A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies. Front organizations can act for the parent group without the actions being attributed to the parent group. A front organization may appear to be a business, a foundation, or another organization.
- A honey trap is a deceptive operation in which an attractive agent lures a targeted person into a romantic liaison and encourages them to divulge secret information during or after a sexual encounter.
- Interrogation is a type of interviewing employed by officers of the police, military, and intelligence agencies with the goal of eliciting useful information from an uncooperative suspect. Interrogation may involve a diverse array of techniques, ranging from developing a rapport with the subject, to repeated questions, to sleep deprivation or, in some countries, torture.
Cia Tradecraft Manual
- A legend refers to a person with a well-prepared and credible made-up identity (cover background) who may attempt to infiltrate a target organization, as opposed to recruiting a pre-existing employee whose knowledge can be exploited.
- A limited hangout is a partial admission of wrongdoing, with the intent of shutting down the further inquiry.
- A microdot is text or an image substantially reduced in size onto a small disc to prevent detection by unintended recipients or officials who are searching for them. Microdots are, fundamentally, a steganographic approach to message protection. In Germany after the Berlin Wall was erected, special cameras were used to generate microdots that were then adhered to letters and sent through the mail. These microdots often went unnoticed by inspectors, and information could be read by the intended recipient using a microscope.
- A one-time pad is an encryption technique that cannot be cracked if used correctly. In this technique, a plaintext is paired with random, secret key (or pad).
- One-way voice link is typically a radio-based communication method used by spy networks to communicate with agents in the field typically (but not exclusively) using shortwave radio frequencies. Since the 1970s infrared point to point communication systems have been used that offer one-way voice links[citation needed], but the number of users was always limited. A Numbers Station is an example of a one-way voice link, often broadcasting to a field agent who may already know the intended meaning of the code, or use a one-time pad to decode. These numbers stations will continue to broadcast gibberish or random messages according to their usual schedule; this is done to expend the resources of one's adversaries as they try in vain to make sense of the data, and to avoid revealing the purpose of the station or activity of agents by broadcasting solely when needed.
- Steganography is the art or practice of concealing a message, image, or file within another message, image, or file. Generally, the hidden message will appear to be (or be part of) something else: images, articles, shopping lists, or some other cover text. For example, the hidden message may be in invisible ink between the visible lines of a private letter.[3] The advantage of steganography over cryptography alone is that the intended secret message does not attract attention to itself as an object of scrutiny. Plainly visible encrypted messages—no matter how unbreakable—will arouse interest, and may in themselves be incriminating in countries where encryption is illegal.[4]
- Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people for the purpose of influencing, managing, directing, or protecting them. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment (such as CCTV cameras), or interception of electronically transmitted information (such as Internet traffic or phone calls); and it can include simple, relatively no- or low-technology methods such as human intelligence agents watching a person and postal interception. The word surveillance comes from a French phrase for 'watching over' ('sur' means 'from above' and 'veiller' means 'to watch').
- TEMPEST is a National Security Agency specification and NATO certification[5][6] referring to spying on information systems through leaking emanations, including unintentional radio or electrical signals, sounds, and vibrations. TEMPEST covers both methods to spy upon others and also how to shield equipment against such spying. The protection efforts are also known as emission security (EMSEC), which is a subset of communications security (COMSEC).[7][8]
In popular culture[edit]
In books[edit]
In the books of such authors as thriller writer Grant Blackwood, espionage writer Tom Clancy, and spy novelistsIan Fleming and John le Carré, characters frequently engage in tradecraft, e.g., making or retrieving items from 'dead drops', 'dry cleaning', and wiring, using, or sweeping for intelligence gathering devices, such as cameras or microphones hidden in the subjects' quarters, vehicles, clothing, or accessories.
In film[edit]
- In the 2012 film Zero Dark Thirty, the main CIA operative Maya, noted that her suspected senior al-Queda courier was exhibiting signs of using tradecraft.[9]
- In the 2006 action thriller motion picture Mission: Impossible III, an operative hid a microdot on the back of a postage stamp. The microdot contained a magnetically stored video file.
- In the 2003 sci-fi film Paycheck, a microdot is a key plot element; the film shows how well a microdot can be made to blend into an environment and how much information such a dot can carry.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Rivest, Ronald L. (1990). 'Cryptology'. In J. Van Leeuwen (ed.). Handbook of Theoretical Computer Science. 1. Elsevier.
- ^Grant Blackwood and James Patterson (Editor) (2006). 'Sacrificial Lion'. Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
- ^Fridrich, Jessica; M. Goljan; D. Soukal (2004). Delp Iii, Edward J; Wong, Ping W (eds.). 'Searching for the Stego Key'(PDF). Proc. SPIE, Electronic Imaging, Security, Steganography, and Watermarking of Multimedia Contents VI. Security, Steganography, and Watermarking of Multimedia Contents VI. 5306: 70–82. doi:10.1117/12.521353. S2CID6773772. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
- ^Pahati, OJ (2001-11-29). 'Confounding Carnivore: How to Protect Your Online Privacy'. AlterNet. Archived from the original on 2007-07-16. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
- ^Product Delivery Order Requirements Package Checklist(PDF), US Air Force, archived from the original(PDF) on 2014-12-29
- ^TEMPEST Equipment Selection Process, NATO Information Assurance, 1981
- ^https://fas.org/spp/starwars/program/sbl/09a_10_Jul_DD_254_Attach.htm
- ^http://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/saf_cio_a6/publication/afi33-200/afi33-200.pdf
- ^Jeremy Beck (13 January 2013). 'Zero Dark Thirty: Terror, Torture, and Tradecraft'. MovieManifesto. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
Cia Tradecraft Manual
Further reading[edit]
- Dhar, M.K. Intelligence Trade Craft: Secrets of Spy Warfare. ISBN9788170493990, 2011.
- Jenkins, Peter, Surveillance Tradecraft, ISBN978 09535378 22, Intel Publishing UK, 2010.
- Topalian, Paul Charles. Tradecraft Primer: A Framework for Aspiring Interrogators. CRC Press, 2016.