1 00:00:06,208 --> 00:00:09,000 Narrator: Eavesdropping, poison, 2 00:00:09,083 --> 00:00:11,917 secret devices, 3 00:00:12,042 --> 00:00:14,458 and murder. 4 00:00:14,542 --> 00:00:16,167 As technology advances, 5 00:00:16,250 --> 00:00:19,708 the tools of spycraft grow more sophisticated... 6 00:00:19,833 --> 00:00:24,125 The beauty of this device is it's basically invisible to detection techniques. 7 00:00:24,208 --> 00:00:26,250 Narrator: ...and more deadly. 8 00:00:26,375 --> 00:00:30,208 Does this pistol fire the dart? 9 00:00:30,333 --> 00:00:33,333 The CIA has an unlimited budget and no oversight. 10 00:00:33,458 --> 00:00:37,333 Narrator: Espionage reaches peak intensity during the Cold War. 11 00:00:37,500 --> 00:00:40,667 It enters the human body and then melts, leaving no trace. 12 00:00:40,750 --> 00:00:44,250 Powers: It was a very ingenious way to deliver a poison. 13 00:00:44,375 --> 00:00:47,292 Narrator: From killer toxins to flying robots... 14 00:00:47,375 --> 00:00:50,375 O'Donnell: They have basically created a cyborg cat. 15 00:00:50,500 --> 00:00:52,500 Gary Powers: This device was ahead of its time. 16 00:00:52,667 --> 00:00:56,375 ...the world of clandestine intelligence has few limits... 17 00:00:56,500 --> 00:00:57,917 O'Donnell: They are engaged in efforts 18 00:00:58,042 --> 00:00:59,833 to assassinate foreign officials, 19 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,000 and this causes a firestorm. 20 00:01:02,167 --> 00:01:04,417 ...and many dark secrets. 21 00:01:04,542 --> 00:01:10,167 Not all inventions are made with good intentions. 22 00:01:10,292 --> 00:01:12,042 Unlock the twisted history 23 00:01:12,167 --> 00:01:14,750 behind the world's darkest marvels. 24 00:01:19,375 --> 00:01:23,000 For millennia, humans have relied on devious methods 25 00:01:23,167 --> 00:01:25,417 to protect state secrets. 26 00:01:25,542 --> 00:01:27,333 Jackson: As long as there have been governments, 27 00:01:27,500 --> 00:01:30,042 or the need to procure information 28 00:01:30,167 --> 00:01:31,958 that is otherwise not accessible, 29 00:01:32,042 --> 00:01:33,667 espionage has been there. 30 00:01:33,792 --> 00:01:35,667 Espionage shows up in the Old Testament. 31 00:01:35,792 --> 00:01:37,208 You know, the story of Moses 32 00:01:37,333 --> 00:01:39,125 leading the Israelites out of Egypt, 33 00:01:39,250 --> 00:01:41,083 they get to the doorstep of the Promised Land, 34 00:01:41,208 --> 00:01:43,250 and he decides to send 12 spies in 35 00:01:43,375 --> 00:01:45,292 to see are the people there strong or weak? 36 00:01:45,375 --> 00:01:46,958 Are they friendly or foe? 37 00:01:47,083 --> 00:01:48,500 So this was an early example 38 00:01:48,625 --> 00:01:50,500 of that kind of-- the need for intel, 39 00:01:50,625 --> 00:01:53,250 the need for spies in order to protect oneself. 40 00:01:53,375 --> 00:01:56,750 Sun Tzu's classic book written in 400 B.C., 41 00:01:56,875 --> 00:01:58,208 "The Art of War," 42 00:01:58,333 --> 00:02:00,542 basically says what any good general 43 00:02:00,667 --> 00:02:04,208 or great leader needs is foreknowledge, 44 00:02:04,375 --> 00:02:06,500 and that foreknowledge, of course, comes from spies. 45 00:02:06,625 --> 00:02:12,375 Narrator: The best spies were often those you'd least expect. 46 00:02:12,500 --> 00:02:15,833 Powers: During the Middle Ages, there would be clergy involved 47 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:17,375 in espionage activities. 48 00:02:17,542 --> 00:02:21,000 They could read, write multiple languages, 49 00:02:21,167 --> 00:02:22,958 and they could blend in to society. 50 00:02:23,083 --> 00:02:25,500 They were a trusted figure. 51 00:02:25,583 --> 00:02:29,333 Narrator: Some even go on to inspire popular culture, 52 00:02:29,458 --> 00:02:34,167 like Queen Elizabeth I's favorite spy, John Dee. 53 00:02:34,333 --> 00:02:38,000 O'Donnell: John Dee is a magician in the court of Queen Elizabeth. 54 00:02:38,167 --> 00:02:41,000 He travels on her behalf and sends back letters 55 00:02:41,125 --> 00:02:43,667 that are marked for her eyes only. 56 00:02:43,792 --> 00:02:48,542 Whitaker: Queen Elizabeth knew that in order to retain power, 57 00:02:48,667 --> 00:02:52,125 she was gonna have to keep a tight grip on things. 58 00:02:52,208 --> 00:02:54,000 One of the ways she did that 59 00:02:54,083 --> 00:02:57,583 was a very sophisticated espionage structure, 60 00:02:57,708 --> 00:03:01,583 and that's to say that she sees all 61 00:03:01,708 --> 00:03:04,042 and she hears all. 62 00:03:04,167 --> 00:03:07,542 And if there is any inkling of treason, 63 00:03:07,708 --> 00:03:10,208 she will find it out. 64 00:03:10,333 --> 00:03:12,042 Jackson: John Dee is sending correspondence 65 00:03:12,167 --> 00:03:14,458 in which he signs with two O's, 66 00:03:14,542 --> 00:03:16,167 a double O, and then a seven. 67 00:03:16,333 --> 00:03:18,625 The reason for that is the two O's 68 00:03:18,708 --> 00:03:19,917 are meant to indicate 69 00:03:20,042 --> 00:03:21,333 that it's for the Queen's eyes only. 70 00:03:21,417 --> 00:03:23,500 Seven has a connotation with magic. 71 00:03:23,625 --> 00:03:26,292 And of course, that 007 may very well have been 72 00:03:26,375 --> 00:03:29,417 the inspiration for James Bond. 73 00:03:29,542 --> 00:03:33,083 Narrator: In time, spies start using specialty tools 74 00:03:33,208 --> 00:03:35,542 to help them win wars. 75 00:03:35,708 --> 00:03:39,875 Powers: George Washington was our first spymaster. 76 00:03:40,042 --> 00:03:42,167 During the Revolutionary War, 77 00:03:42,292 --> 00:03:44,375 General Washington needed to get information 78 00:03:44,500 --> 00:03:47,583 about the strengths and weaknesses of the British. 79 00:03:47,708 --> 00:03:50,042 O'Donnell: They develop a unique form of invisible ink 80 00:03:50,167 --> 00:03:51,833 which they would write messages, 81 00:03:51,958 --> 00:03:54,167 and then the receiver would have a chemical 82 00:03:54,292 --> 00:03:57,292 that they could spread on it which would then reveal the message. 83 00:03:59,542 --> 00:04:03,292 Narrator: But there's also a much darker side. 84 00:04:03,375 --> 00:04:07,000 Spies who are captured pay the ultimate price. 85 00:04:07,083 --> 00:04:09,667 Young: The Tower of London, originally it was built 86 00:04:09,750 --> 00:04:13,000 to keep potential enemies away, 87 00:04:13,083 --> 00:04:17,333 but it quickly developed into a prison 88 00:04:17,458 --> 00:04:19,000 to hold people in. 89 00:04:19,125 --> 00:04:21,333 Narrator: Including 11 enemy spies 90 00:04:21,500 --> 00:04:23,250 caught during World War I 91 00:04:23,375 --> 00:04:26,000 who are tortured 92 00:04:26,125 --> 00:04:28,500 and finally executed by firing squad. 93 00:04:30,792 --> 00:04:33,542 As the Cold War launches after World War II, 94 00:04:33,667 --> 00:04:38,250 espionage hits a whole new level of intensity 95 00:04:38,375 --> 00:04:39,917 and subterfuge. 96 00:04:42,083 --> 00:04:45,000 August, 1945. 97 00:04:45,083 --> 00:04:48,833 Victorious allies, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, 98 00:04:48,958 --> 00:04:52,625 are allegedly working together to rebuild Europe, 99 00:04:52,708 --> 00:04:55,792 but that's just the cover story. 100 00:04:55,917 --> 00:04:59,667 Powers: Students from the Vladimir Lennon Academy in Moscow 101 00:04:59,792 --> 00:05:04,167 present this great seal to Ambassador William Harriman 102 00:05:04,250 --> 00:05:06,833 at the embassy-- a token of appreciation, 103 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,583 little school children coming in with flowers, 104 00:05:09,708 --> 00:05:12,667 and press, and a nice, wonderful way 105 00:05:12,750 --> 00:05:14,500 to promote the friendship between our two countries. 106 00:05:14,625 --> 00:05:16,583 O'Donnell: And so they placed the great seal on the wall 107 00:05:16,708 --> 00:05:19,333 behind Harriman's desk in the U.S. embassy. 108 00:05:19,500 --> 00:05:21,542 He doesn't know, but inside that beautiful carving 109 00:05:21,667 --> 00:05:24,583 is an ingenious listening device. 110 00:05:24,708 --> 00:05:26,625 Narrator: The device traces back to programs 111 00:05:26,750 --> 00:05:31,000 created by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. 112 00:05:31,125 --> 00:05:33,458 His brutal political purges 113 00:05:33,542 --> 00:05:37,000 see an estimated 18 million people either killed 114 00:05:37,083 --> 00:05:42,458 or imprisoned in forced labor camps called gulags. 115 00:05:42,542 --> 00:05:44,500 Anybody that was seen as suspicious, 116 00:05:44,625 --> 00:05:46,875 you could just be snatched up off of the street 117 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:48,542 and sent to one of the gulags. 118 00:05:48,667 --> 00:05:49,583 O'Donnell: For many people this is just 119 00:05:49,708 --> 00:05:51,208 a slow motion death sentence. 120 00:05:51,333 --> 00:05:52,625 They die in two, three, four, five years 121 00:05:52,708 --> 00:05:54,583 because the conditions are so harsh. 122 00:05:54,708 --> 00:05:56,583 Food is poor, they're worked to death. 123 00:05:56,708 --> 00:05:58,500 I think it goes without saying 124 00:05:58,583 --> 00:06:00,333 that they weren't particularly pleasant places to be. 125 00:06:00,458 --> 00:06:03,958 Narrator: But forced labor means different things 126 00:06:04,042 --> 00:06:06,167 for different prisoners. 127 00:06:06,250 --> 00:06:08,667 O'Donnell: A certain subset of people that had specialized knowledge 128 00:06:08,792 --> 00:06:10,333 that could be useful to the state, 129 00:06:10,458 --> 00:06:13,250 he sequestered them in a specialized laboratories 130 00:06:13,375 --> 00:06:15,333 where they could do work on behalf of the Soviets. 131 00:06:15,458 --> 00:06:18,292 Powers: Now this is under duress. 132 00:06:18,417 --> 00:06:20,375 They're not like, "Okay, you can live here for a year 133 00:06:20,500 --> 00:06:22,333 develop for the scientific community, 134 00:06:22,417 --> 00:06:23,375 and then we'll let you go." 135 00:06:23,500 --> 00:06:24,333 This is the Soviet Union. 136 00:06:24,417 --> 00:06:25,833 It's a gulag. 137 00:06:25,958 --> 00:06:29,208 If they don't perform, they'll be executed. 138 00:06:29,333 --> 00:06:31,000 They are under a lot of stress 139 00:06:31,125 --> 00:06:34,000 to make sure that they develop cutting edge technology. 140 00:06:34,083 --> 00:06:35,917 Narrator: Among those arrested 141 00:06:36,042 --> 00:06:37,958 and shipped off to a gulag, 142 00:06:38,083 --> 00:06:40,583 is inventor Leon Theremin. 143 00:06:40,708 --> 00:06:43,042 Leon Theremin was born in Russia 144 00:06:43,208 --> 00:06:47,167 and grew up to be a brilliant young budding scientist. 145 00:06:47,333 --> 00:06:49,500 And he studies how radio waves work. 146 00:06:49,667 --> 00:06:52,792 He develops what turns out to be one of the most unique musical instruments of all time. 147 00:06:52,917 --> 00:06:54,208 It bears his name. The theremin. 148 00:06:54,375 --> 00:06:57,167 ( theremin warbling ) 149 00:06:57,333 --> 00:07:01,500 Narrator: As the inventor of the world's first electronic instrument, 150 00:07:01,625 --> 00:07:04,000 Theremin's expertise makes him the perfect choice 151 00:07:04,125 --> 00:07:07,667 to engineer a state of the art listening device, 152 00:07:07,750 --> 00:07:11,542 one that the Soviets ultimately plant inside the great seal 153 00:07:11,667 --> 00:07:14,250 presented to Ambassador Harriman. 154 00:07:14,375 --> 00:07:15,833 It's a passive listening device 155 00:07:15,917 --> 00:07:17,667 because it doesn't have a power source. 156 00:07:17,750 --> 00:07:19,000 Hammond: There was no battery. 157 00:07:19,167 --> 00:07:22,583 There was nothing there that would be picked up 158 00:07:22,708 --> 00:07:25,250 by conventional anti-surveillance, 159 00:07:25,375 --> 00:07:28,208 anti-bugging machines, or inventions. 160 00:07:28,333 --> 00:07:32,083 Well, it means that it can stay there for an indefinite period of time. 161 00:07:32,208 --> 00:07:36,417 It gets its power from radio waves that are transmitted from outside. 162 00:07:36,542 --> 00:07:38,208 Those radio waves come in, 163 00:07:38,333 --> 00:07:41,083 they energize the circuit inside the listening device, 164 00:07:41,208 --> 00:07:42,917 allow it to record, 165 00:07:43,042 --> 00:07:45,250 and then also transmit what it hears 166 00:07:45,375 --> 00:07:47,583 back to a receiver that's also outside. 167 00:07:47,708 --> 00:07:49,500 The beauty of this device 168 00:07:49,583 --> 00:07:52,417 is it's basically invisible to detection techniques. 169 00:07:52,542 --> 00:07:58,000 Narrator: The entire unit weighs just 1.1 ounces, 170 00:07:58,125 --> 00:08:01,542 about the same as a single slice of bread. 171 00:08:01,667 --> 00:08:05,500 Its devious design allows the device to stay hidden 172 00:08:05,625 --> 00:08:10,500 inside the ambassador's office until 1951. 173 00:08:10,625 --> 00:08:14,750 O'Donnell: A member of the British military is listening in on Soviet air traffic, 174 00:08:14,875 --> 00:08:18,583 and suddenly he hears English language being spoken, 175 00:08:18,708 --> 00:08:21,500 and he reports that to the United States officials. 176 00:08:21,625 --> 00:08:23,542 They do a massive bug sweep in the embassy, 177 00:08:23,708 --> 00:08:25,833 Can't find anything. It happens a second time. 178 00:08:25,917 --> 00:08:28,708 Another radio operator also picks up conversations 179 00:08:28,875 --> 00:08:30,500 coming from the U.S. embassy, 180 00:08:30,667 --> 00:08:32,167 and they do another thorough bug sweep. 181 00:08:32,333 --> 00:08:33,500 They don't find it. 182 00:08:33,625 --> 00:08:35,500 They know that something's happening 183 00:08:35,583 --> 00:08:37,333 inside the embassy, but where is it? 184 00:08:37,458 --> 00:08:38,958 O'Donnell: American officials are puzzled 185 00:08:39,083 --> 00:08:40,667 because they know there's bugs operating 186 00:08:40,792 --> 00:08:42,458 in the embassy, but they cannot find them. 187 00:08:42,542 --> 00:08:44,250 So they bring in some of their best people, 188 00:08:44,375 --> 00:08:47,000 and they realize that maybe the way to catch this bug 189 00:08:47,125 --> 00:08:49,833 is not just to sniff around for electric interference, 190 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:52,292 but to simulate something that the Soviets would want to record. 191 00:08:52,375 --> 00:08:54,667 Narrator: The new American ambassador, 192 00:08:54,750 --> 00:08:57,333 George F. Kennan, is eager to help. 193 00:08:57,417 --> 00:09:00,750 Powers: They have George Kennan sit down at his office desk 194 00:09:00,875 --> 00:09:05,000 and dictate an important sounding memo to his secretary. 195 00:09:05,083 --> 00:09:07,792 The CIA guys are inside doing a sweep 196 00:09:07,875 --> 00:09:09,833 to find out where the bugs are hidden. 197 00:09:09,917 --> 00:09:12,792 At first, before he's talking, there's nothing there. 198 00:09:12,875 --> 00:09:14,667 As soon as he starts to talk, 199 00:09:14,833 --> 00:09:17,500 and this device is pinged with a radio signal, 200 00:09:17,625 --> 00:09:20,125 they're able to determine that the bug is located 201 00:09:20,250 --> 00:09:23,875 in the great seal of the United States. 202 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,375 They pull it off the wall, they peel it open, 203 00:09:26,542 --> 00:09:28,833 and lo and behold, inside is this tiny, 204 00:09:28,958 --> 00:09:32,958 1.1 ounce, very small, passive listening device. 205 00:09:33,042 --> 00:09:35,750 Basically, the Soviets have had an ear in that room 206 00:09:35,875 --> 00:09:38,292 for seven years without the U.S. knowing it. 207 00:09:38,375 --> 00:09:41,042 Powers: They were listening to every conversation 208 00:09:41,167 --> 00:09:43,583 that took place within the ambassador's office. 209 00:09:43,708 --> 00:09:46,625 I am sure that very important information 210 00:09:46,750 --> 00:09:50,000 was able to be gained during that time period. 211 00:09:50,125 --> 00:09:55,333 Once the Americans discover this listening device in the great seal, 212 00:09:55,458 --> 00:09:57,167 they do not announce it publically. 213 00:09:57,292 --> 00:09:58,208 They sit on it. 214 00:10:01,833 --> 00:10:03,500 Narrator: July, 1955. 215 00:10:03,583 --> 00:10:06,000 Leaders from the U.S., Britain, and France 216 00:10:06,167 --> 00:10:09,208 and the USSR gather in Geneva. 217 00:10:09,333 --> 00:10:11,458 Powers: We have these two new world leaders, 218 00:10:11,542 --> 00:10:13,000 Eisenhower in America, 219 00:10:13,125 --> 00:10:14,708 Khrushchev in the Soviet Union. 220 00:10:14,833 --> 00:10:16,667 At the meeting in Geneva, 221 00:10:16,833 --> 00:10:18,750 they want to see what they can do to work together 222 00:10:18,875 --> 00:10:20,958 so they can peacefully coexist. 223 00:10:21,083 --> 00:10:22,917 O'Donnell: The United States in the mid-1950s 224 00:10:23,042 --> 00:10:24,750 is building a huge nuclear arsenal, 225 00:10:24,875 --> 00:10:26,417 building up its military 226 00:10:26,542 --> 00:10:29,042 to fend off a potential Soviet invasion. 227 00:10:29,167 --> 00:10:30,875 At the same time, the Eisenhower administration 228 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:32,917 is also trying to not have to use it. 229 00:10:33,042 --> 00:10:35,250 And so one gesture that Eisenhower comes up with 230 00:10:35,375 --> 00:10:37,833 in 1955 is called the Open Skies initiative. 231 00:10:37,958 --> 00:10:40,667 Powers: Eisenhower says to Khrushchev, 232 00:10:40,792 --> 00:10:43,833 let us overfly your territory taking photos. 233 00:10:43,958 --> 00:10:47,792 You can overfly our territory taking photos. 234 00:10:47,917 --> 00:10:50,375 That way each side will know that the other 235 00:10:50,500 --> 00:10:52,667 is not preparing for a surprise attack. 236 00:10:52,792 --> 00:10:54,875 But Khrushchev says, no, nyet. 237 00:10:55,042 --> 00:10:58,542 I do not want you pesky Americans overflying my country. 238 00:10:58,708 --> 00:11:02,083 Narrator: This rejection is met with suspicion. 239 00:11:02,208 --> 00:11:04,000 Powers: Back in Washington DC, 240 00:11:04,125 --> 00:11:06,500 the Eisenhower administration is worried. 241 00:11:06,625 --> 00:11:08,542 What is he hiding? 242 00:11:08,708 --> 00:11:11,000 He must be building up for a surprise attack. 243 00:11:11,125 --> 00:11:14,375 So as a result, Eisenhower authorizes the development 244 00:11:14,500 --> 00:11:17,375 of a U-2 spy plane in 1955. 245 00:11:17,500 --> 00:11:21,000 They need to find out a place to build it in secret. 246 00:11:21,083 --> 00:11:24,250 So the American government purchases Area 51 247 00:11:24,375 --> 00:11:25,667 in the Nevada desert 248 00:11:25,792 --> 00:11:27,875 to develop the U-2 spy plane. 249 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,500 Dickrell: The U-2 spy plane was initially developed 250 00:11:30,625 --> 00:11:33,583 by Lockheed to be a high-altitude reconnaissance plane 251 00:11:33,708 --> 00:11:35,667 flying at 70,000 feet. 252 00:11:35,792 --> 00:11:37,958 And the idea would be it's so high, 253 00:11:38,083 --> 00:11:41,333 it's undetectable by radar and can't be hit by missiles. 254 00:11:41,417 --> 00:11:43,500 Powers: In addition, in the belly of the aircraft, 255 00:11:43,625 --> 00:11:44,833 they have a camera. 256 00:11:44,917 --> 00:11:47,333 This camera is so advanced 257 00:11:47,417 --> 00:11:50,667 it can take photographs of the tanks, the missiles, 258 00:11:50,750 --> 00:11:52,792 the bombers in these foreign countries. 259 00:11:52,875 --> 00:11:54,667 Hammond: And just like the great seal bug 260 00:11:54,750 --> 00:11:57,708 the U-2 spy plane was the first of its kind. 261 00:11:57,833 --> 00:12:00,083 So going up there to 70,000 feet, 262 00:12:00,208 --> 00:12:04,042 about twice the height that you and I fly when we fly, 263 00:12:04,208 --> 00:12:06,750 it was something that had never been done before. 264 00:12:06,875 --> 00:12:10,833 Narrator: It's also a risky endeavor for the pilots. 265 00:12:10,917 --> 00:12:12,667 Dickrell: The pilots that are operating the U-2 266 00:12:12,750 --> 00:12:14,792 are basically at the edge of space. 267 00:12:14,875 --> 00:12:17,000 They're half astronauts, half pilots, 268 00:12:17,083 --> 00:12:20,125 so it's quite a physically demanding and dangerous environment. 269 00:12:20,208 --> 00:12:22,750 The pilots have to wear special pressurized suits 270 00:12:22,875 --> 00:12:26,667 to keep their blood from boiling because they're at such great altitude. 271 00:12:26,833 --> 00:12:29,625 Narrator: In 1956, 272 00:12:29,708 --> 00:12:33,000 the new U-2 spy planes hit the skies. 273 00:12:33,083 --> 00:12:34,958 O'Donnell: The U.S. believes flying at that height 274 00:12:35,042 --> 00:12:38,042 and at that speed that it is an undetectable aircraft. 275 00:12:38,167 --> 00:12:39,917 Turns out, the Soviets do detect it. 276 00:12:40,042 --> 00:12:43,000 They file a formal protest at the United Nations. 277 00:12:43,167 --> 00:12:46,167 But the Americans go, "What plane? 278 00:12:46,250 --> 00:12:49,000 We don't have a plane over your country. Prove it." 279 00:12:49,125 --> 00:12:51,833 Narrator: Over the next four years, 280 00:12:51,917 --> 00:12:55,542 the U.S. continues their covert missions. 281 00:12:55,667 --> 00:12:59,417 Powers: My father Francis Gary Powers was employed by the CIA. 282 00:12:59,542 --> 00:13:03,250 He was a spy pilot. He would fly the U-2 spy plane 283 00:13:03,375 --> 00:13:06,000 over foreign hostile countries taking photographs. 284 00:13:06,125 --> 00:13:09,667 So between 1956 and 1960, 285 00:13:09,750 --> 00:13:12,792 my dad does 27 successful missions. 286 00:13:12,917 --> 00:13:14,542 Hammond: But at the same time, 287 00:13:14,708 --> 00:13:17,083 the Soviets knew about the U-2 spy plane. 288 00:13:17,208 --> 00:13:20,125 They're developing the equipment and the technology 289 00:13:20,208 --> 00:13:22,667 and the planning to take down a U-2. 290 00:13:22,792 --> 00:13:24,750 Powers: On May 1st, 1960, 291 00:13:24,875 --> 00:13:26,500 my father's on his 28th mission 292 00:13:26,625 --> 00:13:29,000 over the Soviet Union. 293 00:13:29,083 --> 00:13:31,833 Eight missiles were fired at the airplane. 294 00:13:31,958 --> 00:13:34,792 One of them hits my dad's plane. 295 00:13:34,875 --> 00:13:40,167 Dad goes into a dive, the wings break off, 296 00:13:40,292 --> 00:13:44,292 goes into an inverted spin, tumbling out of the sky. 297 00:13:44,417 --> 00:13:48,167 When Powers' plane is struck, he has one important thing to do 298 00:13:48,250 --> 00:13:50,875 which is to hit a button that is going to destroy 299 00:13:51,042 --> 00:13:53,333 the important secret stuff in that plane. 300 00:13:53,500 --> 00:13:56,792 Powers: My father was about to hit the destruct button, 301 00:13:56,875 --> 00:13:58,792 but then he realized he couldn't get in 302 00:13:58,875 --> 00:14:01,667 the proper position to use the ejection seat. 303 00:14:01,833 --> 00:14:04,000 If he had hit the switch and then ejected, 304 00:14:04,125 --> 00:14:06,167 he would have severed his legs on the way out. 305 00:14:06,250 --> 00:14:09,667 So instead, he opens up the canopy 306 00:14:09,833 --> 00:14:11,000 which floats off into space, 307 00:14:11,125 --> 00:14:13,042 falls free of the airplane, 308 00:14:13,167 --> 00:14:16,000 parachute opens automatically at 15,000 feet. 309 00:14:16,083 --> 00:14:17,917 He parachutes down to the ground. 310 00:14:24,208 --> 00:14:26,667 Narrator: Powers lands safely, 311 00:14:26,750 --> 00:14:32,000 but he's in Soviet territory and knows he'll be captured. 312 00:14:32,125 --> 00:14:34,417 Powers has the option of suicide. 313 00:14:34,542 --> 00:14:36,750 He has with him a coin, a special fake coin, 314 00:14:36,875 --> 00:14:38,917 that is loaded with poison and has a needle, 315 00:14:39,042 --> 00:14:40,875 and he can inject himself with that. 316 00:14:41,042 --> 00:14:43,667 So my father decided to take this device with him 317 00:14:43,833 --> 00:14:45,667 on May 1st of 1960, 318 00:14:45,792 --> 00:14:48,750 a hollowed out silver dollar worn on a bevel. 319 00:14:48,875 --> 00:14:52,458 Once you take the bevel off, 320 00:14:52,542 --> 00:14:55,292 out pops a small pin. 321 00:14:55,375 --> 00:14:58,208 The pin was dipped in shellfish toxin. 322 00:14:58,333 --> 00:15:02,167 One prick of the skin would bring death within minutes. 323 00:15:02,333 --> 00:15:05,000 Pilots are told it's an optional device 324 00:15:05,125 --> 00:15:07,167 to use in the event of torture, 325 00:15:07,250 --> 00:15:08,833 not in the event of capture. 326 00:15:08,917 --> 00:15:10,708 So he looks at the pin, looks at the dollar, 327 00:15:10,875 --> 00:15:12,333 takes the pin out. 328 00:15:12,500 --> 00:15:14,000 He contemplates using it. 329 00:15:14,083 --> 00:15:16,917 Instead, he puts it in his flight suit pocket, 330 00:15:17,042 --> 00:15:18,417 throws the dollar away. 331 00:15:22,042 --> 00:15:24,958 Narrator: Powers is picked up by Soviet military 332 00:15:25,042 --> 00:15:28,208 and transported to Lubyanka Prison in Moscow. 333 00:15:28,375 --> 00:15:30,333 Powers: Khrushchev holds a press conference. 334 00:15:30,500 --> 00:15:32,833 Very gleefully announces to the world, 335 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:37,167 "Ah, comrades, not only did we shoot down the plane, 336 00:15:37,292 --> 00:15:41,375 but we also have captured the pilot, Francis Gary Powers, 337 00:15:41,500 --> 00:15:44,208 who's confessed to spying for the CIA." 338 00:15:44,333 --> 00:15:46,208 And while all this was unfolding, 339 00:15:46,333 --> 00:15:49,042 my dad's been stuck in a Russian prison cell 340 00:15:49,208 --> 00:15:51,333 going through the interrogations. 341 00:15:51,458 --> 00:15:54,042 16 hour days, bright spotlight, 342 00:15:54,167 --> 00:15:56,875 grueling questions, threats of death. 343 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,333 No physical torture, but a lot of mental anguish. 344 00:16:00,458 --> 00:16:03,542 Narrator: With the spy pilot and his plane in their clutches, 345 00:16:03,667 --> 00:16:07,333 the Soviets call a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, 346 00:16:07,417 --> 00:16:11,625 demanding an apology and concessions from the U.S. 347 00:16:11,708 --> 00:16:14,333 O'Donnell: And this event takes place over four days, 348 00:16:14,458 --> 00:16:17,083 where the Soviets rail and rail and lay out their evidence. 349 00:16:17,208 --> 00:16:18,958 And then things take a dramatic turn 350 00:16:19,042 --> 00:16:21,500 that they do not expect on the fourth day. 351 00:16:21,583 --> 00:16:24,875 Narrator: That's when America's U.N. ambassador 352 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,000 Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. reveals a surprise. 353 00:16:29,125 --> 00:16:34,708 Lodge says, "Well, actually the Soviets have been engaged in spying themselves. 354 00:16:34,875 --> 00:16:36,583 And as evidence, we're going to show you." 355 00:16:36,708 --> 00:16:39,208 And they pull out the wood carving of the great seal... 356 00:16:44,042 --> 00:16:45,000 ...and explains that this thing has been sitting 357 00:16:45,083 --> 00:16:47,167 in the U.S. embassy for seven years 358 00:16:47,292 --> 00:16:50,625 listening in on delicate secret conversations, 359 00:16:50,750 --> 00:16:53,833 and the Soviets are just as guilty as we are. 360 00:16:53,958 --> 00:16:57,625 And therefore, there's no cause for condemnation of the United States. 361 00:16:57,708 --> 00:17:00,375 And the security council votes seven to two 362 00:17:00,500 --> 00:17:02,042 to not condemn the United States. 363 00:17:02,167 --> 00:17:04,792 Narrator: In 1962, 364 00:17:04,875 --> 00:17:06,792 Francis Gary Powers comes home 365 00:17:06,875 --> 00:17:09,708 as part of a prisoner exchange. 366 00:17:09,833 --> 00:17:13,208 But the U-2 incident only escalates the battle 367 00:17:13,333 --> 00:17:16,792 for new spy technology, including some methods 368 00:17:16,917 --> 00:17:21,000 that feel ripped from the pages of a spy thriller. 369 00:17:24,542 --> 00:17:26,875 Narrator: After the infamous mo U-2 spy plane debacle,... 370 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,333 the CIA is determined to create 371 00:17:29,417 --> 00:17:32,167 less conspicuous devices. 372 00:17:32,292 --> 00:17:34,500 It's important to point out at this point that the CIA 373 00:17:34,625 --> 00:17:37,708 has basically an unlimited budget and no oversight. 374 00:17:37,833 --> 00:17:40,958 So there's a lot of really smart, somewhat quirky people 375 00:17:41,083 --> 00:17:43,083 in these labs coming up with ideas like, 376 00:17:43,208 --> 00:17:44,833 "How about we do this? How about we do that?" 377 00:17:44,958 --> 00:17:47,917 They at one point in time in World War II, 378 00:17:48,042 --> 00:17:50,333 had put cameras on pigeons 379 00:17:50,417 --> 00:17:53,333 to overfly territories to take photos. 380 00:17:53,458 --> 00:17:55,208 They're now stepping up the game. 381 00:17:55,333 --> 00:17:58,042 Somebody in the CIA technology division 382 00:17:58,208 --> 00:18:00,833 comes up with the idea of using a cat, 383 00:18:00,917 --> 00:18:02,917 figuring the cat is innocuous, 384 00:18:03,042 --> 00:18:04,667 no one's gonna pay attention to it. 385 00:18:04,792 --> 00:18:07,500 If they can somehow attach, or in this case embed 386 00:18:07,625 --> 00:18:09,833 a listening device, that might really be 387 00:18:09,917 --> 00:18:11,667 the success they're looking for. 388 00:18:11,792 --> 00:18:15,250 So, they take a cat, and they surgically implant 389 00:18:15,375 --> 00:18:17,417 a listening device in the ear canal. 390 00:18:17,542 --> 00:18:20,000 They put a transmitter at the base of the skull, 391 00:18:20,083 --> 00:18:21,833 and then they put a wire antenna 392 00:18:21,917 --> 00:18:24,000 sort of through the length of the body into the tail 393 00:18:24,167 --> 00:18:25,667 underneath the skin. 394 00:18:25,792 --> 00:18:28,333 And so they basically have created a cyborg cat, 395 00:18:28,458 --> 00:18:31,042 or, you know, some people called it a "Frankenkitty." 396 00:18:31,167 --> 00:18:36,500 Narrator: The project becomes officially known as the Acoustic Kitty. 397 00:18:36,625 --> 00:18:38,208 O'Donnell: Once they have figured out the technology, 398 00:18:38,333 --> 00:18:39,792 the big challenge, they found out, 399 00:18:39,875 --> 00:18:41,167 was training the cat. 400 00:18:41,292 --> 00:18:44,167 Training a cat to go to a particular target 401 00:18:44,250 --> 00:18:45,375 and then linger around that target 402 00:18:45,500 --> 00:18:48,542 long enough to capture enough audio. 403 00:18:48,667 --> 00:18:50,167 And they find out what most people 404 00:18:50,333 --> 00:18:51,667 who have been around cats learn pretty quickly, 405 00:18:51,792 --> 00:18:53,708 is that it's almost impossible to train a cat. 406 00:18:53,833 --> 00:18:58,208 Powers: For five years, the CIA hires these trainers 407 00:18:58,333 --> 00:19:00,625 to train the cat to do what they want. 408 00:19:00,708 --> 00:19:02,375 To walk ten feet and stop. 409 00:19:02,500 --> 00:19:05,875 To lay down and sleep near to two people talking. 410 00:19:06,042 --> 00:19:08,750 Now, in the laboratory it works, 411 00:19:08,875 --> 00:19:12,542 but they finally want to do a real-life operation. 412 00:19:12,667 --> 00:19:16,958 O'Donnell: They pull up in a van outside of a park in Washington DC 413 00:19:17,083 --> 00:19:20,250 where they know that two men are sitting on a bench near the Soviet embassy 414 00:19:20,375 --> 00:19:21,917 and they are Soviet embassy officials. 415 00:19:22,042 --> 00:19:23,458 And they want to send the cat across the street 416 00:19:23,542 --> 00:19:25,208 to listen in on their conversation. 417 00:19:25,333 --> 00:19:26,792 They let the cat go. 418 00:19:26,875 --> 00:19:28,000 He's supposed to walk over 419 00:19:28,125 --> 00:19:29,333 to this bench and sit down 420 00:19:29,458 --> 00:19:31,167 near these two people talking. 421 00:19:31,333 --> 00:19:34,167 Instead, he runs across the street, 422 00:19:34,292 --> 00:19:36,667 gets hit by a car. 423 00:19:36,792 --> 00:19:40,708 The CIA spends $20 million to develop this acoustic kitty. 424 00:19:40,833 --> 00:19:43,667 $20 million down the drain. 425 00:19:43,792 --> 00:19:46,458 Narrator: But as with many top secret spy projects, 426 00:19:46,542 --> 00:19:50,042 not everyone tells the same story. 427 00:19:50,167 --> 00:19:51,792 There's a second version of this story 428 00:19:51,875 --> 00:19:54,292 which is the cat just simply proved untrainable, 429 00:19:54,375 --> 00:19:55,958 the project seemed to be going nowhere. 430 00:19:56,042 --> 00:19:57,667 They decommission the cat. 431 00:19:57,792 --> 00:19:59,417 They perform sort of reverse surgery on the cat, 432 00:19:59,542 --> 00:20:01,500 pulled out the surveillance equipment. 433 00:20:01,583 --> 00:20:04,792 The cat recovered and lived a happy long life. 434 00:20:04,917 --> 00:20:06,458 If you believe that. 435 00:20:06,542 --> 00:20:08,667 Dickrell: With the failure of the Acoustic Kitty, 436 00:20:08,792 --> 00:20:11,125 the CIA decided they want to use this idea, 437 00:20:11,208 --> 00:20:12,667 but in a more controlled fashion. 438 00:20:12,792 --> 00:20:14,833 Live animals probably aren't the way to go. 439 00:20:14,917 --> 00:20:18,417 But biomimetic design, a way of mimicking nature, 440 00:20:18,542 --> 00:20:20,000 is a pretty good idea. 441 00:20:20,167 --> 00:20:22,542 So the thinking turns to 442 00:20:22,667 --> 00:20:25,000 if you want to make a listening device or a bug, 443 00:20:25,083 --> 00:20:27,458 let's model it after an actual bug. 444 00:20:27,542 --> 00:20:32,250 Narrator: In 1970, the CIA tasks technologist Charles Adkins 445 00:20:32,375 --> 00:20:35,042 with creating a far-fetched new spy-- 446 00:20:35,208 --> 00:20:37,708 a flying robotic insect 447 00:20:37,833 --> 00:20:41,583 designed to place listening devices near targets. 448 00:20:41,708 --> 00:20:47,500 The CIA was developing new technologies to employ the same idea 449 00:20:47,625 --> 00:20:51,000 that the Theremin great seal bug used-- passive listening. 450 00:20:51,083 --> 00:20:54,000 Now they've developed it into a way 451 00:20:54,083 --> 00:20:57,125 that it could be used with laser beams 452 00:20:57,208 --> 00:21:00,000 as opposed to radio waves. 453 00:21:00,125 --> 00:21:01,833 Narrator: This recording device works 454 00:21:01,958 --> 00:21:05,833 by using tiny mirrors called retroreflectors. 455 00:21:05,958 --> 00:21:08,667 If you attach a retroreflector to a window, 456 00:21:08,750 --> 00:21:12,833 what's going on inside the room will cause it to vibrate. 457 00:21:12,958 --> 00:21:15,000 Lasers can listen passively 458 00:21:15,125 --> 00:21:18,500 by basically bouncing a laser off the retroreflector. 459 00:21:18,625 --> 00:21:21,708 That retroreflected laser light is sensitive enough 460 00:21:21,875 --> 00:21:24,000 to reconstruct the speech 461 00:21:24,125 --> 00:21:25,833 not by listening with a microphone, 462 00:21:25,958 --> 00:21:27,167 by listening with light. 463 00:21:27,292 --> 00:21:29,208 Narrator: Adkins' team then looks 464 00:21:29,375 --> 00:21:32,500 for just the right robo-insect to mount it on. 465 00:21:32,583 --> 00:21:34,583 Powers: First, they looked at bumblebees. 466 00:21:34,708 --> 00:21:37,167 But bumblebees were too erratic. They were too small. 467 00:21:37,250 --> 00:21:39,083 So they settled on the dragonfly, 468 00:21:39,208 --> 00:21:40,583 a little bit bigger, 469 00:21:40,708 --> 00:21:43,042 and dragonflies, with their four wings, 470 00:21:43,167 --> 00:21:45,625 could glide, could fly, could go backwards, forwards. 471 00:21:45,708 --> 00:21:48,333 It's gonna be more maneuverable, more controllable. 472 00:21:48,500 --> 00:21:50,417 Dickrell: The ultimate purpose of the dragonfly 473 00:21:50,542 --> 00:21:53,750 is to crash into the window connected to the room 474 00:21:53,875 --> 00:21:56,333 that you want to listen to, therefore depositing 475 00:21:56,500 --> 00:21:58,667 the retroreflector, sticking it to that window. 476 00:21:58,833 --> 00:22:02,500 So, the bug itself, the dragonfly, is not the listening device. 477 00:22:02,583 --> 00:22:04,750 It's really just the delivery mechanism. 478 00:22:04,875 --> 00:22:07,292 Narrator: With their bug of choice selected, 479 00:22:07,375 --> 00:22:11,625 they must figure out how to replicate the wings of a dragonfly, 480 00:22:11,750 --> 00:22:15,583 which flap up to 1,800 times per minute. 481 00:22:15,708 --> 00:22:18,542 The wing actuation technology of this dragonfly bug 482 00:22:18,667 --> 00:22:20,333 uses fluidic oscillators. 483 00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:23,333 These would be small fluid pistons 484 00:22:23,500 --> 00:22:25,458 that vibrate very, very quickly. 485 00:22:25,542 --> 00:22:26,958 But the wings of the dragonfly themselves 486 00:22:27,042 --> 00:22:29,958 weren't sufficient to propel the dragonfly forward. 487 00:22:30,042 --> 00:22:33,333 The CIA had to add basically jet nozzles 488 00:22:33,500 --> 00:22:35,750 that would exhaust gas backwards, 489 00:22:35,875 --> 00:22:38,417 making the dragonfly move at sufficient speed 490 00:22:38,542 --> 00:22:39,958 to get it where it needed to go. 491 00:22:40,042 --> 00:22:43,792 Narrator: They dub this miniature marvel 492 00:22:43,875 --> 00:22:45,333 the Insectothopter. 493 00:22:45,458 --> 00:22:48,292 But at a weight of just one gram, 494 00:22:48,417 --> 00:22:51,417 it ultimately proves to have a fatal flaw. 495 00:22:51,542 --> 00:22:54,500 O'Donnell: In the laboratory the Insectothopter worked wonderfully, 496 00:22:54,625 --> 00:22:56,000 and they had great confidence in it. 497 00:22:56,083 --> 00:22:57,833 But like the Acoustic Kitty 498 00:22:57,917 --> 00:22:59,292 and other devices they came up with, 499 00:22:59,375 --> 00:23:00,500 when they put them in the field, 500 00:23:00,625 --> 00:23:02,458 the results were quite different. 501 00:23:02,542 --> 00:23:04,875 Powers: In a laboratory, there's no wind. 502 00:23:05,042 --> 00:23:07,583 Outside in the real world, when they have to deploy this 503 00:23:07,708 --> 00:23:09,500 to fly to an embassy window, 504 00:23:09,625 --> 00:23:11,292 and there's a gust of wind, 505 00:23:11,417 --> 00:23:13,292 all of a sudden the dragonfly is useless. 506 00:23:13,417 --> 00:23:16,250 Anything over seven miles per hour of wind, 507 00:23:16,375 --> 00:23:18,167 the dragonfly was not controllable. 508 00:23:18,250 --> 00:23:22,667 Narrator: The CIA scraps the robotic dragonfly project 509 00:23:22,750 --> 00:23:25,000 after investing $140,000, 510 00:23:25,125 --> 00:23:29,000 the equivalent of over a million dollars today. 511 00:23:29,167 --> 00:23:33,042 However, the project is still considered a success 512 00:23:33,167 --> 00:23:38,000 because it spawned an entire industry of unmanned aerial vehicles. 513 00:23:38,125 --> 00:23:41,167 Powers: I think there are 900,000 licenses for drones 514 00:23:41,250 --> 00:23:42,875 right now in the United States. 515 00:23:43,042 --> 00:23:47,167 But back in the 1970s, this was the very first drone 516 00:23:47,250 --> 00:23:50,000 that was ever developed for these type of applications. 517 00:23:50,083 --> 00:23:53,333 Dickrell: As an engineer, thinking about the dragonfly bug 518 00:23:53,417 --> 00:23:56,792 in the 1970s is an extremely impressive feat, 519 00:23:56,875 --> 00:24:00,667 because micro-robotics today are hard to do, 520 00:24:00,792 --> 00:24:02,333 much less back in the 1970s. 521 00:24:02,458 --> 00:24:04,667 Powers: This device, this dragonfly, 522 00:24:04,792 --> 00:24:07,042 it was ahead of its time. 523 00:24:07,208 --> 00:24:11,333 Narrator: But some believe recent evidence points to other 524 00:24:11,500 --> 00:24:15,458 darker potential uses for the miniature drone. 525 00:24:15,542 --> 00:24:17,667 O'Donnell: The CIA does not publicize its failures, 526 00:24:17,750 --> 00:24:21,500 so it was many years before we learned the truth about the dragonfly program. 527 00:24:21,583 --> 00:24:23,333 And that was due to the work of John Greenwald 528 00:24:23,458 --> 00:24:25,667 who's an anti-secrecy activist. 529 00:24:25,792 --> 00:24:28,000 He obtained the files and then released them to the public, 530 00:24:28,125 --> 00:24:32,500 where we learned of this rather elaborate dragonfly or Insectothopter Program. 531 00:24:32,583 --> 00:24:33,875 Powers: It was discovered through 532 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:35,667 the Freedom of Information Act 533 00:24:35,750 --> 00:24:37,500 request from the CIA that they were also 534 00:24:37,625 --> 00:24:39,042 looking to use this technology 535 00:24:39,208 --> 00:24:42,792 as a potential weapon for assassination attempts, 536 00:24:42,875 --> 00:24:46,250 possibly with Fidel Castro or other world leaders. 537 00:24:46,375 --> 00:24:48,917 Narrator: The initial failure of the drone project 538 00:24:49,042 --> 00:24:51,667 doesn't stop the CIA from continuing 539 00:24:51,792 --> 00:24:54,000 to dangerously push boundaries. 540 00:24:57,583 --> 00:24:58,833 Narrator: In the early 1970s, 541 00:24:58,958 --> 00:25:01,625 allegations of nefarious criminal activity 542 00:25:01,750 --> 00:25:05,583 on the part of the CIA start to appear in the press. 543 00:25:05,708 --> 00:25:08,667 Americans realize that governments, 544 00:25:08,792 --> 00:25:10,625 leaders of both parties, 545 00:25:10,708 --> 00:25:13,042 have been deceiving them for a long period of time. 546 00:25:13,167 --> 00:25:17,167 I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. 547 00:25:17,250 --> 00:25:19,750 O'Donnell: By that point, the Watergate scandal is beginning to unfold, 548 00:25:19,875 --> 00:25:22,042 and so there's a lot of things coming together 549 00:25:22,208 --> 00:25:26,375 to make the average American quite suspicious of what its government is doing. 550 00:25:26,542 --> 00:25:29,292 Narrator: In December of 1974, 551 00:25:29,417 --> 00:25:32,458 "The New York Times" publishes an explosive article 552 00:25:32,542 --> 00:25:35,250 that opens up the floodgates. 553 00:25:35,375 --> 00:25:39,000 O'Donnell: Seymour Hersh publishes an article in "The New York Times" 554 00:25:39,125 --> 00:25:42,667 exposing CIA activity that shows that they are engaged 555 00:25:42,750 --> 00:25:44,458 in efforts to destabilize 556 00:25:44,542 --> 00:25:45,792 and to overthrow foreign governments, 557 00:25:45,917 --> 00:25:47,833 to assassinate foreign officials, 558 00:25:47,917 --> 00:25:50,000 and this causes a firestorm. 559 00:25:50,125 --> 00:25:52,167 O'Donnell: Congress reacts by forming a committee 560 00:25:52,333 --> 00:25:54,875 and putting Senator Frank Church of Idaho in charge of it. 561 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,167 And that's where it gets its nickname, the Church Committee. 562 00:25:57,292 --> 00:25:59,667 Powers: Senator Church thought that the CIA 563 00:25:59,833 --> 00:26:02,833 had too much unregulated power 564 00:26:02,958 --> 00:26:06,292 because for the first 25 years of the CIA's operation, 565 00:26:06,417 --> 00:26:08,042 they had little to no oversight. 566 00:26:08,167 --> 00:26:10,417 He wanted to have an investigation 567 00:26:10,542 --> 00:26:12,083 to find out what they were doing. 568 00:26:12,208 --> 00:26:15,333 Were they actually spying on American citizens? 569 00:26:15,458 --> 00:26:16,917 Were they actually trying to do 570 00:26:17,042 --> 00:26:19,167 assassination attempts of world leaders? 571 00:26:19,333 --> 00:26:22,750 What's true, what's not? How much power do they have? 572 00:26:22,875 --> 00:26:24,167 O'Donnell: The Church Committee turns its attention 573 00:26:24,333 --> 00:26:27,458 not just on the CIA, but also the NSA, the FBI, 574 00:26:27,583 --> 00:26:29,750 the entire U.S. intelligence community. 575 00:26:29,875 --> 00:26:32,333 Narrator: The committee peers into the darkest 576 00:26:32,458 --> 00:26:34,583 corners of Cold War operations, 577 00:26:34,708 --> 00:26:38,958 and the secrets they discover shock the public. 578 00:26:39,042 --> 00:26:42,875 It was discovered that the CIA was doing LSD experiments 579 00:26:43,042 --> 00:26:46,833 through a program called MK-Ultra. 580 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,625 O'Donnell: Many of the people in MK-Ultra were dosed with LSD 581 00:26:49,708 --> 00:26:51,833 without their knowledge and without their consent. 582 00:26:51,958 --> 00:26:54,375 In some cases they were used on prisoners, 583 00:26:54,542 --> 00:26:56,875 members of the military, pretty dark stuff. 584 00:26:57,042 --> 00:26:59,833 Powers: There was a CIA employee 585 00:26:59,917 --> 00:27:03,833 who was given a dose of LSD in a hotel room. 586 00:27:03,958 --> 00:27:06,000 He ends up having a very bad trip, 587 00:27:06,125 --> 00:27:09,208 jumping out the seven-story window to his death. 588 00:27:09,375 --> 00:27:12,125 That was revealed during the Church Committee hearings. 589 00:27:12,208 --> 00:27:13,958 O'Donnell: One of the shocking things 590 00:27:14,083 --> 00:27:16,000 that the Church Committee reveals 591 00:27:16,125 --> 00:27:18,500 is that the CIA has been engaged in assassination attempts 592 00:27:18,625 --> 00:27:21,000 against Fidel Castro in Cuba 593 00:27:21,083 --> 00:27:23,958 and Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, among others. 594 00:27:24,083 --> 00:27:27,125 Powers: The project was called MK-Naomi, 595 00:27:27,208 --> 00:27:29,750 and this was a program in which they were trying 596 00:27:29,875 --> 00:27:34,167 to find biological weapons, chemicals, or agents 597 00:27:34,333 --> 00:27:39,375 that would cause a subject to die, assassinate, without leaving any trace. 598 00:27:39,500 --> 00:27:42,750 Narrator: One of these deadly stealth weapons is the notorious 599 00:27:42,875 --> 00:27:45,833 and aptly named "heart attack gun". 600 00:27:45,958 --> 00:27:49,000 Does this pistol fire the dart? 601 00:27:49,083 --> 00:27:51,250 Man: Yes, it does, Mr. Chairman. 602 00:27:51,375 --> 00:27:56,125 It's practically a normal .45, although it's special. 603 00:27:56,250 --> 00:27:58,625 Narrator: This modified Colt pistol 604 00:27:58,750 --> 00:28:01,917 fires a poison-filled dart into the victim, 605 00:28:02,042 --> 00:28:05,000 producing symptoms that mimic a heart attack. 606 00:28:07,167 --> 00:28:11,375 The evil genius behind the weapon is an unlikely figure. 607 00:28:11,542 --> 00:28:12,958 O'Donnell: Mary Embree. 608 00:28:13,083 --> 00:28:14,333 She is unlike almost anybody 609 00:28:14,458 --> 00:28:16,250 in the CIA for two reasons. 610 00:28:16,375 --> 00:28:18,917 One, she's a woman. Almost everybody in the CIA is male. 611 00:28:19,042 --> 00:28:20,958 And she also doesn't have a fancy degree 612 00:28:21,042 --> 00:28:23,792 from a top American university like Yale or Stanford. 613 00:28:23,917 --> 00:28:25,958 In fact, she doesn't even have a college degree. 614 00:28:26,042 --> 00:28:30,333 Powers: She started working for the CIA at 18 years old. 615 00:28:30,417 --> 00:28:32,167 She worked her way up through the ranks, 616 00:28:32,250 --> 00:28:36,833 and after a few years, she was tasked to develop a device 617 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,000 that would allow assassinations to happen 618 00:28:39,125 --> 00:28:41,083 without any evidence of it happening. 619 00:28:41,208 --> 00:28:44,375 Narrator: Embree works with CIA scientists 620 00:28:44,500 --> 00:28:47,542 to choose the perfect poison. 621 00:28:47,667 --> 00:28:53,000 They settle on a neurotoxin called saxitoxin, or STX. 622 00:28:53,167 --> 00:28:56,875 STX, or saxitoxin, is a neurotoxin 623 00:28:57,042 --> 00:28:58,208 that typically builds up in shellfish. 624 00:28:58,333 --> 00:29:00,875 It's called a shellfish poison. 625 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,833 The neurotoxin basically inhibits your ability to breathe. 626 00:29:04,958 --> 00:29:07,750 So the heart attack gun actually causes cardiac arrest. 627 00:29:07,875 --> 00:29:09,875 Narrator: Next, Embree enlists the help 628 00:29:10,042 --> 00:29:12,500 of CIA chemist Dr. Nathan Gordon 629 00:29:12,667 --> 00:29:15,667 to create an effective delivery system. 630 00:29:15,833 --> 00:29:18,875 O'Donnell: Gordon successfully develops a popsicle-like dart 631 00:29:19,042 --> 00:29:21,000 loaded with shellfish toxin. 632 00:29:21,083 --> 00:29:23,500 The dart would be carried in a frozen state, 633 00:29:23,667 --> 00:29:26,000 basically in a cooler, until it would be time to deploy. 634 00:29:26,083 --> 00:29:29,667 So it would be cold until the moment of use, 635 00:29:29,833 --> 00:29:31,500 and then it would be loaded and then fired. 636 00:29:31,625 --> 00:29:34,000 O'Donnell: The ingenious feature of the frozen dart 637 00:29:34,125 --> 00:29:36,958 is that it enters the human body and then melts, 638 00:29:37,083 --> 00:29:39,500 releasing the toxin into the body, leaving no trace. 639 00:29:39,625 --> 00:29:41,833 And then on the outside of the body, it only leaves 640 00:29:41,958 --> 00:29:44,458 a little red mark like a bee sting or mosquito bite. 641 00:29:44,583 --> 00:29:48,000 Dickrell: Therefore, the person would simply just die of a heart attack 642 00:29:48,167 --> 00:29:50,792 with no indication that it was actually an assassination. 643 00:29:50,875 --> 00:29:53,333 Wagner: So the likelihood that a coroner 644 00:29:53,500 --> 00:29:54,792 would be able to identify 645 00:29:54,875 --> 00:29:57,000 what actually caused an individual to die 646 00:29:57,125 --> 00:29:59,000 from this toxin, it's probably pretty low, 647 00:29:59,125 --> 00:30:02,833 because your suspicion of this would be so low 648 00:30:02,917 --> 00:30:05,417 and there's no real specific test for this either. 649 00:30:09,208 --> 00:30:12,417 Narrator: Fortunately, the heart attack gun project was shut down 650 00:30:12,542 --> 00:30:15,625 before the weapon could be deployed in the field. 651 00:30:15,750 --> 00:30:19,458 Or so the records claim. 652 00:30:19,583 --> 00:30:22,667 It's debated as to whether or not the heart attack gun 653 00:30:22,833 --> 00:30:25,292 was ever used in an official capacity. 654 00:30:25,417 --> 00:30:30,708 Dr. Nathan Gordon allegedly took 5.9 grams 655 00:30:30,875 --> 00:30:33,375 of this shellfish toxin with him. 656 00:30:33,500 --> 00:30:37,208 Nobody knows what happened to this 5.9 grams of toxin, 657 00:30:37,375 --> 00:30:41,042 which begs the question, was it ever used in other applications? 658 00:30:41,208 --> 00:30:45,083 The heart attack gun supposedly was taken away 659 00:30:45,208 --> 00:30:47,208 to a super-secret storage facility. 660 00:30:47,333 --> 00:30:49,333 Now, whether or not that's true, we're not sure. 661 00:30:55,417 --> 00:31:00,167 We regard the assassination plots as aberrations. 662 00:31:00,250 --> 00:31:04,167 The United States must not adopt the tactics of the enemy. 663 00:31:06,292 --> 00:31:09,583 Narrator: In 1976, U.S. President Gerald Ford 664 00:31:09,708 --> 00:31:12,833 sees the Church Committee hearings as an opportunity 665 00:31:12,958 --> 00:31:16,667 to reign in America's intelligence services. 666 00:31:16,792 --> 00:31:18,917 While President Ford banned the CIA 667 00:31:19,042 --> 00:31:20,375 from carrying out assassinations, 668 00:31:20,500 --> 00:31:23,500 in the Soviet Union, there was no such ban. 669 00:31:23,625 --> 00:31:26,417 And we know about this because of a rather bizarre assassination 670 00:31:26,542 --> 00:31:28,458 that took place in 1978. 671 00:31:31,417 --> 00:31:36,625 Narrator: September 7th, 1978, London, England. 672 00:31:36,750 --> 00:31:41,167 Bulgarian writer and broadcast journalist Georgi Markov 673 00:31:41,292 --> 00:31:44,167 crosses the Waterloo Bridge over the River Thames 674 00:31:44,250 --> 00:31:46,875 to catch a bus to his office at the BBC. 675 00:31:50,042 --> 00:31:52,958 Powers: He's walking across this bridge in London. 676 00:31:54,333 --> 00:31:56,667 He feels a sharp pain in his leg. 677 00:31:56,792 --> 00:31:58,708 He sees this guy pick up an umbrella 678 00:31:58,833 --> 00:32:01,333 that he had dropped by accident. 679 00:32:01,458 --> 00:32:03,083 "Excuse me, I didn't mean to bump into you." 680 00:32:03,208 --> 00:32:05,458 They go their own way. 681 00:32:05,542 --> 00:32:08,125 And so Markov, of course, thinks this is a rather strange incident, 682 00:32:08,208 --> 00:32:10,875 but gets on the bus, feels the sting in the back of his leg. 683 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:13,792 He actually checks his skin and notices 684 00:32:13,875 --> 00:32:17,083 that there's actually a red mark there which looks like a mosquito bite. 685 00:32:17,208 --> 00:32:20,833 He gets to work and the pain seems to be getting worse. 686 00:32:20,958 --> 00:32:22,750 Middle of the day, he starts to feel ill, 687 00:32:22,875 --> 00:32:24,292 and eventually heads home 688 00:32:24,375 --> 00:32:27,208 where he develops a terrible fever, 689 00:32:27,333 --> 00:32:29,542 which means he needs to be rushed to St. James Hospital, 690 00:32:29,667 --> 00:32:31,833 and the doctors there are utterly perplexed 691 00:32:31,958 --> 00:32:34,292 as to what is afflicting this man. 692 00:32:34,375 --> 00:32:37,167 Narrator: Markov, on the other hand, has a strong suspicion 693 00:32:37,292 --> 00:32:40,333 as to what's causing his symptoms. 694 00:32:40,458 --> 00:32:43,167 O'Donnell: Georgi Markov is Bulgarian dissident. 695 00:32:43,250 --> 00:32:45,125 He's a writer, a playwright, 696 00:32:45,250 --> 00:32:48,375 who in the 1960s increasingly runs afoul 697 00:32:48,500 --> 00:32:50,167 of the communist Bulgarian government, 698 00:32:50,292 --> 00:32:52,000 that does not like his writings. 699 00:32:52,167 --> 00:32:53,875 They find them critical and, you know, 700 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:57,042 satirical, and making fun of the government. 701 00:32:57,208 --> 00:33:02,167 And so Markov is forced to seek exile in London in 1970. 702 00:33:02,250 --> 00:33:04,708 While in exile, Markov became increasingly critical 703 00:33:04,833 --> 00:33:08,917 of the Bulgarian communist government led by Todor Zhivkov. 704 00:33:09,042 --> 00:33:12,000 Hammond: There is a culture in Bulgaria 705 00:33:12,083 --> 00:33:15,000 of taking out people that are critical of the regime. 706 00:33:15,125 --> 00:33:20,292 The Bulgarian regime don't tolerate people speaking out of line. 707 00:33:20,375 --> 00:33:23,250 If you do, you better look over your shoulder 708 00:33:23,375 --> 00:33:24,875 for the rest of your life. 709 00:33:25,042 --> 00:33:27,208 O'Donnell: While he's in the hospital, 710 00:33:27,375 --> 00:33:29,667 Markov told people he believed he had been poisoned, 711 00:33:29,792 --> 00:33:31,500 and that he believed that he had been tailed 712 00:33:31,625 --> 00:33:34,083 and targeted for assassination by the KGB 713 00:33:34,208 --> 00:33:36,417 and Bulgarian government officials. 714 00:33:36,542 --> 00:33:38,958 He told me the most extraordinary story, 715 00:33:39,042 --> 00:33:42,083 that he'd been jabbed with an umbrella tip. 716 00:33:42,208 --> 00:33:45,417 It was almost as if he didn't want to believe it himself. 717 00:33:45,542 --> 00:33:48,708 Jackson: The rumor is that General Dimatar Stoinoff, 718 00:33:48,833 --> 00:33:50,500 the interior minister of Bulgaria, 719 00:33:50,625 --> 00:33:52,625 went to Russia and sought assistance 720 00:33:52,708 --> 00:33:55,292 in liquidating vocal anti-communists like Markov. 721 00:33:55,375 --> 00:33:58,667 The head of the KGB at the time, Yuri Andropov-- 722 00:33:58,750 --> 00:34:01,125 actually the future leader of the USSR in fact-- 723 00:34:01,208 --> 00:34:03,417 he agreed to help, but only on the condition 724 00:34:03,542 --> 00:34:05,333 that it could not be traced back to Russia. 725 00:34:05,458 --> 00:34:08,125 Stoinoff then organizes the mission, 726 00:34:08,208 --> 00:34:10,708 and it's carried out on September 7th. 727 00:34:10,833 --> 00:34:13,250 The reason for this date is that it was the birthday 728 00:34:13,375 --> 00:34:15,833 of communist leader Todor Zhikov, 729 00:34:15,917 --> 00:34:19,583 and this is meant as basically a gift to the Bulgarian leader. 730 00:34:19,708 --> 00:34:22,375 ( EKG monitor beeping ) 731 00:34:22,500 --> 00:34:26,542 Narrator: Sadly, four days after checking into the hospital, 732 00:34:26,667 --> 00:34:29,208 Markov dies. 733 00:34:29,375 --> 00:34:31,500 After Markov dies, they conduct an autopsy, 734 00:34:31,625 --> 00:34:35,333 and doctors find a small metal pellet in the back of his thigh 735 00:34:35,417 --> 00:34:37,500 less than two millimeters in size, 736 00:34:37,583 --> 00:34:39,375 and begin to examine this thing very, very closely 737 00:34:39,500 --> 00:34:41,708 to see what exactly it was. 738 00:34:41,833 --> 00:34:44,958 Narrator: But the investigation takes a strange turn 739 00:34:45,042 --> 00:34:46,958 when new evidence emerges. 740 00:34:47,042 --> 00:34:51,500 Powers: Another dissident comes forward, Vladimir Kostov. 741 00:34:51,583 --> 00:34:54,458 He says that something similar happened to him. 742 00:34:54,542 --> 00:34:56,583 O'Donnell: Ten days before Markov had been shot, 743 00:34:56,708 --> 00:34:58,917 Kostov is leaving the Paris metro. 744 00:34:59,042 --> 00:35:03,208 He hears a pop go off, and then feels a stinging sensation in his back. 745 00:35:03,333 --> 00:35:05,833 And he turns around and sees a rather large man 746 00:35:05,958 --> 00:35:07,625 stooping to pick up an umbrella. 747 00:35:07,708 --> 00:35:08,583 The man walks away 748 00:35:08,708 --> 00:35:10,333 and gets into a cab and speeds off. 749 00:35:10,417 --> 00:35:12,250 Kostov begins to feel ill, 750 00:35:12,375 --> 00:35:13,833 gets very, very sick. 751 00:35:13,958 --> 00:35:15,333 Actually checks into a hospital, 752 00:35:15,458 --> 00:35:17,917 but unlike Markov, he does not die. 753 00:35:18,042 --> 00:35:23,208 Doctors then remove from his back an identical pellet of two millimeters in size 754 00:35:23,333 --> 00:35:25,375 and begin also to examine it closely 755 00:35:25,500 --> 00:35:28,333 to see what the links are between it and Markov's death. 756 00:35:28,417 --> 00:35:33,125 Narrator: They notice one very small but crucial difference 757 00:35:33,208 --> 00:35:36,167 between the two pellets. 758 00:35:36,250 --> 00:35:38,667 O'Donnell: When they examine the pellet taken out of Kostov, 759 00:35:38,750 --> 00:35:40,500 they discover that it had a waxy coating on it. 760 00:35:40,625 --> 00:35:43,042 With Markov, an identical pellet 761 00:35:43,208 --> 00:35:45,375 had no waxy substance on the outside. 762 00:35:45,500 --> 00:35:47,500 Powers: The experts who examined the pellet 763 00:35:47,583 --> 00:35:50,958 think that the wax around it is meant to melt 764 00:35:51,042 --> 00:35:52,667 once it enters the body's system, 765 00:35:52,792 --> 00:35:55,500 thereby releasing the poison into the bloodstream. 766 00:35:59,250 --> 00:36:01,375 Narrator: In the fall of 1978, 767 00:36:01,500 --> 00:36:03,917 investigators are stumped after they find 768 00:36:04,042 --> 00:36:06,500 nearly identical pellets in the bodies 769 00:36:06,583 --> 00:36:07,333 of two different 770 00:36:07,458 --> 00:36:10,167 Bulgarian anti-communists. 771 00:36:10,250 --> 00:36:13,000 O'Donnell: The pellets that were shot into Kostov and Markov 772 00:36:13,083 --> 00:36:14,833 were smaller than the head of a pin. 773 00:36:14,958 --> 00:36:17,333 The poison apparently was carried in holes 774 00:36:17,417 --> 00:36:19,333 that were bored into the sides of the pellet, 775 00:36:19,458 --> 00:36:21,250 meaning only a tiny portion 776 00:36:21,375 --> 00:36:23,708 was designated for holding the poison. 777 00:36:23,875 --> 00:36:26,458 Powers: People at first aren't sure what type of poison it is. 778 00:36:26,542 --> 00:36:31,750 After the autopsy of Markov, they discover that it's ricin. 779 00:36:31,875 --> 00:36:35,458 O'Donnell: Ricin is one of the most deadly poisons known in the world. 780 00:36:35,542 --> 00:36:37,833 A single bite of a cobra delivers enough venom 781 00:36:37,958 --> 00:36:39,250 to kill 20 people, 782 00:36:39,375 --> 00:36:41,833 and ricin is twice as deadly. 783 00:36:41,958 --> 00:36:44,125 Ricin is actually a byproduct 784 00:36:44,208 --> 00:36:47,333 of the processing of a castor bean. 785 00:36:47,417 --> 00:36:50,417 Ricin poison in itself is a horrible way to die. 786 00:36:50,542 --> 00:36:52,167 If it's injected into the body, 787 00:36:52,250 --> 00:36:53,583 you can have a site redness. 788 00:36:53,708 --> 00:36:55,500 Then you can start getting headaches, 789 00:36:55,583 --> 00:36:57,500 you can get some confusion, disorientation. 790 00:36:57,583 --> 00:37:00,542 But ultimately it's going to lead to liver failure, 791 00:37:00,667 --> 00:37:02,958 splenic injury, and kidney failure. 792 00:37:03,042 --> 00:37:06,458 And you actually don't need that much ricin to cause death. 793 00:37:06,542 --> 00:37:08,792 We're talking about 0.1 milligrams 794 00:37:08,917 --> 00:37:12,542 to one milligram of ricin to actually kill somebody. 795 00:37:12,667 --> 00:37:17,500 Powers: Ricin is a very good poison to use 796 00:37:17,583 --> 00:37:19,375 if you want to try to kill someone 797 00:37:19,500 --> 00:37:22,500 because there's no known antidote to ricin poisoning. 798 00:37:22,583 --> 00:37:25,750 Once you're poisoned, you're dead. 799 00:37:25,875 --> 00:37:31,542 Narrator: If ricin is so deadly, how does Kostov survive? 800 00:37:31,667 --> 00:37:33,208 O'Donnell: There are many factors that might explain 801 00:37:33,333 --> 00:37:36,083 why Markov died and Kostov didn't, 802 00:37:36,208 --> 00:37:37,333 but what we know from the evidence 803 00:37:37,458 --> 00:37:39,000 is that the waxy coating on the pellet 804 00:37:39,125 --> 00:37:41,292 that entered Kostov did not melt. 805 00:37:41,375 --> 00:37:43,000 We don't know why, but for some reason 806 00:37:43,167 --> 00:37:44,667 his body temperature didn't melt the wax, 807 00:37:44,792 --> 00:37:47,708 and therefore most of the toxin did not get delivered. 808 00:37:47,875 --> 00:37:51,208 Narrator: After putting together all the clues, 809 00:37:51,333 --> 00:37:54,000 investigators find a common thread 810 00:37:54,125 --> 00:37:56,708 between the two men's stories, 811 00:37:56,833 --> 00:38:01,000 one they believe reveals the weapon of choice. 812 00:38:01,083 --> 00:38:04,833 If anybody's ever spent any time in London, it rains a lot. 813 00:38:04,917 --> 00:38:07,500 Having an umbrella, you wouldn't stand out, 814 00:38:07,583 --> 00:38:10,167 and a lot of intelligence and espionage 815 00:38:10,292 --> 00:38:13,208 is hiding in plain sight. 816 00:38:13,375 --> 00:38:18,333 They used this umbrella to administer a pellet into Markov's leg. 817 00:38:18,458 --> 00:38:20,500 That's how it was delivered. 818 00:38:20,583 --> 00:38:23,458 Narrator: Dubbed the Bulgarian Umbrella, 819 00:38:23,542 --> 00:38:26,583 the devious device is modified with an air gun 820 00:38:26,708 --> 00:38:30,833 that fires a poison-laden pellet into the victim. 821 00:38:30,958 --> 00:38:33,542 Dickrell: The Bulgarian Umbrella's operation is relatively simple. 822 00:38:33,667 --> 00:38:36,375 A hollow barrel is loaded with a ricin pellet 823 00:38:36,500 --> 00:38:40,583 and then charged with a gas canister. 824 00:38:40,708 --> 00:38:42,375 Powers: In order for the Bulgarian Umbrella 825 00:38:42,500 --> 00:38:44,667 to work with its gas cartridge, 826 00:38:44,750 --> 00:38:46,667 you can't shoot it from afar. 827 00:38:46,750 --> 00:38:48,583 We have to get up close to the subject, 828 00:38:48,708 --> 00:38:52,542 and basically put the tip of the umbrella on a body part. 829 00:38:52,667 --> 00:38:55,167 Dickrell: The person doing the killing 830 00:38:55,250 --> 00:38:58,750 presses the end of the umbrella against the victim and fires it. 831 00:38:58,875 --> 00:39:01,500 The gas canister then shoots the pellet into the victim, 832 00:39:01,583 --> 00:39:04,042 releasing the ricin and poisoning the victim. 833 00:39:04,167 --> 00:39:08,500 Powers: It was a very ingenious way to deliver a poison 834 00:39:08,583 --> 00:39:10,750 into a subject that you wanted to assassinate. 835 00:39:10,875 --> 00:39:14,333 Narrator: Before settling on the Bulgarian Umbrella, 836 00:39:14,458 --> 00:39:17,000 some reports claim that Markov's assassins 837 00:39:17,125 --> 00:39:21,000 had an arsenal of poison delivery methods at the ready. 838 00:39:22,917 --> 00:39:25,667 The KGB gave three options for how to kill Markov. 839 00:39:25,750 --> 00:39:29,625 Either, one, poison that's applied to his skin, kind of rubbed on; 840 00:39:29,708 --> 00:39:32,500 two, poison that's administered and digested; 841 00:39:32,625 --> 00:39:34,833 or using the umbrella gun. 842 00:39:34,917 --> 00:39:36,458 The Bulgarians tried the first two, 843 00:39:36,542 --> 00:39:38,333 but when the poison failed on both accounts, 844 00:39:38,458 --> 00:39:39,958 that's when they turned to the umbrella gun. 845 00:39:40,083 --> 00:39:43,792 Narrator: Despite several lengthy investigations, 846 00:39:43,917 --> 00:39:48,750 no one is ever brought to justice for the death of Georgi Markov. 847 00:39:48,875 --> 00:39:51,208 We're not sure who the assassin was, 848 00:39:51,333 --> 00:39:54,375 but his code name was Piccadilly. 849 00:39:54,500 --> 00:39:56,750 We think it was the KGB working in conjunction 850 00:39:56,875 --> 00:39:58,833 with the Bulgarian secret service. 851 00:39:58,958 --> 00:40:01,500 But once investigations started to happen, 852 00:40:01,583 --> 00:40:03,667 the documents, the misinformation, 853 00:40:03,750 --> 00:40:06,333 the paper trail ended, so they were never able 854 00:40:06,458 --> 00:40:09,417 to conclusively determine who did it or why. 855 00:40:09,542 --> 00:40:12,333 Narrator: The Bulgarian Umbrella is not the first 856 00:40:12,458 --> 00:40:15,375 deadly spy weapon of its kind. 857 00:40:15,500 --> 00:40:17,208 It is believed that the first umbrella gun 858 00:40:17,333 --> 00:40:19,583 was invented in the 19th century, 859 00:40:19,708 --> 00:40:22,250 and was a variation of the cane gun. 860 00:40:22,375 --> 00:40:25,042 Hammond: One thing that we see through the whole Cold War 861 00:40:25,167 --> 00:40:30,458 is all manner of everyday items that get used for espionage. 862 00:40:30,542 --> 00:40:34,250 For example, a cane that actually fires a bullet. 863 00:40:34,375 --> 00:40:36,833 Lipstick that actually is a gun. 864 00:40:36,958 --> 00:40:39,667 A shoe that secretly has a dagger. 865 00:40:39,750 --> 00:40:41,750 Just like you see in the Bond movies. 866 00:40:41,875 --> 00:40:44,333 Narrator: But this isn't fiction. 867 00:40:44,458 --> 00:40:46,000 Real-world spies continue 868 00:40:46,083 --> 00:40:47,500 to innovate their devices 869 00:40:47,583 --> 00:40:48,875 and their sinister methods 870 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:51,500 of covertly gathering intelligence 871 00:40:51,625 --> 00:40:54,333 and silencing enemy targets. 872 00:40:54,458 --> 00:40:56,500 The dark stories of espionage, 873 00:40:56,583 --> 00:40:58,875 poisonings, and murders 874 00:40:59,042 --> 00:41:01,833 that make the news are just a fraction 875 00:41:01,958 --> 00:41:04,958 of what goes on in the shadows.