Counter Intelligence Quiz
Which one of these commercial ventures is not housed in the Lubyanka, the KGB's former headquarters and prison in central Moscow?
- Perhaps in deference to its somewhat sinister history, the Lubyanka still houses the FSB, Russia's domestic intelligence service. Across the street is Dyetsky Mir, the largest children's store in the country.
According to the findings of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which of the following was not a method the CIA considered using to kill Fidel Castro?
- The committee found that the organization had seriously considered no fewer than eight different ways to kill the Cuban leader, including poisoned cigars, a poisoned pen, and using the Mafia to recruit operatives to poison his food.
Before his execution by the British, American Revolutionary spy Nathan Hale's last words were:
- Sent by the revolutionaries to get information on the British forces on Long Island, Hale was discovered, captured, and hanged. He was 21.
Prior to 1945, what was the name of Japan's secret police force?
- SMERSH was an early Soviet counterintelligence agency — its name was an abbreviation of a Russian phrase meaning "death to spies." The Nikkei is the Tokyo stock exchange.
How much money did the CIA spend researching psychic phenomena between 1972 and 1977?
- Unlike certain other government agencies, the CIA no longer engages in research on the paranormal.
What was the name of the machine the Nazis used to encrypt secret messages for transmission during World War II?
- The British (in an effort code-named ULTRA) cracked the ENIGMA code by 1940, giving the Allies a huge intelligence advantage. The Nazis had believed the ENIGMA code unbreakable. MAGIC was the US's successful effort to crack Japanese codes.
In a speech to the Republican Women's Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed to have in hand a list of 205 State Department employees who were sympathetic to the Communist party. What did his "list" actually consist of?
- McCarthy rose to prominence on a wave of hysterical anti-communism, and was idolized by many for four years. His fortunes changed rather abruptly, however; on December 2, 1954, the senate condemned him for "conduct contrary to Senatorial traditions." He died of cirrhosis just two and a half years later.
What was one of the suspicious activities that tipped the CIA off to double agent Aldrich Ames?
- A CIA counterintelligence official, Ames (along with his wife) was paid nearly $3 million for secrets he revealed to Russian and the USSR. In 1994, he was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison.
Why was American Francis Gary Powers arrested by the Soviet Union in 1960?
- Powers' U-2 high altitude reconnaissance plane was shot down over the USSR on May 1, 1960. Sentenced by the Soviets to ten years in prison, Powers was later released in exchange for the return of Soviet spy Rudolph Abel.
Corona was the first successful American reconnaissance satellite. How were the pictures taken by it retrieved?
- Corona took its first photograph from space on August 18, 1960. During its 12-year life, it captured over 800,000 images – mostly of the Soviet Union and China.
