got geoint?

Welcome to the Friday’s Food for Thought post from got geoint? Yesterday, we ran one of our most popular posts about how, way back in the day, spy satellites dropped exposed film via a parachute. Since that post caught on like wildfire, we thought this week’s FFFT post can be all about spy history. Our dedicated readers and members of the “FFFT fan club” may recall our GEOINT history post last year, which focused more on geographic history. For this post, we are trying to dive a bit deeper and expose some interesting, bizarre and entertaining facts about the history of spying. We hope you enjoy! Oh, and for all you hip, young GEOINTers, just a reminder that March 17 is the deadline to apply to be on the USGIF Young Professionals Group (YPG) Board of Directors. Click here for more information and don’t miss out on this opportunity.

SPYING: The Secret History of History
Everyone, at some time in his or her life, fantasizes about being a spy — James Bond, Mata Hari, George Smiley, Maxwell Smart. At the new International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., more than a million visitors have stepped into the secret history of history–and have learned what it is really like to live undercover. This distinctive and fascinating book at once distills and expands upon that experience, with inside information on how spies do their jobs, interviews with operatives, and hundreds of photographs and descriptions of tools of the trade. Biographies of legendary spies and how they completed their special operations are included, along with timelines showing the developments of bugs, surveillance tools, weapons, and disguises. Letters, maps, examples of disguises, dead drops, and rare photos make spies and their operations from 2000 BC to the present live and breathe on every page. Interesting, right? You can purchase the book here.

History of the Intelligence Community: A Google Timeline
Perhaps we are a bit ‘old school’ ourselves, but we just stumbled upon a Google timeline on the history of the Intelligence Community. Did you all know that Google did this? Yeah, neither did we. Basically, Google will pull content from different books and sources to create the timeline. Yeah, very cool. What can’t Google do? Or, right, we already covered that one in a FFFT post. And, in the meantime, be sure to check out the Google-facilitated timeline of the history of the Intelligence Community here.

15 of History’s Most Notable Spies
A career in espionage is easily one of the most coveted of all childhood fantasies, due largely to the unending stream of spy movies, comics, books, and real-life stories we’re inundated with growing up. While James Bond is at the top of everyone’s list, in reality things can be a bit different; spies come in all shapes and sizes, and range from honorable to just plain criminal. Some are remembered for their daring and others for their half-witted desperation and lust for money, but one thing rides certain throughout the disparate stories they tell: It takes guts to be a spy. While the greatest spies will, by virtue of their success, never be known to us, these are the 15 most notable spies in our recent history. Regardless of their final motives or original intent, they’ve all earned their own version of immortality by contributing to our unending fascination with the shadowy world they’ve walked. Check out more here.

NOVA: Spy Photos
Surveillance images taken by spy planes and satellites have been used to sway public opinion ever since President John F. Kennedy declassified U-2 images of Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba four decades ago. Since then, the release of such photographs—sometimes officially sanctioned, sometimes not—has played a crucial role in geopolitics, never more intensely than in recent years. In this interactive satellite map of the world, examine a series of influential images released between 1962 and 2005. Check out more from NOVA here.

Curriculum: Students Examine The History of Spying
Students will examine the history of spying from the time of the Cold War to the present. Point out to students that espionage, the practice of using of spies to obtain military or political secrets, has played an important role in military affairs throughout history. Next, group students, and have each group consult the Internet and other resources to learn about the history of spying from the time of the Cold War to the present. Have students identify the technological advances that have helped spies to do their jobs. In addition, have students note the different conflicts between the U.S. and other countries during this time. After students complete their research, reconvene groups, and have them create a timeline that depicts their findings. Wrap up the activity by posing the following questions for class discussion. See…this is a mini-curriculum on how to teach the history of spying to students. Check out more here.

Old School Hip Hop with Grandmaster Flash
The early days of hip hop and break dancing was an amazing time. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, we were on the verge of cutting-edge cultural revolution coming directly from the heart and soul of the streets. Way back in the day, even though many of us were young at the time, we knew something big was brewing. And once “Rapper’s Delight” made it’s way through suburbia, the new cultural revolution had officially taken hold. Check out this video of Grandmaster Flash that will bring you back to those early days.

Tags: CIA history, Friday's Food for Thought, GEOINT history, GIS, got geoint?, Grandmaster Flash, Hip Hop, History of Intelligence Community, History of Spying, Mapping, Old School Hip Hop, Spy history, USGIF