


Her time spent with the Underground Railroad taught her to keep track of complex details and information, scout transportation routes, and arrange clandestine meetings. Though she was unable to read or write, Tubman was exceptionally bright. When the Civil War broke out 11 years later, she continued the fight by becoming a spy for the Union Army. Harriet Tubman - CIVIL WARĮveryone knows that Harriet Tubman helped slaves reach freedom through the Underground Railroad after her own escape in 1849. She is credited with more jailbreaks, sabotage missions, and leaks of troop movements than any other spy in France. Office of Strategic Service and in 1944 she organized missions to sabotage the Germans. Posturing as an American news reporter, she encoded messages into news broadcasts and passed encrypted missives to her contacts. Known by the Nazis as "The Limping Lady," she was recruited by British spymaster Vera Atkins to report on German troop movements and recruit members for the resistance in France. Oh, and she did it all with a wooden leg named 'Cuthbert.' As a spy, she organized agent networks, recruited the local population of occupied France to run safe houses, and aided in the escape of Allied prisoners of war. Virginia Hall was one of the most successful espionage operatives of World War II, earning not only the contempt of the Gestapo, but the Distinguished Service Cross - the only civilian woman to be so honored. It was, in fact, the Ames' lavish spending that finally led to their downfall, but by then, he had already nearly destroyed the American intelligence program in the Soviet Union.Īmes is currently serving his life sentence, while his wife, as part of a plea-bargain agreement, served only five years and walked free.
#Famous secret agents trial#
Following his arrest and guilty plea, Ames revealed that he had compromised the identities of CIA and FBI human sources, leading some to be executed by the Soviet Union.ĭuring a nearly year-long investigation into his subterfuge - and his subsequent trial - it was revealed that Ames had been spying for the Soviets since 1985, passing details about HUMINT sources, clandestine operations against the USSR, and providing classified information via "dead drops" in exchange for millions of dollars. In 1994, he was arrested by the FBI for spying for the Soviets along with his wife, Rosario Ames, who aided and abetted his espionage. Aldrich Ames - COLD WARĪldrich Ames is a 31-year CIA veteran turned KGB double agent. Whether they infiltrated the enemy's ranks or sweet-talked the details out of careless persons who ignore all those "loose lips sink ships" posters, these are the most notorious spies with the most successful espionage missions in history, ranked by the operations they disrupted, the damage they dealt, and the odds stacked against them. The Act made espionage a crime punishable by death, but there are always men and women willing to risk it - for country, for honor, or maybe just for some quick cash. The Espionage Act of 1917 defined espionage as the notion of obtaining or delivering information relating to national defense to a person who is not entitled to have it.
