Undercover Washington: Where Famous Spies Lived Worked and Loved (Capital Travels)

About this book

In times of peace or war Washington D.C. is the spy capital of the world. The original spymaster George Washington whose home was in nearby Mt. Vernon started it all when he had false information planted in British pouches and used disappearing ink to instruct his agents. Since then the capital has been a hotbed of espionage chock full of all the targets of any self-respecting spythe CIA the FBI the Pentagon NSA and more. Diplomats politicians generals scholars secretaries and clerks mistresses and wives have lied contrived connived denied cheated blackmailed seduced and betrayed each other here right up to the current war on terrorism. Pamela Kessler a former Washington Post reporter and an expert on the local espionage scene takes readers on a guided tour through D.C. and nearby Virginia and Maryland to more than 70 drop-sites safe-houses graveyards mansions museums secure government offices and restaurant rendezvous where the spy game has been played. Kessler reveals the tales behind each featured site and offers more than 60 photographs of secret agents and the hangouts where they lived worked loved and sometimes died gruesome deaths. Lurk through Maryland sneak through Virginia and hide in Washington as you visit such places as: - Hotel Georgethe Washington hotel where the only Soviet general to survive Stalins blood purge of Red Army officers died a mysterious death. - Mailbox at the corner of 37th and R Streets N.W.where Aldrich Ames who worked for the KGB while serving as the CIAs chief of Soviet counterintelligence signaled his handler he was ready to make a drop. - The Exchangethe D.C. restaurant where KGB mole Karl Koecher and his wife Hana met with a swinging couples group for exchange of wives and government secrets. - Foxstone Parkwhere Doctor Death Robert Hanssen dropped his last documents just before his fellow FBI agents arrested him. - The Georgetown mansion where Wild Bill Donovan founder of the Office of Strategic Services the precursor to the CIA held secret meetings during World War II. - Au Pied de Cochonthe Georgetown caf where Soviet defector Vitaly Yurchenko had his last meal before redefecting. - The Northwest Washington home where Soviet spy Kim Philby lived while serving as First Secretary of the British Embassy. - FBI Headquartersa preview of the redesigned tour that attracts half a million visitors a year - National Cryptologic Museuma former motel in Fort Meade Maryland where visitors now can learn the history of American signals intelligence and cryptology and find the largest public collection of Enigma machines. - The Willard Hotelwhere Lafayette C. Baker the infamous counterespionage officer in the Civil War was recruited - Congressional Country Clubthe training place in Potomac Maryland for OSS agents to be parachuted behind enemy lines in World War II.