Gordon Dean Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission summarizing the events to President Eisenhower
Ivy Mike (yield 10.4 mt) — an atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the U.S. at Enewetak Atoll on November 1st 1952 — was the world’s first successful hydrogen bomb.
November 1st 2025 — On November 1st 1952, the United States detonated the first full-scale thermonuclear device on the island of Elugelab in Enewetak Atoll, in the Pacific Ocean, as part of Operation Ivy. It was the first full test of the Teller–Ulam design, a staged fusion device. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“Hemingway may have said ‘yes’ to the Soviet recruitment pitch, but unless there is some additional trove of material in the NKVD archives that argues otherwise, it is clear Hemingway was never a productive Soviet agent.”
CIA website Intelligence in Literature and Media
American writer Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) working at a portable table while on a big game hunt in Kenya, September 1952. (Photo by Earl Theisen/Getty Images)
October 28 2025 — On October 28 1954, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Ernest Miller Hemingway “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.” Hemingway was aware of his long surveillance by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, who were suspicious of his links with Cuba, and it has been argued that this surveillance may have pushed him to the brink. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“Agency heads at the time created a politically charged environment that triggered an atypical analytic process around an issue essential to our democracy.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe (July 2, 2025)
July 6, 2025 — This week, the CIA concluded a critical internal review casting serious doubts on the integrity of past intelligence narratives—highlighting strong circumstantial evidence that former CIA Director John Brennan played a central role in shaping, and possibly fabricating, key political allegations. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“The bravery of these two men cannot be overstated. Chris and Chief put the lives of others ahead of their own. That is heroism defined.”
George J. Tenet Director of Central Intelligence (May 2004)
October 25 2025 — Mueller and Carlson were paramilitary contractors from Special Activities Division, killed in an ambush in Afghanistan on October 25, 2003. On May 21, 2004, these officers’ stars were dedicated at the CIA memorial ceremony. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“I heard one day that one of our local operations had gone awry, that a helicopter had been forced to make an emergency landing, hurting someone in the process. It turned out to be much worse than that. Dave had been horribly burned by a white phosphorous grenade. It was a windy day, and the helicopter pilot had apparently requested that a smoke grenade be thrown to show him wind direction as he landed in a small area. A white phosphorous grenade had been used by mistake.”
A friend of Dave Lee Konzelman David
October 24, 2025 — David Lee Konzelman died on October 24, 1971, at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas from injuries sustained on September 13, 1971. The injuries occurred when a phosphorus grenade exploded in his hand while he was serving in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“Though he never said so explicitly, President Ronald Reagan ended America’s military commitment to a strategic mistake that was peripheral to America’s interests. Three-and-a-half months after the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. military personnel — and after repeatedly pledging not to do so — Reagan ordered the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Lebanon.”
Foreign Policy
October 23 2025 — The Beirut barracks bombings were terrorist attacks that occurred on October 23, 1983, in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War when two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces — members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF) — killing 241 U.S. and 58 French servicemen, six civilians, and the two suicide bombers. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“And you’ll ask: why doesn’t his poetry speak of dreams and leaves and the great volcanoes of his native land? Come and see the blood in the streets.”
I explain a few things Pablo Neruda
October 21 2025 — Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician. On October 21 2018, The Spy Museum tweeted: “Today in SpyHistory – The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to former KGB agent and Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, 1971.” Really? Where is the evidence that Neruda was a KGB agent? Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“They blinked. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I turned to the stars and whispered, ‘John’s star is here.’ I moved to the wall and gently touched the star I knew was his. They followed me, Lora’s small hand lovingly and gently taking mine. Tyler slipped his arm protectively around me, both sharing my newly revealed sadness.”
Martha Peterson
October 19, 2025 — John Peterson, a CIA paramilitary operations officer, was killed in action in Laos on October 19, 1972, during the Vietnam War. His death occurred while conducting a mission against North Vietnamese forces as part of the CIA’s operations supporting local militias along the Ho Chi Minh trail. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
“Richard Sorge’s brilliant espionage work saved Stalin and the Soviet Union from defeat in the fall of 1941, probably prevented a Nazi victory in World War II and thereby assured the dimensions of the world we live in today.”
Larry Collins American writer
October 18 2025 — On October 18 1941, Richard Sorge was arrested in Tokyo. He was hanged on November 7 1944, at 10:20 Tokyo time in Sugamo Prison. A number of famous personalities — from General Douglas MacArthur to James Bond’s father and former MI6 Ian Fleming — considered him one of the most accomplished spies. Chief Prosecutor Mitsusada Yoshikawa — the Japanese who led the prosecution and obtained Sorge’s death sentence — wrote that he never met a greater man. Richard Sorge is proof that one spy can alter the History of our world. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
October 15 2025 — Margaretha Geertruida “Margreet” MacLeod (Born Zelle; August 7 1876 – October 15 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan. She was put on trial on July 24 1917. The following day, she was convicted of being a spy for Germany. On October 15 1917, she was executed by firing squad in France. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
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