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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:03,040 Throughout time, governments 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:04,720 and the people who work for them 3 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:07,280 have done strange and even terrible things 4 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:09,680 in the name of national interest. 5 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:13,320 Tonight, real-life spy gadgets. 6 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:18,240 A giant toy saves a double agent 7 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:21,360 the life of one of CIA's most valuable assets 8 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,400 rests in the hands of a pop-up doll. 9 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:28,360 A secret message inside a nickel 10 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:31,000 brings down a Soviet spymaster 11 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:33,480 this tiny coin was the key to everything. 12 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,400 And an alien invasion of balloons. 13 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:40,400 Alien spacecraft are as good a cover as any. 14 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:45,560 Sometimes spies need the right tech for the job. 15 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:49,640 Now it's time to bring these strange innovations to life. 16 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,840 It's 1953, and a young kid named Jimmy bozart 17 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,480 finds an unusual nickel. 18 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:07,760 It turns out to contain secret messages 19 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:12,760 from enemy agents operating a spy ring on us soil. 20 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,160 So Jimmy bozart is a paperboy in New York City. 21 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:22,960 He's doing his paper route. 22 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:25,760 He gets some nickels as tips from different apartments 23 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:27,120 as he delivers the paper. 24 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:28,520 He's counting his change. 25 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:30,440 One of the nickels opens up. 26 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:33,280 It's no normal nickel. 27 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:34,680 It's hollowed out in the middle, 28 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:36,760 almost like two lids of a jar. 29 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,880 And inside the nickel is a thin piece of photo paper. 30 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:41,760 And on that paper is a strange pattern 31 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:42,960 that he doesn't understand. 32 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:47,040 Jimmy can't figure out what the patterns mean, 33 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:49,320 so he passes the coin and its contents 34 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:50,680 onto a local detective. 35 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:52,160 And the police look at it, 36 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:53,816 and they also don't know what to make of it, 37 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,000 so they take it to the FBI. 38 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,120 The FBI analyze it through a microfiche machine. 39 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:03,440 They have their best scientists trying to decode this message, 40 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:05,800 but they can never break it. 41 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:07,960 The strange nickel and its message 42 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:10,560 remain a mystery for four years. 43 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,320 Then in may 1957, the feds catch a lucky break. 44 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:19,800 The American government gets a phone call 45 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:22,320 from a guy named hayhanen. 46 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:25,840 Reino hayhanen is a Soviet handler 47 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:27,680 that's operating a ring of sources 48 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:29,480 inside the United States. 49 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,360 He says he's fearful that he's gonna be executed 50 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:34,640 because he has stolen some of his boss's money. 51 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:37,400 So he's now defecting to america. 52 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:39,240 A spy who steals from his bosses 53 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,360 doesn't sound like the most reliable source, 54 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,840 so the FBI want to verify hayhanen's story. 55 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,000 They needed to check his credibility. 56 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,016 So they went to his house, and they found all kinds 57 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:54,640 of materials that are very difficult to explain 58 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:56,720 if you're not a spy. 59 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:58,760 And they also found a nickel 60 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:02,280 that matched Jimmy bozart's nickel. 61 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,480 When the FBI asks hayhanen about Jimmy's nickel, 62 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:07,200 he knows all about it. 63 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:08,640 How? 64 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:10,480 Because the nickel that Jimmy found 65 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:12,680 was originally meant for hayhanen. 66 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,240 He picked it up in a dead drop. 67 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:17,360 But instead of opening it immediately 68 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:21,720 and decoding the message, hayhanen makes a mistake. 69 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:23,240 When hayhanen picked up the coin, 70 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:25,320 he put it in his pocket with other coins. 71 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:27,280 And then he lost track of which coin 72 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:28,960 was actually carrying the message. 73 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,640 So he accidentally spent the coin somewhere. 74 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,240 Now hayhanen finally reveals the secret 75 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:37,400 to cracking the code. 76 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:39,840 The mysterious message 77 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:42,160 is simply a welcome note to hayhanen 78 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:44,240 upon his arrival in New York. 79 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:46,480 All of this mystery, all of this effort, 80 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:48,680 all of this concern over a message 81 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:50,456 that was nothing more than a greeting card 82 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:53,360 between two Russian agents. 83 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:55,720 The FBI knows what the nickel is 84 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,280 and what the message inside says. 85 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,040 But who sent it? 86 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,840 Hayhanen leads the feds to a photographic studio 87 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:06,200 in Brooklyn he claims is run by his spy handler. 88 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:10,800 The FBI raids this spy's apartment 89 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:12,800 at this photography studio. 90 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:14,800 And they discovered hollowed pencils, 91 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:18,520 hollowed nickels, and some other spy gizmos and gadgets. 92 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,120 This Soviet spy is captured. 93 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:25,840 He tells the FBI, under interrogation, 94 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:28,600 that his real name is Rudolf Abel. 95 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,840 He is a colonel in the kgb. 96 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:36,160 Using the spy tech as evidence, 97 00:04:36,280 --> 00:04:39,720 the FBI charges Rudolf Abel with conspiracy and espionage 98 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:42,280 in August 1957. 99 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,760 The trial reveals Abel has run a network of kgb agents 100 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:48,160 across the us for eight years, 101 00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:50,720 stealing military and nuclear secrets 102 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:53,600 and sending them back to mother Russia. 103 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:55,680 He becomes the highest ranking Russian 104 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,040 ever to be convicted in the us. 105 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:01,720 So as a result of this famous spy case, 106 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:05,160 Rudolf Abel gets sentenced to 30 years, 107 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:08,040 Jimmy bozart gets a commendation from the New York 108 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:09,600 police department, 109 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,720 and hayhanen goes into witness protection. 110 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:16,400 It is amazing that without Jimmy bozart's nickel, 111 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:17,880 none of this would have happened. 112 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,840 Like Jimmy's nickel, not all spy tech is high-end. 113 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:29,600 In 1982, when the CIA's top man in Moscow goes missing, 114 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,160 the agency turns to a gag toy to track him down. 115 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,080 In 1982, Moscow is the center 116 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:42,480 of all espionage activity in the world. 117 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,560 And inside Moscow we had one of our best assets, 118 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,160 someone that we called the billion dollar spy. 119 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,800 The billion dollar spy is Adolf tolkachev, 120 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:59,600 a senior Russian electronics engineer who, since 1977, 121 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,640 has been a one-man data mine for the CIA. 122 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:06,280 His specialty was in avionics and aviation, 123 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:08,400 working on cruise missiles, working on airplanes. 124 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:10,480 He had been giving the us secrets 125 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:12,720 that had resulted in billions of dollars 126 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:15,640 worth of saved research. 127 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:19,880 Suddenly, america's billion dollar spy falls silent. 128 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:25,920 By December 1982, the last five 129 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,760 scheduled meetings with tolkachev have been aborted. 130 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:31,320 He was missing meetings. 131 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:33,960 So we get really, really concerned. 132 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:35,320 Maybe he's sick. 133 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:37,000 Maybe he has a security problem. 134 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:40,960 Charged with tracking him down 135 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:45,440 is his CIA handler, the operative bill plunkert. 136 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:50,360 But locating a double agent in Moscow is anything but easy. 137 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:52,800 There is no way to overstate how difficult 138 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,080 an operating environment Moscow really is. 139 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:59,240 Bill knows he's being watched 24/7 at all times. 140 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:02,040 Wherever you were, you had surveillance in Moscow. 141 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:04,600 No matter what you did, if you were walking, they were there. 142 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:06,200 If you were driving, they were there. 143 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:07,960 If plunkert is going to have any chance 144 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:09,680 of meeting tolkachev, 145 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,440 he needs to figure out a way to lose the kgb agents 146 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:14,320 looking over his shoulder. 147 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:18,200 The CIA's top engineers come up with a surprising solution, 148 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:23,160 inspired by a kid's toy, a super-sized Jack-in-the-box. 149 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,200 The idea behind the Jack-in-the-box invention 150 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:29,760 was that an operative could leave a car 151 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:31,480 that another operative was driving, 152 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:33,016 meaning without the surveillance team 153 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,280 realizing anybody had ever left the car at all. 154 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:39,320 When a trailing kgb car is momentarily out of sight, 155 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:41,520 the operative can put on a disguise 156 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:44,840 and slip out of the car and disappear. 157 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:48,240 And then the Jack-in-the-box pops up to make it look like 158 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:49,680 they're still in the seat. 159 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:51,520 From the position of the surveillance, 160 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:53,336 it would still look like there were two people 161 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:54,360 driving in the car. 162 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:58,440 Bill will be the first ever CIA officer 163 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,640 to field test this piece of spy tech. 164 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,240 Failure could lead kgb agents 165 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,000 straight to the CIA's greatest asset. 166 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:09,920 Success hinges on getting the Jack-in-the-box 167 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,400 into the car without the kgb seeing it. 168 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:17,280 To do that, bill plunkert organizes a cover story. 169 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:19,480 Before plunkert's next scheduled meeting 170 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:22,720 with tolkachev, the CIA Moscow office 171 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:25,720 deliberately discusses a fictional birthday party 172 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:29,840 on phone lines bugged by the kgb. 173 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:32,240 On the big day, plunkert and his associates 174 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,680 walk out of the us embassy, plunkert carrying a big cake. 175 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:38,760 They get into their car and they drive off. 176 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:40,560 And as they do, they are fully aware 177 00:08:40,680 --> 00:08:43,000 that the kgb is tailing them. 178 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,160 That's not a problem. They have a plan. 179 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:48,376 When his car swings around the corner, 180 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:49,880 plunkert leaps out. 181 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:52,640 Right away, his companion takes the cake 182 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:55,040 and lays it on top of the vacated seat. 183 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:57,960 With a sudden crack, the false top of the cake 184 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:00,920 flings open and the Jack-in-the-box passenger 185 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:03,200 snaps into position. 186 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:06,480 So by the time the kgb rounds the corner, 187 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:08,920 they see a vehicle filled with Americans 188 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:10,360 with the exact same headcount. 189 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:12,720 They have no reason to suspect that plunkert 190 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:16,360 is actually the old man that they're driving right by. 191 00:09:18,680 --> 00:09:22,280 The Jack-in-the-box gives plunkert just enough time 192 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:26,400 to track down the CIA's greatest informant. 193 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:29,040 Bill plunkert meets with tolkachev. 194 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:30,800 They exchange packages. 195 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,720 And tolkachev was able to give the CIA 196 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:36,040 new information that proved invaluable 197 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:38,240 to the defense department. 198 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:40,400 The full story of the Jack-in-the-box 199 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:42,840 finally comes to light in 2008, 200 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:45,560 in a CIA-sanctioned book. 201 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:47,560 The trick becomes a key part 202 00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:50,320 of the CIA's field operation toolkit. 203 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:57,200 During the cold war, both superpowers 204 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:00,560 looked for innovative ways to spy on each other. 205 00:10:00,680 --> 00:10:02,960 But when Soviet missiles bring down america's 206 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:04,840 spy plane program, 207 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:09,840 the us responds by taking its cameras to new heights. 208 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:14,640 In 1949, the Russians tested their first a-bomb. 209 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:17,960 So the Americans need to see what else they could be up to. 210 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,480 Aerial surveillance seems to be the only answer. 211 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,120 But the Soviets warn that they will shoot down 212 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:27,000 any NATO aircraft that enters Russian airspace. 213 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:33,400 In 1960, this threat becomes a reality 214 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:35,600 when an American u-2 is shot down 215 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,600 and its pilot put on trial for espionage. 216 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:42,520 Us intelligence agencies race to find a new, safer way 217 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:45,040 to get an eye in the sky. 218 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:47,920 So they decide to send a new camera even higher, 219 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,360 where they're certain no Soviet missile 220 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:52,000 could ever reach. 221 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:54,320 The Americans come up with a pretty bold idea. 222 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:58,200 What if the overflights happen from space 223 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:00,480 using a satellite-mounted camera? 224 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:02,880 I mean, that way, no pilots risk capture. 225 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:04,960 You have no chance of being shot down 226 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,080 and there are no violations of airspace. 227 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,520 The audacious mission is given to the newly formed 228 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:13,760 national reconnaissance office, 229 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:18,160 who begin work on a series of top-secret spy satellites. 230 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:23,080 In 1971, this results in the kh-9 hexagon, 231 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,640 a brand new, photographic, reconnaissance satellite. 232 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:30,440 And it's as large as a school bus. 233 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:34,280 The technology in the kh satellite is groundbreaking. 234 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:38,600 It has the primary panoramic camera and a mapping camera. 235 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,440 And what that gives you is pinpoint locations 236 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:42,760 on the ground. 237 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:46,440 This can capture objects 2 to 3 feet wide 238 00:11:46,560 --> 00:11:48,000 from a hundred miles in space. 239 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:50,400 It's a cutting-edge space camera 240 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:52,360 to snoop on their rivals. 241 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:54,120 But what good is a camera 242 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:56,880 if you can't get the picture back home? 243 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:58,800 Engineers at the reconnaissance office 244 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:01,200 need to transport the camera's photographic film 245 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,440 from outer space, 95 miles down to earth, 246 00:12:04,560 --> 00:12:06,160 to be developed. 247 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:08,880 They devise an ingenious solution. 248 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,720 Once the photos are taken in space, 249 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:17,000 the exposed film is stored in four detachable buckets. 250 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:21,400 Over a period of weeks, these are ejected into space 251 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:23,760 to carefully drop back to earth, 252 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:25,720 toward the pacific ocean. 253 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:30,840 Collecting these buckets falls to the us air force, 254 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:36,280 who must play a game of catch over the entire pacific ocean. 255 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:40,520 Air force pilots are tasked with picking up these packages, 256 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:44,600 falling out of the sky, before they hit the water. 257 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:46,480 Nothing like it has been attempted before. 258 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:48,760 It's a sight to behold. 259 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:51,840 Pilots had to fly around and just keep an eye out 260 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:54,640 for the parachute that would be dropping the film canister 261 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:56,480 slowly toward the ocean. 262 00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:00,160 Once they saw it, their mission was to fly over top of it 263 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:05,320 and snag the parachute with a hook hanging under their plane. 264 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:08,200 You're dropping a 1,500-pound metal canister 265 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:09,880 from earth's orbit, 266 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,280 and then calculating its re-entry point 267 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:15,600 with pinpoint precision. 268 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:18,320 It's an extraordinary airborne mission. 269 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:22,120 But when the pictures come in, they're worth all the effort. 270 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:24,840 When the first batch of film is developed 271 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:28,720 from the kh-9 satellite, one of the officers exclaims, 272 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:30,680 they never thought it would be so good. 273 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:35,400 The imagery gathered from this bucket 274 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:39,800 covered 2/3 of all of the Soviet missile bases. 275 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:42,520 Hexagon is one of the most effective programs 276 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:44,040 of the cold war. 277 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:48,080 Over 15 years, 19 hexagon satellites image 278 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,920 over 877 million square miles of earth. 279 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:54,440 Film canisters dropped from the sky proved to be 280 00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:58,040 a great way to spy, but it's far from perfect, 281 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,240 as the us finds out in 1971 282 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,360 when pilots lose one after a malfunction. 283 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,040 The answer could be another incredible piece of technology. 284 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:11,600 July 10, 1971. 285 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:13,960 The recovery team realize they have a problem 286 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:15,880 with one of the canisters. 287 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:18,480 The parachute failed. 288 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:25,120 And it smashes into the ocean, going 400 feet per second. 289 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:29,480 So suddenly, there's this canister 290 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:32,160 just full of top-secret information 291 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,040 stuck at the bottom of the ocean. 292 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:38,416 This film is critically important 293 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:42,000 because it reveals just how high resolution 294 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:45,360 our early generation spy satellites were 295 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:47,560 at a critical time in the cold war. 296 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,200 We just can't take the risk of allowing this material 297 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:53,320 to fall into Soviet hands. 298 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:55,320 The us government decide to launch 299 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:58,720 an unprecedented deep-sea rescue mission. 300 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,120 This lost film canister is 5 by 7 feet, 301 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:05,520 and it's buried under 16,000 feet of water. 302 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:08,400 That depth is equivalent to 10 times the height 303 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:10,800 of the empire state building. 304 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,920 In order to rescue this pod, the Americans have to turn 305 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:15,960 to another cutting-edge technology, 306 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,600 a submersible named trieste ii. 307 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:22,160 For this mission, trieste ii is armed with 308 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:25,280 a custom-built articulating claw arm 309 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:27,880 that can retrieve the canister. 310 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,760 And its nearly 4-inch-thick steel hull 311 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,960 can carry a three-man crew to the sea floor. 312 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,160 But it's never gone this deep. 313 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:38,680 Even so, the Navy sail the trieste 314 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:41,800 to where they think the canister splashed down. 315 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:44,720 Using the bucket's trajectory and the wind speeds, 316 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,480 they're able to narrow down the search region 317 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:50,680 to a location 350 miles north of Hawaii. 318 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:53,720 It's a strip about a mile and a half wide 319 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:55,280 and eight miles long. 320 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,000 Starboard ahead one third. Come left 30 degrees. 321 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:02,280 However, trieste ii still has a vast area to scour 322 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:04,560 on the pitch-black sea floor. 323 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:05,880 Starboard ahead one third. 324 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:07,880 Coming left 30 degrees. 325 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,080 The trieste ii is effectively looking 326 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:11,400 for a needle in a haystack. 327 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:16,800 The trieste launches two unsuccessful dives. 328 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:19,320 These are incredibly challenging and dangerous. 329 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:21,800 And there is a question of how many more dives 330 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,240 are even possible. 331 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,000 Finding the small film bucket on the pacific floor 332 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:30,200 starts to look like an impossible task. 333 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:32,560 Nearly a year after the bucket is lost, 334 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:34,840 the trieste ii makes its third dive. 335 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:38,760 It's basically do or die time. 336 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:41,656 Roger. 337 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:43,240 We passed a large rock. 338 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,000 After descending over the course of two hours, 339 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:51,480 trieste ii reaches the sea floor and begins searching. 340 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,680 Three and a half hours later, they don't have anything. 341 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:58,560 And then, within minutes of having to begin 342 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,280 their long, arduous ascent back to the surface, 343 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:03,880 they spot it. 344 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:09,640 Against all odds, they've found the canister. 345 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:14,880 Using the trieste's articulating claw arm, 346 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,240 they reach out, grab it, recover it, 347 00:17:17,360 --> 00:17:20,120 and then begin their return to the surface. 348 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:28,720 The crew of trieste ii are ultimately commended 349 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:31,080 for having completed the deepest navigation search 350 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:33,240 and recovery mission in the world. 351 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:35,560 The trieste recovers the photos of critical 352 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:38,280 intelligence from the sea floor. 353 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:41,440 But more importantly, thanks to the trieste ii, 354 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:44,440 the incredible power of the us spy satellites 355 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:46,480 remains top secret. 356 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,520 And the rescue operation will remain secret 357 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,720 until the CIA declassify the astonishing details in 2012. 358 00:17:57,840 --> 00:17:59,056 The spy tech you see in the movies 359 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:00,096 and the rescue operation will remain secret 360 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:01,800 is often inspired by real life events. 361 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:04,840 But in the '70s, when the CIA in Moscow needs 362 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:09,240 the ultimate disguise to tap into a trove of Soviet secrets, 363 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:11,440 the agency goes Hollywood. 364 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,440 In the late 1970s, the CIA is actively monitoring 365 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:22,960 what's happening in Moscow through satellite. 366 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:25,160 And they identify a suspicious trench 367 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:27,640 that's being dug between the ministry of defense 368 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,760 and the nuclear weapons research institute. 369 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,080 They realize they're laying communication cables. 370 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:36,600 So this was a golden opportunity for the CIA. 371 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,280 If you could tap into the line that's being created 372 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:40,920 between these two locations, 373 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:42,936 then that is an information line that's carrying 374 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:45,200 some really valuable secrets. 375 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,120 Closer inspection of the route 376 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:49,600 reveals a series of manholes. 377 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,320 Maybe they could enter and hack into this stream 378 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:53,760 of classified information. 379 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:57,560 Identifying a secret cable is one thing, 380 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,880 but getting inside a manhole undetected to tap it 381 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,360 is another thing entirely. 382 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:05,800 Moscow is a very difficult place to operate. 383 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:07,880 It's one of the most heavily-surveilled locations 384 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:09,600 on the planet. 385 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:12,280 CIA agents know they are probably being followed 386 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:14,240 24 hours a day. 387 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:17,360 From the moment you set foot, as an American, 388 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:20,440 inside of Russia, you are target number one, 389 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:22,560 enemy number one. 390 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:24,800 To avoid kgb scrutiny, 391 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:27,720 the CIA needs a creative solution. 392 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,800 They turn to legendary CIA master 393 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,360 of disguise, Tony Mendez. 394 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:36,200 My husband, Tony Mendez, 395 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:38,080 had been at the CIA for a while. 396 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:41,320 Best-known for the argo operation. 397 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,600 He smuggled six American civilians out of Tehran 398 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,240 at the height of the Iranian revolution. 399 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:52,400 Tony wonders if CIA operatives could lose 400 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,720 their kgb tails by totally altering their appearances 401 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:58,040 in the blink of an eye. 402 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,240 Tony Mendez was really a revolutionary. 403 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:08,040 He devised a suit, a quick-change suit. 404 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:11,560 A simple pull of a velcro tab releases the new outfit. 405 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:13,080 It's really clever. 406 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:17,320 He also sews some vital tools into the disguise. 407 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:19,480 But a change of clothes alone won't be enough 408 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,440 to give the kgb the slip. 409 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:26,040 Tony wants to make agents impossible to recognize. 410 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:29,040 Tony knew that out in Moscow, they were very aware 411 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,720 of what our faces looked like. 412 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:34,040 They had photographs of everyone that came in 413 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:36,200 and was working for the embassy. 414 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:38,840 You can change your clothes very, very easily. 415 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:41,480 But you really can't change your facial features. 416 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:46,040 For that, Tony needs a cutting-edge spy mask, 417 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:48,840 and turns to the unlikeliest of places 418 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:51,320 to someone he thinks can help. 419 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:54,200 Tony Mendez's background was in Hollywood. 420 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:55,960 He had quite a network. 421 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:59,880 So Tony pays a visit to master mask maker John chambers. 422 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,400 John chambers was a makeup artist out in Hollywood. 423 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:09,000 He won an Oscar for the "planet of the apes" masks. 424 00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:12,480 It soon becomes clear, John's award-winning masks 425 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:17,040 need two big changes if they're gonna work for spies. 426 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,056 These masks that were used in "planet of the apes" 427 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,000 would take three hours to apply. 428 00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:23,200 Well, in a life or death situation, 429 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:24,680 when you're doing a CIA operation, 430 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:26,800 you don't have three hours. 431 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:31,280 Also, at this point in time, facial masks didn't move 432 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:34,000 and they were very easy to tell that they were fake. 433 00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:37,200 So Tony has to develop a mask that can be taken on 434 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:38,600 and off very quickly. 435 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:42,800 The mask also has to stand up to kgb scrutiny. 436 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,920 After months of work, the disguise is ready. 437 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,320 The mask can be put on in a flash 438 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,600 and molds to the face perfectly. 439 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:53,000 You can pop them on, 440 00:21:53,120 --> 00:21:56,000 and they fit in a almost vacuum-sealed kind of way 441 00:21:56,120 --> 00:21:58,760 to people's faces so that they moved. 442 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:02,200 So you were having masks that showed smiles, 443 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:04,400 that showed laughs, 444 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:06,080 that showed a little bit more emotions, 445 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:09,400 and it became a more believable disguise. 446 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:13,520 Those masks could radically change the way you looked. 447 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:15,680 Now the CIA needs to find someone 448 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:17,360 to wear their new spy mask 449 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:20,640 and tap into the Russians' nuclear communications. 450 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:25,720 They pick a 38-year-old CIA officer, Jim Olson. 451 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:29,080 Jim Olson thinks is a joke, because how on earth 452 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,280 am I gonna get a mask on and off in three seconds, 453 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,560 get into a manhole cover, tap into wires, 454 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:34,800 and then get out undetected? 455 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,360 He soon discovers they're deadly serious. 456 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,720 Olson accepts the mission and travels to Moscow. 457 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:48,560 To lose his ever-present kgb tail, 458 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,240 he will need the perfect cover scenario. 459 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,560 Olson's mission begins in 1979 with a picnic. 460 00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:59,720 He and his wife know that they are under constant 461 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,680 kgb surveillance. 462 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:07,880 They took some sandwiches, some wine, a little blanket. 463 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,240 And then Jim, dressed like an American diplomat, 464 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:14,920 decided to take a little stroll into the trees. 465 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,640 Jim steps around the back of a bush. 466 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:20,480 He knows he only has a few seconds 467 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:23,760 to transform into his disguise. 468 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:26,960 He put on this mask. 469 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:29,160 He emerges from the park 470 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:33,720 this older, not so well-off man. 471 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:37,680 Once Olson emerges, he makes sure 472 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,400 that he has no agents surveilling him. 473 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:42,000 And when he realizes that he doesn't, 474 00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:44,880 he knows that it's safe to go to this manhole. 475 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:54,960 Jim Olson slips underground and photographs 476 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:59,640 the communications cable, allowing a second team 477 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,440 to develop a tech to hack it. 478 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:05,480 Sure enough, they also use Tony's disguise 479 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,560 to get into the hole to lay down their tap. 480 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:13,240 For six years, the CIA is able to collect 481 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:16,200 defense information, nuclear secrets 482 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,040 from the Russian government. 483 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:23,120 It is not until a defector lets the kgb know 484 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:24,600 what the CIA is doing, 485 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:26,960 that the lines are eventually cut. 486 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:28,920 Details of this quick change mission 487 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:30,920 don't come out for another 40 years, 488 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,560 when Tony Mendez makes a dying request 489 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,160 to share his story with the world. 490 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:38,760 The CIA give the green light. 491 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,520 And to this day, Tony's disguise technology 492 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:43,840 is still used by agents in need of a quick change. 493 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:51,520 Intelligence services are often willing 494 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,320 to recruit dubious agents. 495 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:58,760 But in 1967, the CIA takes that a step too far, 496 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:01,520 when it enlists a four-legged spy 497 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:03,760 with an embedded listening device. 498 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:06,960 The mission is called acoustic kitty. 499 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:13,040 It's the '60s, 500 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,760 and kgb agents working in Washington know 501 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:17,840 that their offices are often bugged, 502 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:20,200 and the CIA suspect that they're conducting 503 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:22,440 their top meetings outside. 504 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:27,000 So the CIA turn to biotechnology. 505 00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:29,120 In 1961, the R&D department 506 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:33,280 of the central intelligence agency wants to utilize cats 507 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:35,560 as an intelligence-gathering mechanism 508 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:40,080 to deploy them against our Soviet adversaries. 509 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,840 Household companion animals have been militarized 510 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:44,440 at various points in our history. 511 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:45,760 Dogs have certainly been that. 512 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:47,720 Cats have, too. 513 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,720 The idea is that nobody really pays attention to cats. 514 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,160 They're essentially unnoticed. 515 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:58,520 What they want to do is have the cat 516 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:00,800 wander through sensitive areas, 517 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,080 where it will just collect intelligence as it goes. 518 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,080 Unfortunately for the cat, 519 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,520 turning it into an intelligence collector 520 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:10,840 involves surgery. 521 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:14,360 It has a power pack implanted in its abdomen, 522 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:16,440 a microphone in its ear canal, 523 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:20,000 and a 3/4-inch transmitter at the base of the skull 524 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:22,480 with wires running to its ears and tail, 525 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,240 which acts as an antenna. 526 00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:30,880 Basically, you end up getting half cat, half cyborg. 527 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,400 In Washington in 1967, 528 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:38,400 the CIA's cyborg cat gets its first deployment, 529 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:43,440 to discover if it really is the future of spying. 530 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:46,000 On that day in 1967, 531 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:48,560 two CIA operatives arrive at the rendezvous point 532 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:50,120 of their kgb targets, 533 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:53,640 carrying with them the result of six years of R&D 534 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,880 and a reported $15 million of investment. 535 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,080 This is the first example of cats being used 536 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,920 to carry out an espionage operation. 537 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,360 The cat is released from the CIA Van. 538 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,800 The cat starts moving toward its target. 539 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,160 But after walking a short distance, 540 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:19,880 it suddenly veers off course and is squashed by a taxi. 541 00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:23,480 It couldn't have gone more wrong. 542 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:27,840 It's only discovered in 2001, 543 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,080 when the CIA declassify a series 544 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,560 of heavily-redacted documents. 545 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:36,800 Among them, one details the plans for a cat project. 546 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,800 Believe it or not, there's a memo that emerges from the CIA 547 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:44,400 entitled, views on trained cats, 548 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,320 that lays out why this is not actually a practical solution 549 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,000 to collect intelligence from the Soviets. 550 00:27:51,120 --> 00:27:54,120 The CIA learns the hard way that cats may not 551 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,360 have what it takes to be spies. 552 00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:01,280 It doesn't stop the agency's hunt for animal agents. 553 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,440 Their next recruits don't live on land, 554 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,600 but have brains larger than humans. 555 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:14,160 In the 1960s, as the newly-released film "flipper" 556 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:15,960 explodes in popularity, 557 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:19,000 the public has no idea that america is looking 558 00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:21,840 to the real-life flippers to give them an edge 559 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,560 in the escalating cold war. 560 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:26,800 The clandestine dolphin project, 561 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:31,840 known as oxygas, only surfaces in 2019. 562 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:33,600 The CIA wanted to use their dolphins 563 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,880 to conduct surveillance of enemy harbors. 564 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,600 Initially to the CIA, the dolphins provide 565 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:41,440 very promising results. 566 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,920 But by the late 1960s, the CIA is plowing 567 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,720 the modern equivalent of $50 million a year 568 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:50,080 into the project. 569 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:51,640 And they're just not seeing enough 570 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,360 spying potential to justify their huge investment, 571 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:56,520 so they pull funding. 572 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,200 While the CIA dolphin's project fails 573 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,000 to make the grade, the us Navy also has 574 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:05,600 their own dolphin-training program. 575 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:11,880 Well, you see, whatever the dolphin lacks in size, 576 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:13,520 it makes up in brains. 577 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,080 The department of defense makes a movie 578 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:18,680 titled, "the dolphins that joined the Navy." 579 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:21,240 And it's all about how we are experiencing 580 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:26,680 great success at bringing these dolphins into Navy service. 581 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,320 Whereas the CIA was asking the dolphin to do something 582 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:30,880 that it really wasn't good at, 583 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,080 the Navy only asked the dolphin 584 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:35,720 to do things that it was naturally great at. 585 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,800 Echolocation and performing tasks 586 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:40,680 to receive an immediate reward, 587 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:42,320 dolphins are terrific at that. 588 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,160 The program continues for decades. 589 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:50,080 The Navy takes advantage of dolphins' incredible 590 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:53,040 natural sonar to find mines. 591 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,200 Emitting clicks from its head, a dolphin can detect 592 00:29:56,320 --> 00:30:00,280 a tennis-ball-sized mine from two football fields away, 593 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:02,680 even when they're buried under sand. 594 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,280 The dolphin training program has its finest hour 595 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,680 in Iraq in 2003. 596 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:11,840 Operation Iraqi freedom is underway. 597 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:13,960 Iraq doesn't have a lot of coastline. 598 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:17,600 And the only way to essentially transport 599 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:20,880 heavy military equipment is over water. 600 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:25,080 The port at umm qasr, which is Iraq's only deep-sea port, 601 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,400 suddenly became very important. 602 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:30,640 The Navy needed to clear the port of umm qasr. 603 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:31,960 It had been mined heavily, 604 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:34,320 and now the Navy needed this port 605 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:35,920 for the delivery of supplies. 606 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,040 The Navy decides that now is the time. 607 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,480 They will take a team of dolphins trained 608 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:45,040 at the marine mammal research facility in San Diego 609 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,880 and send them in. 610 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:49,920 This crack team of eight dolphins 611 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,680 zipped through the water hunting for enemy mines. 612 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:56,040 They're trained to alert their handlers when they find one, 613 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:59,040 but also to Mark it with an acoustic transponder. 614 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:01,880 This allows divers to disarm it later on. 615 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,000 That job would have taken an enormous amount of time 616 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:08,640 were it not for the dolphins. 617 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:10,480 The dolphins cut the job in half. 618 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:15,120 They very successfully cleared the port 619 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:16,800 of about a hundred mines. 620 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,120 Everybody loves dolphins. 621 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:20,720 It's the logo of the submarine force. 622 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:27,480 In a remote desert location, 623 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:29,200 a team of military engineers 624 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:32,240 are testing a piece of advanced spy tech. 625 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:34,720 This highly-classified tech program 626 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:38,520 will accidentally inspire a long-running mystery. 627 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:47,920 This is a very technologically advanced program. 628 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,680 So secret that the individuals working on it 629 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,480 don't know what they're working on. 630 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,520 Nearly everyone on this program are told 631 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,760 that they're working on meteorological equipment. 632 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:03,400 Even the code name, mogul, is classified. 633 00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:09,400 Project mogul is being built to keep the us in the lead 634 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:11,640 of the nuclear arms race. 635 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:15,200 As far as the Americans know, 636 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:17,040 the Soviets don't have the technology 637 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:18,720 to build the atomic bomb. 638 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:20,776 But they also know that it's only a matter of time 639 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:23,400 before they do. 640 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:26,840 The Soviet union is filled with these vast wildernesses. 641 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:29,200 The Americans are concerned that they're gonna be able 642 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:31,640 to test these weapons in total secrecy. 643 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:35,560 This is in an age where 644 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,040 we can't get over the Soviet union undetected. 645 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:39,800 So they have to come up with an idea 646 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:43,440 on how to monitor the Soviets as they test nuclear weapons. 647 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:49,560 The answer comes from a renowned us geophysicist 648 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:52,560 and oceanographer, who claims he can make tech 649 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:55,760 that can listen for the Soviet tests. 650 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:59,920 Dr. W. Maurice ewing is convinced sound channels exist 651 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,360 at high altitudes, which could be used 652 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,120 to detect nuclear explosions. 653 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,920 His idea gets the attention of us air force officials, 654 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,880 who authorize a top-secret research effort 655 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:18,040 called project mogul. 656 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,280 The concept is simple, to place microphones 657 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:23,080 eight and a half miles in the air 658 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:25,120 in the aerial sound channel 659 00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:28,600 to listen for nuclear detonations. 660 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:34,640 The idea may be simple, but the execution is not. 661 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:36,536 The Americans have to figure out how to get these 662 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:40,120 microphones up to altitude, 70,000, 100,000 feet, 663 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:43,280 and stay up there for a very long time. 664 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,200 Dr. Ewing thinks the answer is to float them 665 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:48,920 using helium balloons. 666 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,120 Helium balloons don't make any sound. 667 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:53,760 They can stay aloft for days at a time. 668 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:56,040 And they don't need any fuel or a crew. 669 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:58,960 They're basically the perfect autonomous vehicle. 670 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:03,320 In 1947, the mogul team head into the desert 671 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,200 to begin the secret testing of these balloons 672 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,880 and the cutting-edge audio spy tech they will carry. 673 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,920 The payload equipment, sound monitors, 674 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,680 ballast, and batteries, they all hung below. 675 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,800 This stretches up to 600 feet from tip to tail, 676 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:23,960 which is twice as tall as the statue of Liberty. 677 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:26,960 Rising to 45,000 feet, balloons can withstand 678 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:30,440 temperature fluctuations of up to 160 degrees fahrenheit 679 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,880 and winds of over 30 miles per hour. 680 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:37,360 It takes just one accident 681 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:38,920 for this top-secret program 682 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:41,560 to ignite an enduring mystery. 683 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:44,560 There's one problem. 684 00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:48,120 These balloons cannot always be controlled. 685 00:34:48,240 --> 00:34:50,040 They don't always go where you want them to. 686 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:51,800 And sometimes they crash. 687 00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:01,160 In June 1947, a rancher stumbles upon strange, 688 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:04,680 mangled, high-tech metallic debris. 689 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:06,960 The rancher brings a sample of the wreckage 690 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:09,640 to a nearby army airfield. 691 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:11,520 When the airfield public affairs officer 692 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:13,160 releases a statement about the debris, 693 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:16,960 he has no idea about the air force's mogul program. 694 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:20,120 He says there is a flying disk among the debris 695 00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:23,200 now being analyzed at a nearby airfield. 696 00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:25,280 It is called roswell. 697 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,240 Headlines around the world appear, 698 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:31,160 "ufo, roswell, new Mexico." 699 00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:36,080 The air force is thrilled. 700 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,000 It needs a cover for these balloons, 701 00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:41,040 and alien spacecraft are as good a cover as any. 702 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,360 As a result, roswell, new Mexico, 703 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:48,080 has become synonymous with ufos, and still is today. 704 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:52,760 No one connects the dots for nearly five decades. 705 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:56,160 The truth is only revealed in 1995, 706 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,760 when an investigation into the roswell ufo incident 707 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:04,360 makes the link to the top-secret balloon program. 708 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:08,200 For the military, the alien invasion cover story 709 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,800 is a huge success, but the project is not. 710 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:15,280 Mogul's use of balloons to detect a-bombs 711 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:17,320 proves a failure. 712 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:25,000 In the new millennium, 713 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:27,480 British agents face an old problem 714 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:31,280 how to communicate with Russian assets in Moscow. 715 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:33,920 They devise a new piece of spy tech, 716 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:38,280 placing it in something so dull no one would look at it twice. 717 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:43,920 In the mid-2000s, the British were still running assets 718 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:46,880 in Russia to keep tabs on military, 719 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,600 nuclear, and geopolitical developments out there. 720 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:54,920 The problem is they're living in a city covered in cctv. 721 00:36:56,360 --> 00:37:00,720 Moscow now is a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week cctv city. 722 00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:02,480 And so the British secret service 723 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:07,440 need to figure out a more covert way to communicate. 724 00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:10,560 If anything goes wrong, it could put their Russian assets 725 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:11,800 in mortal danger. 726 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,720 The answer is a simple but brilliantly effective 727 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,320 piece of spy tech that can hide in plain sight 728 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:23,840 a fake, hollowed-out rock. 729 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:26,280 The spy rock is designed to be 730 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:30,000 a modern upgrade of the classic espionage technique, 731 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:32,080 the dead letter drop. 732 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:33,800 The dead letter drop was always a tool 733 00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:36,560 that spies could use to keep themselves safe. 734 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:39,720 It allowed one officer to drop a letter in a secret place 735 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:42,200 and another officer to pick it up at a different time, 736 00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:45,200 essentially separating the two officers. 737 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:48,920 With the spy rock, it completely changed the game. 738 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:51,560 Costing several million dollars to develop, 739 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:54,600 with a state of the art radio transmitter receiver, 740 00:37:54,720 --> 00:37:57,160 which has a range of up to 65 feet. 741 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,280 It's also got a battery lifespan of up to three months 742 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:02,200 and is strong enough to withstand a fall 743 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,160 from a building nine stories high. 744 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:08,200 It's the dead letter drop of the digital age. 745 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:10,800 The way it works is an agent for the British 746 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,920 will walk past the rock and remotely upload data 747 00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:16,280 to the device within it, and then disappear 748 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:17,760 into the streets of Moscow. 749 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,760 Later on, that agent's handler will 750 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:22,400 download the data remotely. 751 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:24,280 Meaning, they never have to leave 752 00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:28,080 incriminating material that could be found by the Russians. 753 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:32,720 So the program is rolled out and it's a success. 754 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:34,880 Information is exchanged. 755 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:38,000 The secrecy of the program is maintained, 756 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:41,080 until disaster strikes. 757 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:45,880 In January 2006, the Russian state TV 758 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:47,640 broadcasts a news report 759 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,800 that the British secret service have been dreading. 760 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:54,560 There's a report showing a video of a man in Moscow. 761 00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:56,960 He walks down a street, slows, 762 00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:01,160 and glances down at a rock before walking away. 763 00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:03,920 A while later, another man walks by and picks it up. 764 00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:08,040 The Russians were actively surveilling 765 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:09,400 people of interest. 766 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:10,960 And what they found was a pattern 767 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:12,856 where these individuals would behave a certain way 768 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:14,640 around a rock on the streets. 769 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:16,480 So the Russians put a hidden camera 770 00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:18,320 to observe anyone walking past. 771 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:20,400 And that's how they discovered the evidence 772 00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:22,960 that the rock was, in fact, a technical dead drop. 773 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:27,720 They are identified as British embassy staff. 774 00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:32,600 And this video is pointed to as evidence of espionage. 775 00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:36,880 Britain's ambassador in Moscow denies any wrongdoing. 776 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:40,360 This severely challenges diplomatic relations 777 00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:42,200 between Russia and the UK. 778 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:44,880 But in an unexpected twist, 779 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:48,400 putin doesn't kick the guilty agents out of Russia. 780 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:50,760 Putin makes a public joke that he doesn't want 781 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:52,240 to expel them, because if he did, 782 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:53,600 the British might send smarter, 783 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:56,920 more capable officers in their place. 784 00:39:57,040 --> 00:39:59,480 The British government maintains its innocence 785 00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:01,120 until 2012. 786 00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:03,520 In a TV interview with the BBC, 787 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:06,440 a former government chief of staff admits 788 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:08,720 the spy rock allegations. 789 00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:10,120 The spy rock was embarrassing. 790 00:40:10,240 --> 00:40:11,896 They... i mean, they had us bang to rights. 791 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:13,456 Clearly, they'd known about it for some time 792 00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:15,640 and had been saving it up for a political purpose. 793 00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:18,960 Despite Russia's public outrage at the spy rock, 794 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:21,760 it seems that, at least, some of its spies 795 00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:24,840 were impressed with the British ingenuity. 796 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:28,840 In 2021, despite its outrage at the spy rock incident, 797 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:32,920 Russia unveils its own version of the same technology. 798 00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:37,200 It's revealed to the world just months 799 00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:39,520 before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 800 00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:47,560 Opening files on the secret world of spy tech 801 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:50,200 reveals that cutting-edge innovation is always 802 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,120 a crucial part of intelligence gathering, 803 00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:56,000 one that can be the key to success. 804 00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:57,720 I'm David duchovny. 805 00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:01,040 Thanks for watching "secrets declassified." 63905

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