On This Day In History Benedict Arnold Commits Treason

As History.com notes, on this day in 1780 American General Benedict Arnold committed treason.

On this day in 1780, during the American Revolution, American General Benedict Arnold meets with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became synonymous with the word “traitor.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/benedict-arnold-commits-treason?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2017-0921-09212017&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&om_mid=242483651&kx_EmailCampaignID=14732&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2017-0921-09212017&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa 

On This In History: Washington Informs Congress Of Espionage

As History.com notes, on this day in 1775 General George Washington informed Congress that Dr Benjamin Church was committing espionage with the British.

You can read about the incident via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/washington-informs-congress-of-espionage?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2016-1005-10052016&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&om_mid=96135571&kx_EmailCampaignID=7437&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2016-1005-10052016&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa 

CIA: A Look Back At George Washington, Spymaster

The CIA website looks back at General George Washington, our country's first spymaster.

Long before General William Donovan recruited spies to advance the American war efforts during World War II as Director of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), predecessor to the CIA, General George Washington mastered the art of intelligence as Commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

Washington was a skilled manager of intelligence. He utilized agents behind enemy lines, recruited both Tory and Patriot sources, interrogated travelers for intelligence information, and launched scores of agents on both intelligence and counterintelligence missions. He was adept at deception operations and tradecraft and was a skilled propagandist. He also practiced sound operational security. Washington fully understood the value of accurate intelligence, employing many of the same techniques later used by the OSS and CIA.

As we celebrate the 284th birthday of the first American President, we highlight some of the tradecraft employed to secure our independence from the British and offer insights on its use today. Were it not for the use of secret writing, concealment devises, propaganda, and intercepted communications, there may have been a very different outcome to the War of Independence.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2016-featured-story-archive/the-spymasters-toolkit.html

Spies, Patriots, And Traitors: American Intelligence In The Revolutionary War

Veteran journalist and author Joseph C. Goulden offers a review of Kenneth A.Daigler's Spies, Patriots, and Traitors: American Intelligence in the Revolutionary War in today's Washington Times. 

During one phase of his career as a senior case officer in the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, Kenneth Daigler was tasked with creating a suite of conference rooms for use by foreign intelligence liaison visitors to the headquarters complex. Many of these visitors, whose country services dated back centuries, tended to look at CIA as “new to the game.” They had doubts “about our experience level and practice understanding of how intelligence activities were conducted.”

With an academic background in history, and CIA archives on the history of American intelligence at his disposal, Mr. Daigler knew better. He produced pamphlets on intelligence during the American Revolution (available to the public on the CIA home page) to enlighten the visiting officers.

Now he has expanded that work into a delight of a read, drawing on his own field experience to present an overview of intelligence during the era. Even those familiar with the broad outlines of his story will find professional insights beyond the knowledge of academic historians.

George Washington rightly comes across as the “father of American intelligence.” He wrote a friend, “There is nothing more necessary than good intelligence to frustrate a designing enemy, & nothing that requires greater pains to obtain.” Mr. Daigler sees Washington’s guiding hand in many of the espionage coups of the revolution, notably the Culper Ring in and around New York City.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/13/book-review-when-american-intelligence-operations-/

Kidnapping The Enemy: The Special Operations To Capture Generals Charles Lee And Richard Prescott

Veteran journalist and author Joseph C. Goulden offers a good review in the Washington Times of Christen M. McBurney's Kidnapping the Enemy: The Special Operations to Capture Generals Charles Lee & Richard Prescott.

A confident British army felt that it was on the brink of subduing the ragtag Colonialist military in December 1776.

In the early months of the American Revolution, Gen. George Washington had fared poorly in encounters in and around New York City, and many military critics dismissed him as a backwoods bungler who was no match for forces trained in continental warfare. Indeed, the only revolutionary general whom they respected was Maj. Gen. Charles Lee, second-in-command to Washington — and formerly one of their comrades-in-arms.

English-born and the son of a colonel, Lee entered the British army at age 14 and developed a reputation both as a good soldier and as a vain man who viewed his superiors with scorn. (He called one commander “a stupid blunderer” and a “damn’d beastly poltroon.”)

Frequently court-martialed and so volatile, he became known as “Mad Lee” In 1773, he embarked for America, eager for greater liberties. He aimed a parting blast at persons subservient “to the fantastical prerogative of a foolish perverted head because it wears a crown” — i.e., King George III.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/7/book-review-mad-lee-and-the-young-revolution/?page=1

AMC's 'Turn' Tells Revolutionary War's Real Spy Story

The Hollywood Reporter offers a piece on an upcoming AMC mini-series called Turn, which will cover a true spy story set during the Revolutionary War.

If The CW’s Reign takes creative license in its story of Mary, Queen of Scots, AMC's historical drama Turn is the opposite. Producers maintain that the series will uncover the real story of spies during the Revolutionary War.

"There's a seedy underbelly to the war," executive producer Craig Silverstein told reporters Saturday at the Television Critics Association press tour. "The vibe you get is it was so pure then; how did it get so complicated now? What we're saying is no, no, no, it was complicated then."

Based on Washington's Spies by Alexander Rose, Turn tells the story of America's first spy group, the Culper Ring. Abe Woodhull (Jamie Bell), a farmer living in British-occupied Long Island, bands together with a group of childhood friends to form the Culper Ring, who help George Washington turn the tide of the war in the Rebel's favor.

You can read the rest of the piece and watch a trailer for the series via the below link:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/amcs-turn-tells-revolutionary-wars-670048

Note: I'm looking forward to watching Turn. I hope the mini-series does justice to Washington's Spies, as Alexander Rose's book was outstanding.