The Official CIA Manual of Trickery & Deception - Hardcover

Keith Melton & Wallace, R

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1740669754 ISBN 13: 9781740669757

Publisher: Hardie Grant Books, 2010

Synopsis

When the CIA commissioned a top secret undercover operation in 1953, against the backdrop of the Cold War, they enlisted the help of famous magician John Mulholland to write two manuals on sleight of hand and undercover communication. In 1973 all documents related to the mission were destroyed, Mulholland's magic manuals were thought to be lost, until recently a single copy of each document was found... This is the first publication to reconstruct John Mulholland's manual from the original pages. With chapter headings such as Handling of Powders, Surreptitious Removal of Objects and Special Aspects of Deception for Women, working examples and detailed, hand-drawn illustrations. The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception is a fascinating read into a world of wizardry and spycraft. For example, do you know how to use cars for transporting bodies, cigarette papers for surreptitious notes, fake coins to hide poisonous powder? Read on and become an accessory to espionage!

About this title

Review:

John Mulholland was paid the then princely sum of $3,000 for tips on slipping a pill into the drink of the unsuspecting, tying shoelaces to give uncover signals and on the "surreptitious removal of objects by women". Fortunately for posterity and today's budding spies, the agency's paper shredders were not as thorough in their work. Though it was believed every copy of his report had been destroyed in 1973, one survived and has been turned into a book, The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception. The material, now unclassified, was unearthed, though they haven't said how, by Keith Melton, an espionage historian, and Bob Wallace, an author and former director of the CIA's Office of Technical Services. Mulholland's guidance from the 1950s was part of a larger CIA effort, called MK-ULTRA, developed to counter Soviet mind-control and interrogation techniques. The scheme later involved dosing unsuspecting suspects with LSD, and wilder plots such as dropping depilatory powder into Fidel Castro's boots, or planting an explosive in his cigar. Most of Mulholland's advice involves more prosaic activities. To avoid concealment, agents should put on an anonymous or even slightly dumb face. "The more facial muscles are relaxed and eyes thrown out of focus, the greater the effect. Doing these actions to a mild degree merely shows a lack of alertness or disinterest." He supplies instructions on making and concealing droppers for liquids, how to handle multiple small items before pocketing the vital one, and how to pick up a document with a book by using wads of wax. Former CIA deputy director John McLaughlin writes in a foreword that the drink-spiking techniques "were never actually used", to the best of his knowledge. --www.telegraph.co.uk

From the Back Cover:

Magic or spycraft? In 1953, against the backdrop of the Cold War, the CIA initiated a top-secret program, code-named MKULTRA, to counter Soviet mind-control and interrogation techniques. Realizing that clandestine officers might need to covertly deploy newly developed pills, potions, and powders against the adversary, the CIA hired America's most famous magician, John Mulholland, to write two manuals on sleight of hand and undercover communication techniques.

In 1973, virtually all documents related to MKULTRA were destroyed. Mulholland's manuals were thought to be among them—until a single surviving copy of each, complete with illustrations, was recently discovered in the agency's archives.

The manuals reprinted in this work represent the only known complete copy of Mulholland's instructions for CIA officers on the magician's art of deception and secret communications.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hardie Grant Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1740669754
• ISBN 13: 9781740669757
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 268