On This Day — The CIA exfiltrates 6 diplomats from Iran (January 28 1980) [Operation “Canadian Caper”]

“Mehrabad is like many Middle Eastern or South Asian airports. Although of fairly modern construction, the people who pass through as travelers or hang around to greet or see travelers off make an orderly transit impossible. This was another reason for choosing the 7:30 a.m. Swissair flight. If we arrived at the airport at 5 a.m., the chances were the airport would be less chaotic. Also, the officials manning the controls might still be sleepy, and most of the Revolutionary Guards would still be in their beds. This was the case that Monday morning, 28 January 1980.”

Tony Mendez
Former CIA Officer

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CIA posted this pic on Facebook today. (Jan. 28, 2026)

January 28 2025 — The “Canadian Caper” was the popular name given to the joint covert rescue by the Canadian government and the CIA of six American diplomats who had evaded capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 1979, after the Iranian Revolution, when Islamist students took most of the American embassy personnel hostage, demanding the return of the US-backed Shah for trial. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — And thus a new syndrome was born… (Havana Syndrome – October 3 2017) [UPDATE : IntelToday Decade-Old Prediction Now Under Official Review]

“If the facts are confirmed and if the effects are indeed caused by a physical device, I find the microwave explanation far more likely than a sonic attack.”

US Spies & the Havana Syndrome

INTEL TODAY
(October 3 2017)

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October 3 2025 — On October 3rd 2017, INTEL TODAY coined the expression “Havana Syndrome” which is now universally used, both by mainstream media and the research community. In the same piece, I suggested for the very first time that microwave attacks, conducted for espionage, were the most likely explanation. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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CIA Memorial Wall — Star 31 : John W. Kearns (Laos – December 15, 1972)

“As a paramilitary operations officer, John’s role was to work behind enemy lines, supporting local pro-government forces and engaging in special missions to disrupt the activities of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Vietcong.”

CIA website

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Earliest known photo of the Book of Honor (33 stars)

December 15, 2024 — John Wesley Kearns III was a CIA officer who served as a paramilitary operations officer on contract in Laos during the Vietnam War. He was killed in action on December 15, 1972, at the age of 30. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY.

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On This Day — Pan Am Flight 214 Crashes (December 8 1963) Lesson Learned? [Update : Was the story of Air India Flight 301 used to write the Lockerbie script?]

“Aviation investigations are replete with accident scenarios that couldn’t happen. And given the lack of bomb evidence so far, neither scenario has been ruled out, officials said. First is the possibility that the doomed plane’s front section, which has a history of structural fatigue cracks and must undergo regular inspections, simply unzipped from the rest of the plane as weakened structural frames gave way.”

TWA 800
Washington Post
(August 1 1996)

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December 8 2025 — Pan Am Flight 214 was a scheduled flight of Pan American World Airways from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Baltimore, Maryland, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On December 8, 1963, the Boeing 707 serving the flight crashed near Elkton, Maryland, while en route from Baltimore to Philadelphia, after being hit by lightning, killing all 81 on board. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Western Union Cable Announces Armistice to North Americans [UPDATE : The Sound of Silence : November 11, 1918 – 11 a.m.]

“There had never been a known leak from the Western Union telegraph office on Court Street before that day, but this news was simply too good to keep quiet. As you might guess, they were overjoyed, so that word very quickly leaked into the community and the party was on.”

Richard Rose — Chair of the November 10 commemoration committee with the North Sydney Historical Society

 

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The North Sydney Historical Museum houses the telegraph machine that received the oversea message announcing an armistice would be signed on November 11, 1918.

November 11 2025 — On November 10 1918, the Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, Nova Scotia received a Morse coded message from Europe stating that all fighting — on land, sea and in the air — would cease the next day. On November 11, 1918 — at precisely 11 a.m. — the guns fell silent, marking the end of the war. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Remembering Actress and Inventor Hedy Lamarr (November 9, 1914 – January 19, 2000) [UPDATE : From Ecstasy to Havana Syndrome]

“We began talking about the war, which, in the late summer of 1940, was looking most extremely black. Hedy said that she did not feel very comfortable, sitting there in Hollywood and making lots of money when things were in such a state. She said that she knew a good deal about munitions and various secret weapons … and that she was thinking seriously of quitting MGM and going to Washington, DC, to offer her services to the newly established Inventors’ Council.”
 
George Antheil
Composer, pianist, inventor

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Hedy Lamarr, ‘the most beautiful woman in the world.’ (ca 1940)

November 9 2025 — Today is the 111th anniversary of Hedy Lamarr’s birth! Often called “The Most Beautiful Woman in Films,” Hedy Lamarr’s beauty and screen presence made her one of the most popular actresses of her time. However, it is less well-known that Lamarr was also an inventor. Along with composer George Antheil, she patented a frequency-hopping system during World War II that later paved the way for technologies like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_Today

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Revisiting Havana Syndrome: Moscow Death Ray vs. CIA Hoax [UPDATE — Brennan and Ex-FBI Officials Subpoenaed]

“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)

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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

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On This Day — Able Archer 1983 : The Brink of Apocalypse (November 7-11, 1983) [UPDATE : “NATO is a leftover Cold War relic doing more harm than good.”]

“The US intelligence had failed to grasp the true extent of their anxiety.”

Robert Gates
CIA Deputy Director
for Intelligence
during Able Archer 83

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November 7 2025 — Able Archer 83 is the codename for a command post exercise carried out in November 1983 by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Coordinated from the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Casteau, Belgium, it involved NATO forces throughout Western Europe. This exercise began on November 7, 1983 and ended on November 11, 1983. Today, many historians believe that the world almost came to a nuclear war on that week. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Robert Gates Becomes 15th CIA Director (November 6 1991) [Test your “Spy Knowledge” with our CIA Directors Quiz!]

“If Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of.”

Robert Gates
Former CIA Director

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“A people always ends by resembling its shadow.” – Rudyard Kipling

November 6 2025 — Robert Gates was nominated to become the Director of Central Intelligence (head of the CIA) in early 1987. He withdrew his name after it became clear the Senate would reject the nomination due to controversy about his role in the Iran-Contra affair. Gates was nominated again for the position by President George H. W. Bush on May 14, 1991. This time, he was confirmed by the Senate on November 5, and sworn in on November 6 1991. How much do you know about spy agencies? Take this quiz to find out your knowledge of the CIA Directors. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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On This Day — The Iran-Contra Scandal Revealed (November 3, 1986)

“My purpose was… to send a signal that the United States was prepared to replace the animosity between [the U.S. and Iran] with a new relationship… At the same time we undertook this initiative, we made clear that Iran must oppose all forms of international terrorism as a condition of progress in our relationship. The most significant step which Iran could take, we indicated, would be to use its influence in Lebanon to secure the release of all hostages held there.”

US President Ronald Reagan
(November 13 1986)

 

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November 3 2025 — On November 3 1986, the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa exposed the Iran–Contra scandal. Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. They hoped, thereby, to fund the Contras in Nicaragua while at the same time negotiating the release of several U.S. hostages. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited by Congress. This affair is usually regarded as one of the most important scandals in US modern history. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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