Spy agencies brief people in power. We brief you. Each week weâll bring you one story that matters, plus a few that donât!
Your Brief for August 22, 2024: Oak trees compete for glory, 3D-printed neighborhoods, the Portland Spy Ring and more!
News
Unearthing A Massive Diamond
The second-largest diamond ever found has been unearthed in the Karowe mine in Botswana by the Canadian firm Lucara Diamond. A rough 2,492-carat stone whose discovery was made possible thanks to Lucaraâs Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray technology, capable of detecting and preserving high-value diamonds during the ore-crushing process. The mine, located about 500km north of Botswana's capital, Gaborone, has proven to be a treasure trove, with the previous record for a stone found in Botswana held by a 1,758-carat diamond found in 2019. Botswana accounts for about 20% of the worldâs diamond production. The gem takes second place behind the legendary 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond. The Cullinan was discovered in South Africa in 1905 and cut into 9 stones, several of which belong to the British Crown Jewels.
Image Credit: Lucara Diamond
Technology
3D-Printed Neighborhoods
Would you live in a 3D-printed home?
Welcome to Wolf Ranch, an entirely 3D-printed neighborhood! Located alongside the San Gabriel River in the scenic hills of Georgetown, Texas, just 30 miles north of Austin, this innovative community has a new construction approach. The collaboration between ICON, a Texas-based startup specializing in large-scale 3D printing, and Lennar, one of the biggest homebuilders in the US, began in 2022 and aims to raise 100 homes in the largest 3D-printed community. A giant 3D printer layers concrete and other materials, following a pre-programmed set of instructions, and builds the neighborhood from the ground up. Once the build is complete a roof is added, along with solar panels. ICON reports their approach to 3D printing homes offers speed and scale while being energy-efficient, technologically advanced, and minimizing waste.
Image Credit: Wolf Ranch
True Spies
Lord Of The Highway
Could you tell friend from foe?
Take the highway through the desert from Kandahar to Tarinkot, Uruzganâs regional capital, and youâll find yourself on a snaking three-hour drive through the dust and debris of Southern Afghanistan. Time your journey carefully, as the highway can be dangerous for the unwary traveler. But wait for âsecurity dayâ, a weekly trip courtesy of Matiullah Khan, a warlord with connections in the Afghan government, whose private army would protect US supply convoys, and you might pass unscathed! Thanks to Khan, once a taxi driver, the convoy enables the transportation of vital supplies to American troops on the ground.
In 2012, Naval intelligence officer Matt Cricchio was an interrogator and military source handler attached to the US Navy Seal teams. He deployed to Uruzgan province, the birthplace of the Taliban, with a seal team to support combat operations by gathering human intelligence from assets. By this time, Afghanistan had been occupied by America and its allies for more than a decade. Popular support for the invasion was flagging internationally, and tensions between American troops, Afghan forces, and local civilians, were strained. Raising tensions further, two US soldiers are assassinated by an Afghan ally, and the US wants to know who's responsible. Cricchio suspects that Khan might be behind the attack, but in the face of an enemy as powerful and dangerous as this, he knows that heâll have to pull out all the stops to convince his sources to talk. Will he catch his man?
Join Matt Cricchio in this weekâs podcast selection, âLord of the Highwayâ, to discover what it takes to bring down a warlord.
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Spy Objects
Portland Spy Ring Ephemera
What does it take to betray your country? Less than you might thinkâŠ
Itâs the beginning of the 1960s and Cold War tensions are ramping up. A message arrives with the Government Communications Headquarters in London from a double agent in Moscow. The agent has discovered that someoneâs been stealing top-secret government information and sharing it with the Russians!
Just what secrets were stolen? The information includes details of the British nuclear submarine program! But how have the spies managed to smuggle top secret documents to Russia? Dr. Elizabeth Bruton, curator of technology and engineering at the Science Museum London and expert in the history of covert communications, explores the covert tactics implemented and spycraft used by the Portland Spy Ring between 1953 and 1961. Hunting the five Soviet spies, three of whom lived illegally in London undercover, marks a significant MI5 counter-espionage success.
Whatâs the most vital tool in a spy's arsenal? A camera, a weapon, a vehicle? Not even close⊠A spyâs trickery and toil would be useless without one basic essential; the ability to communicate! So how'd the Portland Spy Ring communicate? Find out in this pdcast selection as Dr. Bruton breaks down the surprisingly humble tool kit of one of the most destructive espionage networks in British history!
A dozen centuries-old oak trees have been shortlisted for the annual Tree of the Year contest, and each has its own incredible story. The Queen Elizabeth Oak, Midhurst, West Sussex, is a hollow tree with a large girth and the second-largest sessile oak on record! Though to be up to 1,000 years old and believed to have been visited by Queen Elizabeth on a hunting excursion in 1591. Not the only contender, The Bowthorpe Oak in Lincolnshire, the second widest on the list, bears graffiti etched hundreds of years ago and is said to have once held 36 people within its hollow trunk. Meanwhile, in Scotland, the Capon Tree remains one of the last survivors of the ancient Jedforest woodland, largely felled for shipbuilding timber. These ancient giants are competing for more than just a title. The Darwin Oak in Shrewsbury, over 500 years old and standing near Charles Darwinâs childhood home, faces the threat of being cut to make way for a relief road, along with many others. Want to vote for your favorite tree? Get involved here.
Science
Molten Magma On The Moon
Was the moon once a molten sea of magma?
New research suggests it mightâve been! Soil tests conducted by India's Chandrayaan-3 mission last August have confirmed that the moon's south pole was once covered in a vast ocean of magma. The discovery adds weight to the lunar magma ocean theory, which posits that a Mars-sized planet collided with Earth 4.5 billion years ago, sending debris into space that eventually formed a molten moon. As the magma began to cool, denser minerals sank, while lighter ones, known as anorthosites, rose to form the moonâs crust. Chandrayaan-3âs Pragyan rover identified a variety of anorthosites during its two-week journey, covering more than 300 feet near the moonâs largest crater, the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Chandrayaan-3 marked a significant milestone as the first rover to successfully land at the moon's south pole, making India one of only four countriesâalongside China, Russia, and the USâto have landed a spacecraft on the lunar surface.
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The Ocean Photographer of the Year competition has unveiled its 2024 winners, featuring images capturing incredible moments of life in the deep! 15,000 entries were reportedly submitted from top coastal, drone, and underwater photographers, with only 118 recognized annually and a cash prize on the line. Finalists also see their work exhibited at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. View the images here for an underwater adventure. Check out a breaching humpback whale caught mid-leap along the Australian coastline, journey to the icy shallows of Russia, where a giant Pacific octopus spreads its tentacles in a mesmerizing display, or join a group of walruses for a nap on a beach in Svalbard, Norway, surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
Image Credit: Andrey Shpatak
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