Skip the socks and take him undercover. SPYSCAPE London is now open, with all-new spy stories, immersive exhibits, and GPS-based Mobile Missions around Covent Garden.
When he was arrested in 1996, Jim Nicholson – nicknamed 'Batman' – was the highest-ranking CIA officer to be convicted of espionage for the Russian Federation. Ten years later, he did it again.
A seasoned CIA operative with extensive field experience in South Asia and a swagger to match, Nicholson was a rising star. But in 1994, during a sanctioned visit to the Russian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, he made a devastating offer: American secrets, in exchange for cash. By 1996, he'd compromised a generation of trainee spies and handed over some of the Agency's most sensitive intel.
To catch him, the CIA and FBI tried something new—embedding a fellow case officer inside his unit. That officer was John Maguire, who had recently been reassigned to HR and was unaware that he was about to become bait. When Nicholson chose Maguire as his deputy, the sting was on. But the story didn't end there. From behind bars, Nicholson would enlist the help of his son in a second act of betrayal.
Join veteran CIA case officer John Maguire in this week's podcast selection, 'The Spy's Son ', as he tells the story of his strangest mission, an operation on American soil to bring down one of his colleagues.
Gift him a mission at SPYSCAPE and he'll receive an authentic 52-page profile based on his skills, attributes, and personality, created in collaboration with psychologists from Imperial College and a former Head of Training at MI6.
How do two suburban spies trade nuclear secrets without getting caught?
Jonathan and Diana Toebbe appeared to be your average Maryland couple. He was a Navy nuclear engineer. She taught at a private school. But behind the everyday routines, they were plotting to sell American nuclear submarine secrets to a foreign power.
It started in April 2020, when Jonathan mailed a package offering classified data and instructions for secure contact. The recipient? A foreign government, which turned the package over to the FBI.
What followed was a months-long operation straight out of a spy novel. The Toebbes used encrypted email and GPS-tagged dead drops to pass along intel. Jonathan hid SD cards inside a peanut butter sandwich and a Band-Aid wrapper. Diana acted as a lookout. They used coded signals, such as placing a towel on a park bench or a bag of chips on a dashboard.
The FBI, posing as foreign agents, reeled them in. How were they caught? Find out in this SPYSCAPE article.
Which rockstar’s father helped topple governments?
Stewart Copeland, drummer for the band The Police, uncovered a family secret: his dad, Miles Copeland Jr., was a spy. Not just any spy, either. Miles helped engineer CIA operations across the Middle East during the Cold War, including coups in Syria and Iran.
On paper, he was a jazz-loving cultural attaché. In secret, he was running covert ops to secure U.S. influence in the region as Britain withdrew and the Soviets gained ground. One mission saw him stage a “bloodless coup” in Syria. Stewart only discovered the extent of his father’s espionage later in life,
