The largest sting operation you’ve never heard of
A new book looks at Anom, a messaging app started by the FBI to catch criminals
IN JUNE 1970 the CIA did something audacious. In partnership with the BND, Germany’s spy agency, it secretly bought Crypto AG, a Swiss firm that was then the world’s leading purveyor of cipher machines. The devices were used by over 120 countries to encrypt sensitive diplomatic and military communications. For almost 50 years America, having subtly rigged the machines, could read many of those messages. “It was the intelligence coup of the century,” boasted a CIA report.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “The telephone game”
From the July 20th 2024 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Culture
Why many French have come to like “Emily in Paris”
Even if they may not want to admit it
“The Perfect Couple” and the new map of Moneyland
Depictions of the super-rich on screen reflect the times
What should “inclusion” include at the Paralympics?
The games make a virtue of their diversity. But there’s still room to grow
The information wars are about to get worse, Yuval Noah Harari argues
The author of “Sapiens” is back with a timely new book about AI, fact and fiction
Arnold Schoenberg was one of classical music’s most important rebels
But, 150 years after his birth, he is underappreciated
Despots and oligarchs have many means to meddle in American politics
The extent of the foreign-influence industry may surprise you