Spies and Shuttles

Spies and Shuttles
Author: James E. David
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Total Pages: 395
Release: 2015-01-27
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 081304765X

In this real life spy saga, James E. David reveals the extensive and largely hidden interactions between NASA and U.S. defense and intelligence departments. The story begins with the establishment of NASA in 1958 and follows the agency through its growth, not only in scope but also in complexity. In Spies and Shuttles, David digs through newly declassified documents to ultimately reveal how NASA became a strange bedfellow to the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He tracks NASA’s early cooperation—supplying cover stories for covert missions, analyzing the Soviet space program, providing weather and other scientific data from its satellites, and monitoring missile tests—that eventually devolved into NASA’s reliance on DoD for political and financial support for the Shuttle. David also examines the restrictions imposed on such activities as photographing the Earth from space and the intrusive review mechanisms to ensure compliance. The ties between NASA and the intelligence community have historically remained unexplored, and David’s riveting book is the first to investigate the twists and turns of this labyrinthine relationship.

Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy

Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy
Author: Gabriella Coleman
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 497
Release: 2015-10-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1781689830

The ultimate book on the worldwide movement of hackers, pranksters, and activists collectively known as Anonymous—by the writer the Huffington Post says “knows all of Anonymous’ deepest, darkest secrets” “A work of anthropology that sometimes echoes a John le Carré novel.” —Wired Half a dozen years ago, anthropologist Gabriella Coleman set out to study the rise of this global phenomenon just as some of its members were turning to political protest and dangerous disruption (before Anonymous shot to fame as a key player in the battles over WikiLeaks, the Arab Spring, and Occupy Wall Street). She ended up becoming so closely connected to Anonymous that the tricky story of her inside–outside status as Anon confidante, interpreter, and erstwhile mouthpiece forms one of the themes of this witty and entirely engrossing book. The narrative brims with details unearthed from within a notoriously mysterious subculture, whose semi-legendary tricksters—such as Topiary, tflow, Anachaos, and Sabu—emerge as complex, diverse, politically and culturally sophisticated people. Propelled by years of chats and encounters with a multitude of hackers, including imprisoned activist Jeremy Hammond and the double agent who helped put him away, Hector Monsegur, Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy is filled with insights into the meaning of digital activism and little understood facets of culture in the Internet age, including the history of “trolling,” the ethics and metaphysics of hacking, and the origins and manifold meanings of “the lulz.”

Book Three of the Naxos Island Mages

Book Three of the Naxos Island Mages
Author: David Scott Webster
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2005-06-23
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 059580537X

Again, Stephunos is confronted with reality-a reality that six months ago was inconceivable. New Worlds! People from other planets! Stephunos again has a secret. It's not the first secret that the twelve-year-old Stephunos has had to keep. Now that he lives on Naxos, the strange island where intelligent dragons, unicorns, and other mystical creatures have been rediscovered, he no longer has to hide being a mage. Others now know of his apparent friend-the Vampire Razvan. But he and the people of Naxos must hide their new discoveries for not everyone can handle the news and not everyone should know. Old enemies still long for the destruction of Naxos. Enemies that have knowledge of things they shouldn't. Despite his defeats Cosmin still has plans for the violent demise of the nobles of Naxos. He longs to see Duke Belen dead. New allies might give him the chance. Still, life must go on. Despite the sudden addition of life altering facts, Stephunos and his group of friends must learn to deal with new technologies while continuing to live as they always had. Journey along with Stephunos and his friends as they make new friends, face old foes, and make new enemies.

Space Adventure

Space Adventure
Author: Don Keirle
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2015-07-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1504987497

An original story (August 2009) by David Donald Keirle. The author acknowledges that his ideas have been influenced by what he has read over the years and thanks all those who have gone before.

Original Sin

Original Sin
Author: Bleddyn E. Bowen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2023-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 019769358X

Space technology was developed to enhance the killing power of the state. The Moon landings and the launch of the Space Shuttle were mere sideshows, drawing public attention away from the real goal: military and economic control of space as a source of power on Earth. Today, as Bleddyn E. Bowen vividly recounts, thousands of satellites work silently in the background to provide essential military, intelligence and economic capabilities. No major power can do without them. Beyond Washington, Moscow and Beijing, truly global technologies have evolved, from the ground floor of the nuclear missile revolution to today's orbital battlefield, shaping the wars to come. World powers including India, Japan and Europe are fully realizing the strategic benefits of commanding Earth's 'cosmic coastline', as a stage for war, development and prestige. Yet, as new contenders spend more and more on outer space, there is scope for cautious optimism about the future of the Space Age-if we can recognize, rather than hide, its original sin.

Intelligence and Espionage: Secrets and Spies

Intelligence and Espionage: Secrets and Spies
Author: Daniel Lomas
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 175
Release: 2019-01-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0429664117

Intelligence and Espionage: Secrets and Spies provides a global introduction to the role of intelligence – a key, but sometimes controversial, aspect of ensuring national security. Separating fact from fiction, the book draws on past examples to explore the use and misuse of intelligence, examine why failures take place and address important ethical issues over its use. Divided into two parts, the book adopts a thematic approach to the topic, guiding the reader through the collection and analysis of information and its use by policymakers, before looking at intelligence sharing. Lomas and Murphy also explore the important associated activities of counterintelligence and the use of covert action, to influence foreign countries and individuals. Topics covered include human and signals intelligence, the Cuban Missile Crisis, intelligence and Stalin, Trump and the US intelligence community, and the Soviet Bloc. This analysis is supplemented by a comprehensive documents section, containing newly released documents, including material from Edward Snowden’s leaks of classified material. Supported by images, a comprehensive chronology, glossary, and 'who’s who' of key figures, Intelligence and Espionage is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the role of intelligence in policymaking, international relations and diplomacy, warfighting and politics to the present day.

Looking-Glass Wars: Spies on British Screens since 1960

Looking-Glass Wars: Spies on British Screens since 1960
Author: Alan Burton
Publisher: Vernon Press
Total Pages: 555
Release: 2018-01-31
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1622732901

Looking-Glass Wars: Spies on British Screens since 1960 is a detailed historical and critical overview of espionage in British film and television in the important period since 1960. From that date, the British spy screen was transformed under the influence of the tremendous success of James Bond in the cinema (the spy thriller), and of the new-style spy writing of John le Carré and Len Deighton (the espionage story). In the 1960s, there developed a popular cycle of spy thrillers in the cinema and on television. The new study looks in detail at the cycle which in previous work has been largely neglected in favour of the James Bond films. The study also brings new attention to espionage on British television and popular secret agent series such as Spy Trap, Quiller and The Sandbaggers. It also gives attention to the more ‘realistic’ representation of spying in the film and television adaptations of le Carré and Deighton, and other dramas with a more serious intent. In addition, there is wholly original attention given to ‘nostalgic’ spy fictions on screen, adaptations of classic stories of espionage which were popular in the late 1970s and through the 1980s, and to ‘historical’ spy fiction, dramas which treated ‘real’ cases of espionage and their characters, most notably the notorious Cambridge Spies. Detailed attention is also given to the ‘secret state’ thriller, a cycle of paranoid screen dramas in the 1980s which portrayed the intelligence services in a conspiratorial light, best understood as a reaction to excessive official secrecy and anxieties about an unregulated security service. The study is brought up-to-date with an examination of screen espionage in Britain since the end of the Cold War. The approach is empirical and historical. The study examines the production and reception, literary and historical contexts of the films and dramas. It is the first detailed overview of the British spy screen in its crucial period since the 1960s and provides fresh attention to spy films, series and serials never previously considered.

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir
Author: Jennifer L. Ryan
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2017
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101906758

"Through letters and journals, [this novel] unfolds the struggles, affairs, deceptions, and triumphs of a village choir during World War II [in England]"--Dust jacket flap.

Weapons in Space

Weapons in Space
Author: Aaron Bateman
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2024-05-07
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 026237739X

A new and provocative take on the formerly classified history of accelerating superpower military competition in space in the late Cold War and beyond. In March 1983, President Ronald Reagan shocked the world when he established the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively known as “Star Wars,” a space-based missile defense program that aimed to protect the US from nuclear attack. In Weapons in Space, Aaron Bateman draws from recently declassified American, European, and Soviet documents to give an insightful account of SDI, situating it within a new phase in the militarization of space after the superpower détente fell apart in the 1970s. In doing so, Bateman reveals the largely secret role of military space technologies in late–Cold War US defense strategy and foreign relations. In contrast to existing narratives, Weapons in Space shows how tension over the role of military space technologies in American statecraft was a central source of SDI’s controversy, even more so than questions of technical feasibility. By detailing the participation of Western European countries in SDI research and development, Bateman reframes space militarization in the 1970s and 1980s as an international phenomenon. He further reveals that even though SDI did not come to fruition, it obstructed diplomatic efforts to create new arms control limits in space. Consequently, Weapons in Space carries the legacy of SDI into the post–Cold War era and shows how this controversial program continues to shape the global discourse about instability in space—and the growing anxieties about a twenty-first-century space arms race.