The Saga of the Swinging Spies | True Life Spy Stories

Listen to my spy stories on the Heroes & Traitors with Philip Thompson podcast!
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Karel and Hana Koecher arrived on American shores in December 1965. The Czechoslovakian nationals had fled to America to start a new life. As Soviet emigres, they set out to live the American dream. For Karel, this was by climbing the ranks of academia. For Hana, it was a lucrative career in the diamond trade. Both had become naturalised US citizens.

But all this was a smokescreen. Karel was in fact a sleeper agent deployed by Czechoslovakian intelligence to spy on the United States. He achieved what no other before him had managed - to infiltrate the CIA as an illegal Soviet spy.

This is the story of Karel and Hana Koecher, the last of the Cold War super spies.

Primary sources (afiiliate links):

📕 The Liar: How a Double Agent in the CIA Became the Cold War's Last Honest Man, Benjamin Cunningham - https://amzn.to/48lSntR
📕 Spy VS. Spy, Ronald Kessler - https://amzn.to/42FEYvH

Further reading/viewing:

🌐 https://www.theguardian.com/world/201...
🌐 Betrayed! A Stranger in a Strange Land, https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/285639/s0...

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