From two men who know how espionage really works, an unprecedented history--heavily illustrated with never-before-seen images--of the CIA's most secretive operations and the gadgets that made them possible. What is an invisible photo used for? What does it take to build a quiet helicopter? How does one embed a listening device in a cat? These may sound like challenges for James Bond's fictional gadget-master Q, but they're all real-life devices created by the CIA's Office of Technical Service. Now, in the first book ever written about this office, the former director of OTS teams up with an internationally renowned intelligence historian to take readers into the laboratory of espionage.--From publisher description.

Official message from the CIA -- I. AT THE BEGINNING. My hair stood on end -- We must be ruthless -- II. PLAYING CATCH-UP. The Penkovsky era -- Beyond Penkovsky -- Bring in the engineers -- Building better gadgets -- III. IN THE PASSING LANE. Moving thru the gap -- The pen is mightier than the sword (and shield) -- Fire in the Arctic -- A dissident at heart -- An operation called CKTAW -- IV. LET THE WALLS HAVE EARS. Cold beer, cheap hotels, and a voltmeter -- Progress in a new era -- The age of Bond arrives -- Genius is where you find it -- V. PRISON, BULLET, PASSPORT, BOMB. Conspicuous fortitude, exemplary courage in a Cuban jail -- War by any other name -- Con men, fabricators, and forgers -- Tracking terrorist snakes -- VI. FUNDAMENTALS OF TRADECRAFT. Assessment -- Cover and disguise -- Concealments -- Clandestine surveillance -- Covert communications -- Spies and the age of information -- Epilogue: An uncommon service -- Appendices: U.C. clandestine services and OTS organizational genealogy -- Selected chronology of OTS -- Directors of OTS -- CIA trailblazers from OTS -- Pseudonyms of CIA officers used -- Instructions to decipher the official message from the CIA.