Magic or spycraft? In 1953, against the backdrop of the Cold War, the CIA initiated a top-secret program, code-named MKULTRA, to counter Soviet mind-control and interrogation techniques. Realizing that clandestine officers might need to covertly deploy newly developed pills, potions, and powders against the adversary, the CIA hired America's most famous magician, John Mulholland, to write two manuals on sleight of hand and undercover communication techniques. In 1973, virtually all documents related to MKULTRA were destroyed. Mulholland's manuals were thought to be among them—until a single surviving copy of each, complete with illustrations, was recently discovered in the agency's archives. The manuals reprinted in this work represent the only known complete copy of Mulholland's instructions for CIA officers on the magician's art of deception and secret communications.

Magic or spycraft? In 1953, against the backdrop of the Cold War, the CIA initiated a top-secret program, code-named MKULTRA, to counter Soviet mind-control and interrogation techniques. Realizing that clandestine officers might need to covertly deploy newly developed pills, potions, and powders against the adversary, the CIA hired America's most famous magician, John Mulholland, to write two manuals on sleight of hand and covert communication techniques. In 1973, virtually all documents related to MKULTRA were destroyed. Mulholland's manuals were thought to be among them—until a single surviving copy of each, complete with illustrations, was recently discovered in the agency's archives. The manuals reprinted in this work represent the only known complete copy of Mulholland's instructions for CIA officers on the magician's art of deception and secret communications.

This Simple Sabotage Field Manual, a genuine guide from the Second World War, states that its purpose is to "characterize simple sabotage, to outline its possible effects, and to present suggestions for inciting and executing it." Among the other fine pieces of advice in this handy volume, one is encouraged to "switch address labels on enemy baggage", "let cutting tools grow dull", "forget to provide paper in toilets", and "change sign posts at intersections and forks; the enemy will go the wrong way and it may be miles before he discovers his mistakes."

Once a top-secret training manual for CIA field agents in the early Cold War Era of the 1950s, The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception is now available to the general public. An amazing historical artifact, this eye-opening handbook offered step-by-step instructions to covert intelligence operatives in all manner of sleight of hand and trickery designed to thwart the Communist enemy. Part of the Company’s infamous MK-ULTRA—a secret mind-control and chemical interrogation research program—this legendary document, the brainchild of John Mulholland, then America’s most famous magician, was believed lost forever. But thanks to former CIA gadgeteer Bob Wallace and renowned spycraft historian H. Keith Melton, The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception is now available to everyone, spy and civilian alike.

The originally 19 page type written documents was released as part of collection of Central Intelligence Agency files related to CIA Operations; PBFORTUNE and PBSUCCESS. The original document was undated and unsigned but with an estimated publication date of Dec 31st 1953. With Historical commentary by Carl Whitman and Tactical Analysis by Ninjutsu Expert Ron Collins

Buy now to get the main key ideas from H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace’s The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception Just like magicians, spies need to do their job without anyone noticing. In the 1950s, the CIA even hired magicians to teach its agents how to use stealth and trickery. In The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception (2009), espionage experts H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace detail how and why the CIA hired its first magician, John Mulholland. They then reproduce Mulholland’s manual of magic for spies - once considered top secret - which taught agents how to evade the eyes of enemies and exchange undetected information.