The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception,   ISBN:9780061725890

Customer Rating: 

I found the book to be very interesting. If you are in to Magic as I am, then you will find this book interesting as to how it has been used, in this case by the CIA. I would recommend it to anyone interested in something that is different and interesting.

Customer Rating: 

The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception, Fun read, if it's a true CIA manual, then this world is run by clowns.

Customer Rating: 

This book shows how crazy government officials were during the Cold War to actually give so much funds to some weird magician, thinking that they'd dominate KGB with bunny-in-a-hat tricks. Historically interesting, but no big surprises. Good entertainment.

Customer Rating: 

Lacking in any real meat. CIA must have paid the guy a lot for very little. Hardly worth ever being classified as Secret in the first place.

Customer Rating: 

During the Cold War the U.S. employed a number of novel strategies to combat the numerous threats (both real and perceived) posed by the Soviet Union. The CIA in particular instituted a series of programs under the designation "MKULTRA" to combat the KGB's "brainwashing" program which sought to use psychological and pharmacological methods to alter human behavior. However, despite the success of the CIA's attempts to develop new chemical compounds, including untraceable poisons, "truth serums" and powerful sedatives for use against the KGB, it soon became obvious that all of these resources were functionally useless unless they could actually be covertly administered to targets in the field. To clear this hurdle the CIA simultaneously pursued two different paths. The first was to build new "gadgets" and "spytech" devices to deliver these chemical payloads. The second avenue, and the subject of this book, was to commission the world-famous conjuror John Mulholland to write a manual on the use of sleight of hand to secretly administer pills, powders, and liquids to enemy agents. This volume presents the sleight of hand manual in its entirety, as well as second essay by Mulholland on the application of covert recognition signals. They are preceded by a introductory article briefly discussing the history of the MKULTRA program.

Judging by some of the other reviews here on Amazon, many people had rather romanticized notions of what Mulholland's manuals contained. If you're hoping for directions on how to silently assassinate KBG operatives with ingeniously concealed weapons...you're flat out of luck. The manual instead deals with simple, relatively low-risk methods of sneakily deliver chemical payloads into a subject's food or drink utilizing very basic sleight of hand. It also briefly discusses techniques for the covert theft of small items of interest. It isn't the stuff of big-budget spy movies, but it -is- the stuff of real spies. As long as you understand this going, then this volume is unlikely to disappoint. It's a fascinating and obscure slice of history, and while reading Mulholland's manuals it's impossible not to imagine what it must have been like for CIA agents operating deep in Soviet territory where a single slip-up meant exposure and death. Sure, a few pages about how to adhere a pill to the back of a matchbook then undetectably drop it into someone's drinking glass may seem rather pedestrian...until you think about the context in which these techniques were meant to be employed. What seems simple on paper must have been well-nigh harrowing when implemented in a field, perhaps in some smoky, dangerous bar in Moscow or Kiev. Mulholland's manuals carry a lot of history with them, and I find it very difficult not to be awed by it.

In short, if you're looking for a discussion of fancy, high-tech, high drama spy craft, look elsewhere. If you're interesting in learning about real-life techniques employed by the CIA while getting a glimpse of a document that, until recently, was thought not to even exist then this book is for you.