The Federal Bureau of Investigation file on famed artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky documents what appears to be a 1964 investigation into the wife of one of Minsky’s acquaintances, whom the Bureau suspected of being a Soviet spy. Though details are scarce and redactions heavy, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor does manage to add some fuel to an ancient Ivy League rivalry.

As we’ve written about before, the Central Intelligence Agency’s declassified archives contain a treasure trove of comics. Recently, we discovered “Donovan of Central Intelligence,” a seven-page story from a 1950 issue of Atomic Spy Cases that allegedly tells the true story of our titular hero’s mission to smuggle missile plans out of an unnamed Middle Eastern country.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation file on Oleg Lyalin offers new insight into what’s been called “the single biggest action taken against Moscow by any western government” - the 1971 expulsion of dozens of Soviet personnel. According to the narrative established at the time, and repeated even in recent publications, Lyalin’s defection “led to the discovery and deportation of 105 Soviet officials who were accused of spying in Britain” and was prompted by a drunk driving arrest. As his FBI file shows, however, the real story is more complicated than that and has long been one of MI-5’s closely held secrets.

Thanks to the plenty of duplicates that can end up in the Central Intelligence Agency’s CREST archive, a cryptic version of the Agency’s December 20th, 1985 greetings to its worldwide employees is actually available in nearly-full format and available for reuse in your holiday-themed office-wide newsletter.

Tom Secker and Matthew Alford spent years digging into a secret that was hiding in plain sight. Or rather, hiding in movie theaters, television sets, and streaming services everywhere: The secret influence the Department of Defense and intelligence community had on Hollywood. In this Requester’s Voice, Secker shares what he learned.