Roger, that's a rough yet, right?

Welcome to true spies, brief histories.

We're living through an era in which the impact of spies, subterfuge and covert influence is increasingly visible.

We're bombarded with news about foreign interference, wartime propaganda and threats from cyberspace.

And that's just for starters. But how do we get here?

In these bonus minisodes, we'll explore the long history of Spycraft. And with the help

of our deep bench of espionage experts, we'll bring you up to speed on the past, present and

possible future of this ancient profession. All foreign captains wish to know America's

diplomatic and military intentions and capabilities. Ultimately, some classified information, if it got into the wrong hands,

could compromise the identity and eventually the lives of American sources.

I'm Joe Foley, series producer for true spies.

And this is a brief history of counterintelligence.

Spies have been around forever, so it follows that there's always been a need to catch them in

the act to protect the secrets they set

out to acquire.

In previous episodes of brief histories, we've learned about ancient Egyptian secret police,

biblical honey traps, and Tang Dynasty state surveillance, and much more besides, of course,

but this time we're going to skip ahead to an era that feels more of a peace with the world

we live in now.

A time when our modern concepts of intelligence and counterintelligence were just beginning

to crystallise.

In the lagoon of Venice, intrigue was a way of life.

...