Something seasonal - for 30+ yrs NSA, then later the CIA, DIA and NRO have been putting out Christmas decorations. Here's some of NSA & CIA's greatest hits - including Enigma, U2 and portraits of Donovan, Dulles, Helms and Tenet. Thoughts are with all of you over the break, we'll see you in 2026.

Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefacts this week are from WWII Europe - a mysterious allied cipher device and a clandestine radio First - a British B2 spy radio used in Occupied France by agents of the British SOE, American OSS and the French Resistance. Alongside it more B2 spares. 1/2 More ...

Two weeks ago I shared a photo of our Enigma at The Beehive, the New Zealand parliament. Here it is at the Reichstag in Berlin.

At an Enigma demo a few months ago someone asked “How would a Chinese Enigma work?” I’d never seen an electromechanical Chinese machine (closest I could think of was Japanese Purple). Now this super interesting relic has been found in the US. Not cipher, But Look At It 😍 www.npr.org/2025/07/05/n...

This week's Featured Artefact is an old-school tradecraft item - a Destruction Container concealed in a soap dish. Inside it is a 35mm film wrapped around a camera flash bulb - when the soap dish is opened the flash is triggered, destroying the light-sensitive film. 1/2

Before the CIA there was the OSS or Office of Strategic Services a key player in allied irregular warfare. Formed in WWII the OSS combined the paramilitary sabotage functions of Britain's SOE with subversion and propaganda. It is to the latter function that these exquisitely rare items belong. 1/2

Last day walkabout. Wellington has several really nice secondhand bookshops - a few gems at Pegasus. Get in quick to grab a 1948 First Ed of Norbert Weiner’s Cybernetics, a classic of computings early days. There’s also a beaut Codebreakers by David Kahn and a 2000 First of Colossus among others.

At @kawaiicon.bsky.social today Jason Danner has captured a whole series with our intro by MetalStorm and our presso This is just such a great event in person but for non attendees the pics do provide some idea of the scale of AV, pyrotechnic sparkles etc Thanks Jason

11 o’clock on a Saturday in Wellington NZ - but are we out on the lash? No! We are scoring Teleprinters in Germany is what we’re doin’. Heading here soon - an c1951 Siemens 68D in military black - it has real “presence”, Here’s a tan one in action - that sound! youtu.be/yRAx-F6YXE8?...

Australian Spy Museum stopped by Pravda cafe Wellington NZ. How perfect a name, how could we not? If Vladimir was whispering sweet nothings to us today, it might just be via a Cold War numbers station appliance. Looking forward to meeting the NZ hacker community tomorrow at Kawaiicon 2025

Out and about in Wellington NZ

This story would make a great hacker con presentation There’s a terrible joke to be had about how it sucks that vacuum vendors do this, but nope im not doing it www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...

The Lives of Others - Live 3-4yrs back I saw an ad in EU for an item "I don't know - it was my dad's - some kind of computer-briefcase thing". The photos showed it closed not opened (but I thought I could make out a Stasi battery box). So I took a bet and bought it with $$$ shipping cost. 1/3

Australian Spy Museum (belated) Featured Artefact post New arrivals: - Four! very rare KGB cameras - souvenired by a photo tech at the "End of History" - Centre - late 80's Stasi HVA satellite receiver - Top - Batteries for our Krad concealment - Signed photo of Don Adams (86) with shoephone 1/2

With Kawaiicon coming up it was time for our first cheesy laptop sticker - what better than a spooky Kiwi using an Enigma machine? One day I suppose I'll have a marketing person with a Branding Guide trying to save me from myself - but until then expect a few limited-edition dad jokes.

Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact - Stasi Donation 2 ! Released in 1988, the TSS-2 (for Terrestrische Sendestelle or terrestrial transmitter station) was the DDR's last secret agent comms system. Its similar in mission to the previously donated WSA-6 that dates from about the same time. 1/2

Last Call - Tomorrow evening at Western Sydney University we're discussing the evolution of spycraft from the Cold War into the digital age, with talks and a display of amazing spy tech from that journey. Limited places still available - register now www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-evolut...

Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact this week are beautiful vintage spy film posters - note the French "Espionne" for female spy. We're also looking at running an exhibit in Sydney where this art is displayed alongside vintage spy-tech. Stay tuned, and let us know if interested in sponsoring 😀

If you're in Western Sydney and protecting business or government data - then this event at WSU is for you. Speakers will discuss the modern threat landscape and its origins, with Australian Spy Museum displaying some cool vintage espionage gear. Tickets at: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-evolut...

** Next Sat 20th - Enigma machines in Ashfield, Sydney ** We'll be demo'ing some Enigma machines, and speak on how codebreaking efforts led to the birth of computing. Tickets a bargain at only $10, with proceeds to our hosts the Computer Museum Society. www.eventbrite.com.au/e/eye-spy-se...

Went to a good Spy writers panel chat at BAD - Sydney Crime Writers Festival. Left with 3x signed books (thanks gents) and an appreciation for their complementary backgrounds: - Liars Game - Jack Beaumont's third book - The Peak by former diplomat Sam Guthrie - The Turing Protocol by Nick Croydon

Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact this week are some very nice CIA service awards from our collection. Below are the Silver (25-35 years service) and Gold (35+ years service) retirement medals along with the Distinguished Career Intelligence medal and the Intelligence medal of Merit. 1/2

This is an important read

NSW Military History Society puts on free lectures at the War Memorial in Hyde Park - the next one is this Saturday the 6th on lessons from the US Civil War. After that, I'll be demonstrating some Enigma machines. If interested, register on their website. militaryhistorynsw.com.au/activities/n...

Australian Spy Museum's very own Spookcat got a cracking delivery today, a Soviet Agat cipher machine ;-) In service from the late 60's to the mid 80's the Agat is another evolutionary step in cipher tech from the Renaissance through to digital. I've also pictured it alongside our Soviet Fialka.

Aus Spy Museum just passed 400 followers! Wow - and thanks to you espionage-curious whackos for joining us. 😊 There is a bit of of “Build it and they’ll come” about this whacky Spy Museum idea, it’s a bit hard to market test this idea. Does anyone have a Q or a Featured Artefact request?

Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact - a Fulpmes ice axe or "Eispickel" I'd been hunting this specific one for ages as it is the specific type used by Ramon Mercador in his 1940 assassination of Leon Trotsky. After Lenin's death in 1924, Trotsky lost out in the ensuing power struggle wth Stalin.

Today I went to the Australian Computer Museum Society in Ashfield Sydney - they are open until 3pm on a Saturday - and damn it is really worth going! acms.org.au This place is practically packed to the rafters with fantastic vintage computers from IBM Mainframes to Apple PCs. 1/2

@aus-spymuseum.bsky.social Our Featured Artefact this week is an early 1980's Stoelting Ultrascribe polygraph - once standard for US military vetting. This one has upper and lower abdominal pneumographs for measuring breathing, plus a blood pressure cuff for measuring pulse rate and strength. 1/2

Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact this week is a "Kriminalist Kit" used by Stasi Counterintelligence and Volkspolizei Kriminalists (forensic investigators). The items in our authoritarian justice collection help us show how very different the "Secret Police" regimes are overseas. 1/3

Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact - the Czech Meopta Milos. With front or side-facing lenses, spring driven film advance and larger (larger than Minox) negative size of 9.5x 14mm it was an ideal agent camera. Picture 4 - Most were destroyed as regimes fell, making them quite rare now.

Australian Spy Museum has received a lovely local donation This is a "Hound Dog" vintage bug detector, and I have to say it definitely has that cool retro-tech look to it. This fits into our Counterintelligence / TSCM collection nicely - thank you for this great item!

Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefacts - CIA Airlines ! The first CIA airline was Civil Air Transport - founded by veterans of the "Flying Tigers". After WWII as China descended into Civil War they supported the Nationalists, evacuated them to Taiwan, and then - CAT was bought by the CIA. 1/2

Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact this week is a KGB Seals Duplication briefcase. It was common to use numbered wax seals on courier bags, containers and document folders - a broken seal indicated an item had been read, maybe secretly copied. This kit helped the KGB hide their own tampering.

oooh yeah. The machine that launched many a Gen-X into computing is back.

An interesting thread from our friend Le cueilleur

Australian Spy Museum is in ABC News this week, part of a series by Isabella Ross on collections. Seeing third party coverage has helped me to step back and more objectively look at these items - and yes they really are pretty freaking wild. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

This weeks artefacts are from the Portland Spy Ring - which has such peak Cold War tradecraft its a thing of beauty. Gordon Lonsdale ran the Portland Spy Ring - its exposure was one of the largest spy cases of the Cold War after they compromised the UK's first nuclear submarine developments. 1/3

Australian Spy Museum's collection in the news this week I'm looking for a Sydney place that might like to co-host an initial proof-of-concept exhibition. Spycraft displays draw (lots) of interest & visitors. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

@aus-spymuseum.bsky.social Acquisition News! Our followers love cipher machines and here's a beauty - we've just scored this 1960's Soviet M-105 Agat. It dates from the Vietnam War period, and was used by multiple countries across the Soviet sphere of influence from East Germany to Cuba. 1/2

@aus-spymuseum.bsky.social will be back at University of NSW's SecEdu conference this year, on the 26th June. I really enjoyed last years event - UNSW's Cyber Security students are an enthusiastic cohort - lots of great questions, and they enjoyed seeing the cipher machines in action. #spycraft

Well today was awesome, joined a great lunch hosted by Dragos industrial cyber team and I got to meet Incident Response expert Lesley Carhart AKA @hacks4pancakes.com - here with Australian Spy Museum’s Enigma & items from the WWII Bletchley Park cryptanalysts. Glad you’re in Team Australia!

This week Australian Spy Museum features the AN/PRC-64 paramilitary radio - used by Australian SAS troops in Vietnam. Almost identical to its close relative the CIA's 5300 spy set, it is only 25cm long & about 3kg in weight. Considerably smaller than the Regular Army's PRC-25 or 77. #spycraft

An update on the recent Stasi donation to @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social A few weeks back we had a donation of a WSA-6 burst transmitter, from the former Stasi engineer/designer. Comparing it to our previous WSA-6 fragments - we realised those are from an even rarer "Gladio" (stay behind) WSA-6.

Australian Spy Museum's Featured Artefact today is the SSTR-1 clandestine radio issued to OSS operatives during WWII. Its a 10kg+ valve and crystal unit, and a peer for our German and British suitcase radios. I'm in awe of especially the female operatives that risked everything in WWII to use these

Thanks to Prof. Joonsang Baek and the Computer Science students at University of Wollongong for the invite. Today Australian Spy Museum demo’d WWII cipher machines that drove the urgent need for the first computers. It’s great to meet the next generation of nerds 😊, all the best for your exams.

Australian Spy Museum kicks off next week with Enigma machine demos for University of Wollongong's Computer Science students. To see fully operational examples of the secret tech that led to the birth of computing is a touchstone experience for those entering the industry. Looking forward to it.

Wow

For overseas friends of the Australian Spy Museum - today we have a guest display at the FS-ISAC event for the finance industry. Views of Sydney Harbour Bridge - I’m spoiled.

Headed to FS-ISAC forum in Sydney tomorrow? Spookcat is leading QA efforts on a hands-on a treat for you.