Espionage Timeline of Events

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Espionage

Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it is known that the information is in unauthorized hands...

Timeline of Events

1780

9.23.1780

American Revolution: British Major John André is arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold's change of sides.

1917

10.15.1917

World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for the German Empire.

1951

3.29.1951

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.

4.5.1951

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for performing espionage for the Soviet Union.

1960

7.8.1960

Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.

7.20.1960

The head of the Physics Department at the Israel Institute of Technology, Kurt Sitte, is arrested for espionage.

8.19.1960

Cold War: in Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.

1963

7.1.1963

The British Government admits that former diplomat Kim Philby had worked as a Soviet agent.

1968

12.24.1968

The crew of the USS ''Pueblo'' is released by North Korea after being held for 11 months on suspicion of spying.

1972

10.25.1972

The ''Washington Post'' reports that White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman is the fifth person to control a secret cash fund designed to finance illegal political sabotage and espionage during the 1972 presidential election campaign (see also Watergate scandal).

1985

11.21.1985

United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard is arrested for spying after being caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations. He is subsequently sentenced to life in prison.

1986

6.4.1986

Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.

8.28.1986

United States Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth is sentenced to 365 years imprisonment for espionage for the Soviet Union.