Patriotic Trickery and Deception

From the Boston Globe, a summary of John Mulholland's teachings on magic for the Central Intelligence Agency. We've known for a while that Jasper Maskelyne wasn't the only magician who used his unusual abilities in the service of his country. Mr. Mulholland assisted the C.I.A. during the Cold War, but folks thought his manuals were lost (or maybe hidden away, a la Raiders of the Lost Ark?) Anyway, they've turned up, and are now available as The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception, by H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace. The publisher is William Morrow; list price is 25.00.

Here's more commentary from the Boston Globe; here's an article from Wired. Want to know more about John Mulholland? There's an interesting bio by Ben Robinson, published by Lybrary.com. I continue to think those staring at goats guys could learn something from Jasper and John.