Spies Like Them Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mata Hari

Mata Hari was born in the Netherlands to a well-to-do family and had a lavish childhood, but struggled to make a living as a young divorcee and became an exotic dancer. She became famous for her provocative act which allowed her travel freely around Europe during wartime.

She was found guilty of passing secrets from the French and British to Germany and was sentenced to death by firing squad in 1917.

Answer: The Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project was a joint research endeavor by scientists from the United States, Britain, and Canada. Fuchs was interested in physics and communism, and he used what he gleaned from his job in the former to support his belief in the latter. He admitted to passing technical details of the hydrogen bomb to the Soviet Union and imprisoned for nine years in England before moving permanently to East Germany.

Answer: Robert Hanssen

Robert Hanssen sold secrets from his job as an FBI agent to the Soviet Union and Russian from 1979 to 2001. He had high-level security access that allowed him to sell classified data not just from the FBI but from the CIA, NSA, the Pentagon, and the White House. He was imprisoned in 2001 with no chance of parole.

Answer: M. Butterfly

Shi Pei Pu was male but presented himself a female opera singer when he met French diplomat Bernard Boursicot. Boursicot reportedly passed over 500 classified French documents to China through Shi. They were both found guilty and sentenced to six years, but received pardons a year into their sentences. Shi returned to the opera, and died at age 70 in 2009.

Answer: Aldrich Ames

Aldrich Ames followed his father into the CIA and while he received positive performance reviews initially, over time he was criticized for drinking too much, losing valuable documents, and not effectively recruiting new assets. He had a costly divorce and wanted to shower his second wife with expensive gifts, and he began selling the names of double agents to the KGB in 1985.

He was caught when his colleagues noted the expensive house and car he purchased, well beyond the means of a regular CIA salary.

In 1993 Ames was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Answer: Virginia Hall

Virginia Hall was born in Baltimore and educated in Europe. During WWII, her cover job as a "New York Post" reporter allowed her access to many locations, and she covertly helped with the resistance in occupied France for over a year. She was the only civilian woman in WWII to receive the Distinguished Service Cross. After the war, she returned to the States and joined the CIA.

Answer: The Culper Ring

Washington formed the Culper spy ring in 1778 and ran it along with fellow officer Benjamin Tallmadge. It was dangerous business; one of their spies, Nathan Hale, was caught and executed by hanging -- his last words were the famous quote, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Washington and Tallmadge sharpened their spycraft and collected critical data on British movements and plans.

They were so successful at keeping it a secret that the Culper Ring was not revealed to historians until letters emerged in 1929.

Answer: Benedict Arnold

As a general in the Continental Army, Benedict Arnold lead several successful attacks, including the Battle of Fort Ticonderoga. Several factors contributed to his secret defection to the British in 1780: he had been passed over for promotion, he hadn't been paid in a long time and was dipping into his personal funds, and he thought the British offer of granting full self-rule should have been accepted, as it was quite close to full independence.

In 1782 he relocated permanently to England.

Answer: Edward Lee Howard

Edward Lee Howard and his wife Mary Cedarleaf were promising CIA recruits about to leave for an exciting posting in Moscow when Edward was fired for his polygraph results. When he learned the FBI was closing in on him in 1985, he used his spycraft to outmaneuver them to flee the country. He made his home in Russia and died by accident -- reportedly -- in 2002.

Answer: Christopher Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee

After dropping out of seminary school, Christopher Boyce wasn't sure what he wanted to do, so his father helped him get a job at TRW, which quietly ran the satellite communications for the CIA. When Chris learned that the CIA was duping its Australian counterparts, he decided to pass classified information to the Soviets through their embassy in Mexico City.

His best friend, Andrew Daulton Lee, acted as the courier. Boyce and Lee received long sentences and were eventually paroled in 1998 (Lee) and 2002 (Boyce).