Vince Houghton - Nuking the Moon - And Other Intelligence Schemes and Military Plots Left on the Drawing Board

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Vince Houghton is the historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. He is also the host and creative director of the Museum’s podcast, SpyCast , which reaches a national and international audience of over 3.5 million listeners each year. He is a veteran of the US army and served in the Balkans before receiving his Masters and PhD in Diplomatic and Military History from the University of Maryland. He has appeared on CNN , NBC News , Fox News , NPR and other major outlets as an expert in intelligence history.

“Outlandish, informative, hilarious, and deeply terrifying, this book makes Dr. Strangelove feel like a heavily censored documentary.”

—Robert Wade, co-screenwriter of Casino Royale and Skyfall

“Dr. Vince Houghton is smart—really smart—and doesn’t suffer fools (or foolish plans) kindly. In Nuking the Moon , he hilariously skewers some of the military and intelligence community’s weirdest, wackiest, and most outlandish plots, plans, and covert operations! From the story of the CIA’s bugged kitty cat to tales of arming Chinese call girls with poisons, and blowing up the moon, it’s a great read and highly recommended!”

—H. Keith Melton, intelligence historian and coauthor of Spycraft

“Vince Houghton is a fresh new voice who will have you laughing out loud at some of the serious yet hysterical false starts in the history of the intelligence community.”

—Jonna Mendez, former CIA chief of disguise

“The Cold War wasn’t just dangerous, it was also often bizarre, and sometimes even hilarious. Vince Houghton has put together an amazing compendium of schemes and plans that were once top secret—and for good reason. This is a compelling book, not only because of the light it sheds on a half-century of American secrets, but because it is a reminder that when human beings go to war—hot or cold—they can often be too clever for their own good.”

—Tom Nichols, author of The Death of Expertise

“These are amazing tales, and readers may, despite Houghton’s research to verify each project, be left pondering whether the book will be shelved among works of history or science fiction novels. Possibly, however, Nuking the Moon best belongs with political science to remind us that when national survival is believed threatened, desperation and innovation become kindred spirits that can make the otherwise unimaginable become real.”

—Robert Wallace, former director of the CIA’s Office of Technical Services and coauthor of Spycraft

“Houghton mixes humor and irony with an espionage historian’s eye for detail to make Nuking the Moon both entertaining and informative. The litany of bizarre schemes and harebrained ideas had me continually asking, ‘What were they thinking?’ From ideas like the acoustic cat to synthetic goat poop, and so many ideas related to the use of atomic weapons, I would laugh out loud if it weren’t so scary. As a CIA veteran, I’m just glad that my name can’t be found in its pages.”

—John Sipher, former CIA chief of station and lead instructor at CIA’s clandestine training school

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