Secret weapons of the intelligence community

If you have a need to get rid of someone inconvenient and you are a government there are all sorts of ways that this can be achieved. Start by thinking James Bond, then really let your mind run wild. Lets start with a couple from Mother Russia. Viktor Yushchenko, Ukrainian presidential candidate and leader of the opposition party in 2004 suddenly became very ill with acute pancreatitis after a meal, and on investigation by toxicologists it appeared likely that he had been poisoned by TCDD dioxin, a component of Agent Orange. How about Alexander Litvinenko, again suddenly becoming seriously ill, investigation finding that he had been poisoned by ingesting the radioactive isotope Polonium 210 after defecting to the West. The former Russian secret service operative had revealed information about corruption and illegal activity in Russian politics. Of course Russia has a long history of political assassination going back to the killing of Rasputin, the advisor to Tzar Nicholas, and continuing through Lenin and Trotsky.

So, what about in the more media sensitive West? Surely such nefarious acts couldn't happen in the UK or Europe or USA could they? Think again. This time lets start with a slightly more technical method, the Boston brakes technique. Developed in Boston by American intelligence services this technique requires the fitting of microchips to a target vehicle which when activated effectively take control of the vehicle remotely and allow the operator to cause the vehicle to crash. Jorg Heider the Austrian right wing political leader and HRH Diana, Princess of Wales both died in car accidents that bore the hallmarks of something very odd happening. If you want to stick to the poison theme, how about Bob Marley? The Rastafarian singer died of cancer which started in his toe, which is somewhat unusual, and it could well be coincidence that the CIA have a known technique of embedding a small copper pin in footwear, laced with a carcinogenic agent, designed to prick the toe when the footwear is first used, the agent taking years to work, thus rendering discovery extremely unlikely. There is an even better way of hiding an assassination plot though. How about if the assassin didn't know that they weren't acting consciously? Manchurian candidate anyone? It is widely known that the CIA was involved in mind control experiments in the 1950's and '60's, as were the Chinese and Russian intelligence communities. Recent evidence suggests that the John Lennon and John F Kennedy assassination and the Virginia Tech massacre were carried out by victims of mind control amongst others.

There is more of course. How about a heart attack gun that leaves no external evidence of an assassination but looks exactly like a natural heart attack. There are two ways of achieving this. The first has been in use since the 1960's and involves shooting a biodegradable dart laced with a cardiac toxin, leaving at most a small insect bite wound, but more recently there have been developments in the use of high frequency sound waves and electromagnetic interference weapons have given a even less detectable solution. How about the integration of toxins into food and water in undetectably small quantities? Ever wonder why homeopathy is so deeply shunned by the mainstream medical establishment? It works on the same principles, distillations of toxic compounds to the point where they are no longer toxic or detectable to treat illness. It works, so why not use it for harm rather than good? If you are that way inclined of course.

Whatever the method, whatever the technological development, one thing is clear. There are still cases where evidence suggests that there may be security service involvement in the deaths of people who simply get in the way. It makes you wonder what they are getting in the way of, and indeed what else is happening that is kept a closely guarded secret.