(August 2, 2025)
Operation Rubicon was a joint covert operation carried out by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the West German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) during the Cold War. The operation involved the acquisition and operation of a Swiss company called Crypto AG, which was a leading manufacturer of encryption machines used by governments, militaries, and intelligence agencies around the world.
Under Operation Rubicon, the CIA and BND secretly purchased Crypto AG and then modified the encryption machines to allow the intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on the communications of foreign governments and intelligence services that used the machines. The operation reportedly began in the 1950s and continued until the early 2000s.
The operation was considered one of the most successful and longest-running espionage operations of the Cold War, allowing the CIA and BND to intercept and decipher sensitive communications from numerous countries, including Iran, Argentina, and Libya. However, the operation was eventually exposed in 2020 through investigative reporting by several news organizations, leading to widespread criticism of the intelligence agencies involved and calls for greater transparency and accountability in intelligence operations.