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Friday, March 29, 2024

America’s ‘Q’ to discuss spy gadgets at upcoming Master the Possibilities event

Robert Wallace

The not-for-profit lifelong learning center Master the Possibilities is hosting an event featuring the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of Technical Service.

Robert Wallace’s presentation, titled “Q” Lives: Spy Gadgets for Every Season,” will be held Friday, Jan. 15 from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in the Circle Square Cultural Center, located at 8395 S.W. 80th St. in Ocala. Q is the fictional character in popular James Bond movies who was responsible for research and development division of the British Secret Service.

The course fee for the presentation is $5 for members and $10 for non-members. The event is open to the public. Registration is required, as space is limited.

Wallace, who served 33 years with the CIA as case officer and director of Clandestine Technical Programs, will talk about how the development of spy technology has transformed espionage operations from Revolutionary War covert communications to present day disinformation operations.

Wallace earned his BA in History from Ottawa (Kansas) University in 1966 and an MA in Political Science from the University of Kansas in 1968. He served in U.S. Army during 1968-1970, leading long-range reconnaissance patrol teams of Company E, 75th Rangers in Vietnam.

Following military duty, Wallace served as an administrative assistant to the late Ohio Congressman William McCulloch before joining the CIA as an operations officer in 1971. His career at the CIA included five field tours and Chief of Station assignments. Headquarters tours were with the Comptroller’s Office, Director of the Office of Technical Service and Acting Director of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service.

After retiring from CIA in 2003, Wallace founded Artemus Consulting Group and was a part-time oral historian for CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence. He is a member of the Central Intelligence Retirees Association, the Association of Former Intelligence Officers and the Technical Service Retirees Association and on the Board of Advisors of the International Spy Museum.

Wallace has co-authored six books: Nine from the Ninth: A Vietnam Memoir (2002); SPYCRAFT: The Secret History of the CIA’s Spytechs from Communism to al-Qaeda (2008); The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception (2009); Spy Sites of New York City (2020); Spy Sites of Washington (2017); and forthcoming Spy Sites of Philadelphia (2021). He contributed a chapter to Vaults, Mirrors & Masks: Rediscovering U.S. Counterintelligence (2009), as well as numerous internal CIA publications.

Books will be available for purchase and there will be a book signing immediately following the presentation.

Register online 24/7 at www.masterthepossibilities.org, or by calling (352) 861-9751 during regular office hours, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Attendees will be required to bring and wear a personal mask or face shield and to complete and sign a Coronavirus screening form prior to entry into the event.