Spies in the Congo: America’s Atomic Mission in World War II

Behind the scenes, hidden in the shadows, CIA, MI6, and ex-KGB agents all whisper assassination plots to keep secrets in the Congo, the world’s richest source of uranium used for nuclear fission. Somehow the author, Dr. Susan Williams, managed to unearth secrets buried in the Shinkolobwe Mine and live to tell us about it. Her award-winning journalism launched UN investigations into the mysterious death of the UN Secretary General, and as a result, the film A United Kingdom was made. America’s involvement in securing this cache of uranium, in a race against Nazi Germany during WWII to build the first atomic bomb, was so top-secret that there is no record of the four leading spies who conducted operations for the OSS, a precursor to the CIA. Nevertheless, Williams stitches together the cloak-and-dagger action through extraordinary means. “It was as if the West African stations and their agents never existed.”

Although now officially closed, the mine still supports a lively trade in contraband ore to Hezbollah, who in turn exports to Iran. “[F]reelance miners still go to the site to dig out uranium and cobalt.” No small wonder, then, that spies still hide in the Congo.