Spies and a Poison Pill.

Factual Questions
1

I have long wondered, do U.S. (and other major industrial) spies really use poison pills, in case they get caught? I know in the movies they are supposedly composed of cyanide. But I personally think ricin would be a better choice. What about non-industrial countries (assuming they have spies too)?

Is there any protocol on how they are to use these lethal pills? And have there been any reported cases in the news of this happening?

And furthermore, how do they get people to commit suicide on command? Most people, it would seem to me, would have an extreme aversion to that.

:):peace_symbol::):peace_symbol:

2

Given that history has many examples of spies being caught and either sent to prison or traded for the other guys’ spies, it seems unlikely.

3

I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.

But seriously, the GQ answer is undoubtedly: there’s really no way to know.

4

Ricin is a slow poison - not what you want for a dramatic, quick death.

5

Curare is what the US government recommended for it’s spies back in the sixties. And boy do they get pissed off when you don’t use it.

6

The SS used pills with cyanide salts to prevent being taken alive, it’s how Himmler died after the British captured him.

More recently North Korean agents used cyanide hidden in cigarettes after Flight 858.

7

Gary Powers had a suicide pill with him during his U2 flight. But when his plane was shot down, he decided he’d rather be a prisoner than die.

8

I think it was actually a pin, not a pill. And according to his autobiography, he was told that it was voluntary, in the event of torture, not to protect sensitive intelligence. To be fair, he had an incentive to say that whether it was true or not.