After five years of trying to get records out of the Harvard University Police Department, I ended up spending $125 on a high-resolution photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This is the story of how and why.

An October 17, 1975 edition of the Central Intelligence Agency’s “Staff Notes” publication, formerly classified SECRET, offered regional specialists with the latest intelligence from Western Europe. While some of the topics covered warrant the hush-hush nature of the classification, some secrecy, like that around an attendance briefing at the 1975 Munich Oktoberfest, is less convincing.

Formerly TOP SECRET records in Central Intelligence Agency’s archives, only declassified in 2013, outline the Office of Strategic Services plan to wage psychological warfare against Nazi Germany ahead of the D-Day invasion.

After going to prison for embezzling a paltry sum from the German-American Bund, the would-be Führer Fritz Kuhn came up with a plot to con his way into a shorter sentence - only to have it fell apart because his supposed patsy turned him into the FBI.

A unexpected fringe benefit of the CIA’s release of its declassified archive is the treasure trove of comic strips - mostly concerning the Agency’s activities - contained therein.