Spy Way of Life

INDONESIA 02/06/2023

Jakarta's Sari Pacific, a historic spot for Australian spies

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online opens the doors to the Sari Pacific in Jakarta. Now a popular joint for business travellers in Indonesia, this hotel, used for many years by Australia's spies, could once again become the place to be as strategic shifts in the region bring agents back to the country.

The Sari Pacific in Jakarta (Indonesia).

FRANCE 26/05/2023

Grace Café, where European intelligence officers like to take tea in Paris

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores the Grace Café in Paris, where official and semi-official representatives of the intelligence services from the surrounding embassies are often to be found.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 19/05/2023

Zuma Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed's favourite izayaka for fine-tuning deals over fine dining

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores Zuma restaurant in Abu Dhabi, where princes and spymasters, and their foreign guests, discuss and make deals over tasty Japanese finger food.

ISRAEL PALESTINE 28/04/2023

The Austrian Pilgrim Hospice, a haven for security and religious confabs in Jerusalem

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores Jerusalem's Austrian Pilgrim Hospice, which, as well as hosting pilgrims, serves as a venue for negotiations in the Old City.

The Austrian Pilgrim Hospice in Jerusalem.

IRAN MYANMAR 21/04/2023

The Jasmine Hotel, a luxurious Myanmar sanctuary where sanctions-hit Pasdaran and Junta meet

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores the Jasmine Hotel in Naypyidaw, where three Iranian delegations discreetly met between December 2021 and mid-February 2022.

UZBEKISTAN 14/04/2023

Brand 910 inherits Aurum 898's mantle as Uzbek intelligence community's new favourite haunt

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online visits Brand 910, a restaurant popular with karaoke-loving State Security Service officers in Tashkent.

AUSTRALIA 07/04/2023

The Double Drummer, where to spy a spy in the land down under

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online sits down for a pint at the Double Drummer, a Canberra restaurant and café where local intelligence officers relax between high-level meetings.

The Double Drummer in Canberra, Australia.

FRANCE 31/03/2023

The Cercle de l'Union Interalliée, a historic Parisian gentlemen's club opening up to the corporate intelligence crowd

All over the world, spies have their favourite hangouts for hush-hush conversation and impromptu reunions. This week, Intelligence Online explores the prestigious Cercle de l'Union Interalliée in Paris, historically favoured by France's diplomatic and entrepreneurial elite but where members in the business of security and corporate intelligence are gradually making their mark.

The Cercle de l'union interalliée, in Paris (8th).

SAUDI ARABIA 24/03/2023

The Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, a gilded prison turned hotspot for business elites thriving under MbS

All over the world, spies have their favourite hangouts for hush-hush conversation and impromptu reunions. This week, Intelligence Online explores the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh. Turned into a gilded prison in 2017 by Mohammed bin Salman during his anti-corruption purge, the opulent establishment is fast becoming a favourite haunt of heads of state and business tsars.

The lobby of the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh.

COLOMBIA 17/03/2023

Nogal Club, an enduring haven for Colombia's military, political and business elites

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens for hush-hush conversation and impromptu reunions. This week, Intelligence Online takes a peak inside Bogota's exclusive Nogal Club, a historical sanctuary for Colombia's right wing and military uppercrust, bombed by the FARC in 2003.

UNITED STATES 10/03/2023

CXIII REX, the cigar bar where CIA contractors mingle over pasta and a puff

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens for hush-hush conversation and impromptu reunions. This week, Intelligence Online takes a peak inside the very select CXIII REX club in Alexandria near Washington, where Pentagon, CIA and FBI contractors can enjoy some fine cigars and Italian fare while mixing with peers.

The CXIII Rex humidor, located in Old Town Alexandria.

UNITED KINGDOM 03/03/2023

Honourable Artillery Company's Armoury House, a historic retreat for British military intelligence

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens for hush-hush conversation and impromptu reunions. This week, Intelligence Online explores the inner circle of the British Army's oldest military intelligence regiment.

The front door of Armoury House, London.

BELARUS POLAND 24/02/2023

Beer Station: the Warsaw pub where the Belarusian dissidence's plans are brewed

All over the world, spies have their favourite hangouts for hush-hush conversation and impromptu reunions. This week, Intelligence Online heads down to a basement pub in central Warsaw, where exiled Belarusians gather to seek comfort and share critical information about their struggle against the Lukashenko regime over a choice selection of draught beers.

FRANCE 17/02/2023

Chilli hotpot and chinwags: where the Chinese in Paris love to tuck in and gossip

All over the world, spies have their favourite hangouts for hush-hush conversation and impromptu reunions. This week, Intelligence Online digs in at Au Piment du Centre, a Paris restaurant frequented by the city's eminent Chinese residents.

The Chinese restaurant specialising in Sichuan cuisine, located on Boulevard de Sébastopol.

UKRAINE 10/02/2023

The InterContinental Kyiv, a haven for Western support in the heart of the Ukrainian capital

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online visits the InterContinental Kyiv, where business leaders, foreign correspondents and delegations of all kinds cross paths.

UNITED STATES 03/02/2023

For meetings with colleagues and foreign liaison visitors, CIA officials head to J. Gilbert's steakhouse

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores J. Gilbert's restaurant, conveniently located near the CIA headquarters in McLean. It's long been a preferred gathering spot for operatives and their guests - and for foreign spies hoping to eavesdrop on them.

J. Gilbert's restaurant in McLean, a favourite meeting place for CIA agents.

UNITED KINGDOM 27/01/2023

The Fitzroy Tavern, a London pub where corporate investigators spend a happy hour

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores a typical London pub, The Fitzroy Tavern, which has gradually become a favourite drinking hole of corporate investigators in the capital and further afield.

UNITED STATES 20/01/2023

Potbelly Sandwich Shop provides respite for overwrought agents at FBI's New York field office

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online visits the Potbelly Sandwich Shop, where hard-pressed operatives from the FBI's New York field office cross paths and socialise in the hustle and bustle of Lower Manhattan.

The Potbelly sandwich shop is always busy during the very short lunch breaks of the 2000 or so New York FBI employees.

RUSSIA 13/01/2023

Victor Pelevin, the novelist on Russian security elites' bedside tables

Across the world, spies have their own inside jokes and references, which give them a shared sense of belonging. Those can in turn shape the public's image of the intelligence world. In Russia, a writer shrouded in secrecy attracts the adoration - and occasionally the wrath - of the country's intelligence community, which he portrays with his own particular brand of subtle audacity.

Russian novelist Victor Pelevin, author of numerous bestsellers published by Eksmo, has remained in the shadows since the late 1990s.

ASIA EUROPE MIDDLE EAST NORTH AMERICA 23/12/2022

Intelligence Online's spyware gift list for the holidays Free

Across the globe, after long months of hushed conversations and quiet meetings in secret hideaways, spies are working on their holiday shopping lists. This week, Intelligence Online looks into the Christmas-time tradecraft goodies on offer, from pop culture spy gear to big ticket items for the brave gift giver.

The Intelligence Online editorial team's gift ideas.

Barzan Holdings, Qatar's defence industry giant springing up out of the desert

Badr Jafar, the businessman 2.0 taking hold in the UAE