All language subtitles for Secrets.Declassified.with.David.Duchovny.S01E06.1080p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta[EZTVx.to].mkv

Throughout time,
governments and the people

who work for them have
done strange and even

terrible things in the
name of national interest.

And sometimes, they recruit
undercover agents to help.

Tonight, the head of a rogue U.S. agency

hires a dangerous French
doctor to gain Nazi secrets.

He's also a literal serial killer.

An ingenious cover
story is deployed to extract

six Iranian hostages.

Pretending to be a film
unit in a country being

torn apart by revolution?

And a deep cover agent
confronts an impossible goal

take down the hell's angels.

The leader of the hell's angels

tells Jay to expect blood
and to expect violence.

Now it's time to bring these
secret missions to light.

It's 1979, and the U.S. embassy in Iran

is overrun by militants who
seized dozens of hostages.

Somehow, six managed to hide.

To get them out, the CIA
create a web of lies so convincing,

it will go down as one of the most daring

undercover escapes in history.

In 1979, the world is
rocked by events in Iran.

The country erupts in chaos
as the pro-U.S. government

is toppled in the islamic revolution.

And in the capital,
Tehran, the U.S. embassy

is stormed by a group of armed Iranians,

who capture 66 American hostages.

Miraculously though, six of them

managed to escape undetected,
to the nearby Canadian

diplomatic residence,
where they seek refuge,

fearing for their lives.

The U.S. has no room to maneuver.

We can't just go in, guns blazing.

Failure of that mission would not only

mean certain death for the rescue team,

but compromise the safety
of the hostages, as well.

The CIA call on a master of deception.

His name is Tony Mendez.

I worked with Tony
almost my whole career.

And he just brought
a new way of thinking

to a lot of those operational problems.

He was the right guy to send in.

Tony's facing a real challenge.

It's not going to work to take people in

and then try to rescue them.

Instead, it might be easier to change

their identity from within
Iran, and then just leave.

And so he's got to
figure out some believable

cover story that will make
it possible for him to take

those six people to the Tehran airport

and put them on a civilian
commercial flight out of town.

The six need new identities, neutral,

free from suspicion, Canadian.

Canada, at this point, is not really

on the radar of the
Iranian revolutionaries.

So the question is, who are they?

Could they be school teachers?

Well, the schools are all closed.

Could they be technicians
from the oil field?

And he had this thing, this flash, like.

He comes up with this
idea that they are going

to be a Canadian film crew.

The cover story,

the production needs exotic locations.

So the Canadians are scouting
for a desert picture in Iran.

It is kind of wild.

I mean, pretending to be a
film unit in a country being

torn apart by revolution?

The stakes are high.

This is a true nightmare
scenario for CIA,

because the one option
that they have, if it fails,

results in the hostages
potentially being killed,

as well as the international
smear campaign of CIA

not being able to keep
its own people safe.

The longer that that clock ticks,

the more and more
likelihood that the Iranians

could realize that six
people are unaccounted for.

No one's getting out unless
they were really scrutinized.

And these Americans had
no training, whatsoever,

in assuming new identities.

President Jimmy Carter
approves the mission.

Tony Mendez is director and scriptwriter.

The movie's name is argo.

Tony's wife, jonna,

remembers the team's attention to detail.

They went to great lengths

to legitimatize it in Hollywood.

They got signs made
for the doors... studio 6.

Tony did the artwork for a piece

that appeared "in variety."

Tony Mendez jets into
Iran as this movie producer,

producing the movie argo.

At the same time,
Canada diplomatically ships

six Canadian passports
to the six hostages

as golden tickets to get
them across the border.

Tony got into Tehran, was
down at the U.S. embassy site.

Death to america, that
was the chant of the day.

So it was scary.

It's one thing to get
actors to play hostages.

It's another to turn hostages into actors.

They all have characters that
they are playing in this game

the director, the director of photography,

the production designer.

He told them that if I don't
believe you're a film crew,

the guards at the airport
are not going to believe

that you're a film crew.

And they had to study scripts.

They had to study backgrounds.

They had to sound like they could

convincingly carry out the role

they were supposed to carry out.

Tony called in the security guard

from the Canadian embassy.

Tony tried to make him
look like an Iranian officer.

Take them in another
room and interrogate

the hell out of them.

And then come back and
report to Tony, did they pass?

No? They didn't pass?

They have to go study some more.

They found different clothes.

They darkened their
beards with mascara.

They turned curly hair
straight and straight hair curly,

long hair short.

They had to own a
completely new identity.

After a hectic 48 hours, Tony
cables the final exfiltration

plan to Washington and Ottawa.

His bosses are satisfied.

And they respond with a sign off.

See you later, exfiltrator.

It's sunup on the morning of the rescue.

And Tony and his six "colleagues"

leave the residence.

And finally, after this white-knuckle ride,

they can see the airport in sight.

Now they have to live the story.

They have to live their disguise.

And they have to walk in the
door like they own the place.

And they have to present all
of the attitude of a film crew.

Mendez chooses an
early morning departure

because he assumes
the Iranian border guards

will be less alert right at dawn.

They all know that at passport control,

the whole thing can go wrong.

So this hodgepodge group
approach the border patrol,

waiting on bated breath for
somebody to make a mistake,

for one person to screw
up, for one thing to go wrong,

and the whole house of
cards to come crumbling down.

But then eventually,
they're waved through.

It was ok until they announced

they were having a mechanical delay.

The flight would not be boarding.

This is not how it's supposed to go.

Put yourself in the
shoes of these hostages,

the amount of stress that
they must have been under.

Finally, the plane is fixed,

and the undercover producers can leave.

Even though they're on the airplane,

they're still the concern that
somebody might come on

at the last moment, right before they

close the cabin door, and
put us in front of a firing squad.

And eventually, the pilot comes on

and makes the announcement
that we have left Iranian airspace.

And it's only then that
they know that they are safe.

And so they all order drinks.

And that must have
been the best tasting beer

that any of them ever had.

The escape of the hostages
is greeted in the United States

with euphoria.

No one outside the CIA knows the truth.

The official story is that
the Canadian government

got these six escapees out of Iran

and then turned them back
over to the United States.

And the U.S. government and the CIA

were happy to let that story
stand because they didn't want

to jeopardize the lives of the people

who were still being held in captivity.

Tony and jonna are married shortly after

he retires from the CIA in 1991.

Then, in 1997, the
incredible story comes out,

leaked by the CIA themselves.

When the CIA turned
50, Tony was directed

to tell the story to "the New York times."

He became the argo guy.

It changed our lives.

In 2012, Hollywood makes a real movie

based on the fake movie.

Inevitably, it's called "argo."

Tony Mendez is played by Ben Affleck.

And when the film wins
an Oscar, he's there.

Tony Mendez made a
decision to go deep cover.

Not everyone gets to choose.

In 1939, just before the U.S.
joins the second world war,

one man is told, spy
for us or your family dies.

A German American
named William sebold

lands in Cologne to visit his mom.

He's grown up in Germany, but
emigrated to the United States

in 1922 and became
an aviation engineer.

On his trip back to Germany,
he's stopped by the gestapo

and offered a deal that he can't refuse

become a spy for the Nazis
or his family will be in danger.

They tell him that unless
he agrees to work with them,

they can't guarantee the
safety of his poor mother,

still living in Germany.

Mr. Sebold doesn't really have a choice.

He accepts this position
that's been forced upon him.

In Germany, sebold
undergoes espionage training.

The Nazis are satisfied
and assign him a job

work to advance Germany's
war effort by joining a spy ring

operating in New York City.

While sebold was born in Germany,

he is now a naturalized U.S. citizen,

which makes him the
perfect recruit for the Nazis.

His mission is to gather intel
on U.S. military preparations

and feed it back to
Germany via shortwave radio.

But before he leaves, sebold
goes to the U.S. consulate.

He manages to inform
officials of the predicament

that he finds himself in.

The American government
can work with that.

They inform Mr. Sebold,
who has no interest

in being a spy to begin with,

that he will now be a double agent.

This was supposed to be
a simple trip home to see

his mother, and instead,

he ends up being swept
into the complicated world

of international espionage.

Just before the U.S. joins world war ii,

William sebold is coerced
to join a Nazi spy ring

in New York City, run by a
German named Fritz Duquesne.

What the Nazis don't know is that sebold

is really a U.S. double agent.

Sebold's now going to work
with the FBI, who set him up

with an office in midtown, New York,

that has all the works to make
sure he can record and capture

his meetings with the
Duquesne spy ring.

We're talking secret microphones,

two-way mirrors, the works.

All of this is getting
captured by this amateur,

unintentional double agent.

They have motion-picture
film footage of these subjects

shot through a two-way mirror.

And it's all names, dates,

even the material that they collected.

This is one of the best
sting operations in history.

The footage reveals the spy ring's secret.

The goal of these several dozen men

is to commit acts of sabotage, to disrupt

the U.S. war machine before
it can even get off the ground.

The FBI runs sebold
for as long as they dare.

But he's close to
cracking under pressure.

So they swoop in.

In June of 1941, the FBI arrests,

essentially, the entire ring,

over 30 of these Nazi sleeper agents.

The trial begins in September of 1941

and makes headlines everywhere.

The photos and conversations
captured in sebold's office

become the overwhelming evidence

to bust up one of the most
important German spy rings

on the Eve of the U.S.
entry to world war ii.

33 Nazi agents are
convicted and sentenced

to a total of 300 years in prison.

But the news coverage doesn't just

expose the Duquesne spy ring.

It also reveals William sebold's role.

As soon as the trial is
over, sebold disappears.

He's whisked away
into witness protection.

But the Nazis in Germany want
their revenge for the betrayal.

So sebold ends up
living in hiding and in fear

for the rest of his life.

Sebold risked his life to
protect American interests.

But thanks to technology
invented by a Swedish refugee

in 1940, U.S. spymasters
find a safer way

to learn the enemy's secrets.

It's 1940.

World war ii is just seizing Europe.

And Boris hagelin, a
Swedish-descent Russian,

is looking to get out of dodge.

He wants to make his way to
the United States as a refugee.

But with him, he's bringing
a new invention of his.

It's an encryption device,

a tool that can be
used to code a message

and deliver it secretly.

And given the war
that's just breaking out,

it could have huge
ramifications for the years ahead.

It's called the m-209.

It uses coding wheels
to scramble the content

of a message, which is then
transmitted by morse code

to a recipient with their own m-209,

who can then rearrange
the text on their end.

It's light, it's easy to carry,

and better yet, it doesn't
require any electricity.

The highest ranks of the
American military recognized

that there's a new potential

for the m-209 encryption device.

And so they pump out
hundreds of thousands

of new examples of them.

Hagelin's encryption device is, of course,

crucial during world war ii.

But he continues to see
success, even after the war.

His company, crypto ag,
creates encryption devices

that are sold to nations
all around the globe.

Hagelin is selling to nations
friendly to the United States

and nations that aren't
so friendly to the U.S.

At first, the CIA is unsure about hagelin's

commercial arrangements.

But soon they see opportunity.

In 1951, Boris hagelin strikes a deal

with U.S. intelligence, where he will

only sell his most advanced
machines to friendly nations.

And america's adversaries
will get older, weaker machines

that the U.S. can easily break.

It's a system that works brilliantly

until hagelin decides to sell the company.

The CIA cannot let its asset
fall into the wrong hands.

The CIA then recognizes an opportunity

to purchase crypto ag and operate it

under covert circumstances.

The CIA ultimately realized, like, hey,

if we buy the company and then

we own the means of
production of this device,

we can spy on everybody.

It's one of the most closely-guarded

secrets of the cold war.

And it pays huge dividends.

The crypto machine allows
the U.S. to decode crucial intel.

In 1979, during the
Iranian hostage crisis,

president Jimmy Carter monitors all of

the coded conversation
between the mullahs

as they discuss negotiations.

Even the Vatican gets involved
and buys crypto devices.

And in 1988, their communications

prove crucial in the American
manhunt for Panamanian leader

Manuel Antonio noriega.

But one incident threatens
to expose the CIA's secret.

In 1986, there is a bombing in Berlin.

It's a terrible event.

And it kills an American serviceman.

President Ronald Reagan, in
announcing retaliatory strikes,

says that he has evidence that is direct

it is precise.

It is irrefutable.

Libya and their ally,
Iran, can't figure out

how Reagan knows the plans.

Their communications
must have been hacked.

Suspicion falls onto crypto ag.

The Iranians arrest one
of crypto ag's salesmen

because they believe that
crypto ag is leaking the codes.

He's only freed after nine months,

when crypto ag pays a
million dollars in ransom.

U.S. officials continue to deny

any involvement with crypto ag.

Rumors persist, but
no concrete evidence

emerges that there's anything
suspicious about crypto ag's

relationship with the west.

Then, in 2020, a
"Washington post" reporter

obtains a leaked CIA
document and discovers

the CIA's 70-year-long hack.

What this report exposes
is that the CIA, essentially,

has had a back door to all the
crypto machines for decades,

and they've been reading the messages

from both their enemies
and their friends.

The CIA itself calls this
"the coup of the century."

This is winning the
world series of spying.

They got foreign governments
to pay good money

for the privilege of having their most

secret communications read.

And crypto ag continues
operating until 2018,

when the CIA sells off the
company, and it's liquidated.

In 1985, U.S. spy
agencies face a problem.

One by one, their deep-cover
assets in the Soviet union

are being unmasked.

Is there a mole in the ranks?

In 1985, FBI receives a disturbing report

that two of their informants
in the Soviet embassy

in Washington were actually recalled

back to Moscow, where they were
arrested and suddenly executed.

It turns out that the problem
is not just isolated to FBI.

CIA is also reporting the loss
of highly-placed Soviet assets

from within Moscow.

And they don't know why.

Creating informants
like these takes years.

You gain their trust, and
you promise them protection.

So then to lose them is a really crushing

and unsettling blow.

With FBI losing Soviet
informants and CIA losing

Soviet assets, the two organizations

realized that they may
have a shared problem.

In December 1990, america loses

yet another asset inside the kgb.

A mole is clearly at work.

The CIA and FBI joined
forces to root out the traitor.

The two organizations have to compare

Soviet operations at FBI
against Soviet operations

at CIA.

And they have to compare
those operations against assets

and those assets against handlers

and those handlers against leaders.

And this is a huge process.

Every minute that they
take is one more minute

that they risk losing another
asset from either FBI or CIA.

The whole process takes four months

and the review of
thousands of documents.

And there was this one name that

appeared on multiple lists.

And that was aldrich ames.

It's astounding that
ames could be the mole.

He's been in the CIA for decades.

He's had a prestigious career,
steeped in positions of trust.

He's ascended all the
way to the rank of chief

of Soviet counterintelligence.

As CIA and FBI look
closer at aldrich ames,

they start to see some irregularities

that are very suspicious.

He makes $70,000 a year,

and yet he was able to buy
a half-million dollar house

in cash.

He's also driving a brand new Jaguar

and coming to work in finely-tailored

Italian clothing.

But suspicion isn't evidence.

They need proof.

Time to ramp things up.

They actually wiretap his phone at home.

And they find out that he's actually

planning a trip to Caracas, Venezuela,

to meet with a Russian handler.

FBI actually got his trash can.

And they found a note.

He was going to meet
with his handlers in Bogota.

They have the evidence they need.

And the FBI moves in.

Back here.

Ok, right here, right down here, please.

Sir?

- Mr. Ames?
- Back up.

Back up.

Ames is arrested on
February 21 of 1994.

And he's charged with
espionage for having

spied on behalf of the ussr.

The FBI released details of
the case against aldrich ames,

revealing his treachery
and its fatal consequences.

Pleads guilty to all
charges, is sentenced to life,

and has zero possibility of parole.

The public is gripped as
the devastating story unfolds.

Why did ames risk so much?

Was it political conviction
or misplaced ideals?

The answer is none of the above.

The man is reported
to have made between

$2.7 and $4.2 million
working with the Soviets.

I have spent my career chasing down

villains like aldrich ames.

And it's such a high-stakes environment,

because every day you don't find them,

they do that much more damage.

It's estimated that ames burned over

a hundred covert operations.

He blew the cover on over 30 operatives,

some of whom were
executed as a result.

He's a traitor who allowed people to die

so that he could get wealthy.

Aldrich ames always will
be the most hated villain

in CIA history, and he's still in jail

for the rest of his life.

In world war ii, america's struggle

to uncover Nazi secrets
leads to the creation

of two new spy agencies.

The boss of one of them
will do anything to win,

including making deals
with gangsters, or worse.

Pearl harbor shocks the United States

and makes people
realize that we have a really

profound capabilities gap.

We should have been able to anticipate

this surprise attack, but we didn't.

So the U.S. is now at war.

But privately, the government realizes

that to even stand a chance of victory,

they need to seriously up their spy game.

So the government sets up

the office of strategic services,

a.k.a. The oss, under the leadership

of someone named wild bill Donovan.

Now, a lot of people in the military

view bill Donovan with suspicion at best

and contempt at worst.

He's a former corporate
lawyer and a failed politician.

And he left the army after world war I

and is widely seen as unqualified.

To make matters worse, he's
viewed as a publicity seeker,

which is everything that a
secret intelligence leader

should not be.

The military want their own agency,

headed up by their own man.

In 1942, they create the pond.

The idea behind the pond is that it's

more competent, more secure,

and more secret than the wartime oss.

It will report directly to its supporters,

high up in the military.

And it'll operate without restraint.

It's so secret, in fact, that the oss,

the very organization
that will evolve into the CIA,

doesn't know that it exists.

But this new agency needs a leader,

and not just any leader,
but someone prepared to do

anything to get the job done.

Military leaders turned to John grombach

to lead the pond.

Grombach is a olympian.

He's a boxer. He's an army captain.

But above all, grombach
is a fierce patriot.

He's ready to do whatever it takes

to give america the upper hand.

Grombach hates the oss.

In fact, he was a previous
employee of Donovan.

And their relationship did not end well.

So now, grombach will stop at nothing

to outdo his oss rival.

And in 1942, the top-secret
pond becomes active.

The pond is intended to
collect secret intelligence

via a global network of
deep undercover informants

who might not be willing
to deal with the oss.

These could be international
companies, societies,

religious organizations, and well-placed,

high-profile individuals.

A true underground
organization like the pond

doesn't care who it deals with.

It just gets the job done.

One of John grombach's
early plots in the war

was working with the Italian mafia.

Grombach approached
lucky Luciano in prison

and pitched him on
the idea that perhaps,

he could have some
of his mafia associates

assassinate Mussolini,

and in exchange,
Luciano would be pardoned

and released from prison.

The idea dies, rather than Mussolini.

The pond's focus shifts
to two new priorities,

gathering vital data on Nazi armaments

and German spy
networks in allied countries.

So first, they need to recruit someone

that's already on the inside.

In the early 1940s, grombach
finds a French doctor

working in Nazi-occupied France.

His name is Marcel petiot,

and among his patients are Nazi officials.

He's able to glean all
sorts of vital information,

the location of missile bases,

Nazi spies operating in the U.S..

Where are they? What are they up to?

The sort of information that
can really help swing the war.

Ultimately, it all goes back to grombach.

Doctor petiot is a mine
of Nazi information.

But he has his own dark secrets.

He's happy to be an
informant for the pond.

And yet, he's also a literal serial killer.

A very compromising figure to work with,

and yet, the pond feels that
the ends justify the means.

But once the war is over,
the doctor is arrested.

He's convicted of 26 murders.

And he pays for his crime
in the most French of ways.

He's whisked off to the guillotine.

After the war is won, the pond loses

its clear purpose and
is shut down in 1955.

Its existence is never
officially acknowledged.

Then, in 1982, a
remarkable series of events

exposes its dubious history.

Toward the end of his
life, John grombach gives

his dossiers from the
pond to a private library.

So they hand those over to the CIA.

These papers, they
then stay with the CIA

for about another decade, at which point,

the CIA begins to declassify them.

And that is when we
start to become aware

that the pond ever even existed.

And to this day, much
of what the pond did

is shrouded in secrecy,

especially since the
CIA are still withholding

thousands of grombach's papers.

In 2001, notorious biker
gang, the hell's angels,

are deeply involved in criminal activity,

and willing to do anything to protect

their profits, even murder.

There's only one way to stop the group.

Go deep undercover.

In October 2001, hell's angels bikers

were responsible for the
death of a mother of six

in mesa, Arizona.

In the following year, they
were involved in a shootout

at a casino in Nevada
that produced three killed.

So these are dangerous criminals.

In order to really take down

a group like the hell's angels,

you have to have evidence, right?

You have to have a lot of it.

And the best way to do
that is from the inside.

But that is pretty close to impossible.

And if they find out that you
are not who you say you are,

you will be tortured
and you will be killed.

In 2002, a nomad biker gang in Tijuana,

called the solo Angeles,

applies to join the Arizona hell's angels.

A nomad biker gang is
unique because these

are gangs that are not
tied to any specific territory.

They're kind of on their own

and can apply to join larger chapters.

The solo Angeles are
headed up by a gun runner

and debt collector named jaybird Davis.

About a year after being introduced

to the hell's angels,
jaybird is invited to roll

with the gang to Las Vegas,
where they have to Rumble

with another biker gang
called the bandidos.

The leader of the hell's angels tells Jay

to expect blood and to expect violence.

So this is the first opportunity

that jaybird has to prove
himself to the hell's angels.

This is far from easy for jaybird.

He's no criminal and no killer.

In fact, he's a government agent.

He's been undercover
with the federal bureau

of alcohol, tobacco,
and firearms for 15 years.

And he's never been
involved in anything like this.

Jay is at the crossroads
during this journey to Vegas.

He runs the risk of
having to kill someone,

or this entire gang finding out who he is.

He could blow his cover
and cost himself his life,

all in one trip to Las Vegas.

He actually finds a point in time where

he can pull over and use his phone

and let the atf know what the plan is

so that the atf can
round up the bandidos.

As a result of all of
this, the hell's angels

arrive in Vegas fully expecting
this Rumble with the bandidos.

And there's no bandidos there.

This has been a success for him.

He's been able to maintain his cover

without having to kill anyone.

In Vegas, Jay's quick thinking saves him,

but it's not over yet.

There's a lot of rumors going around.

And the hell's angels is starting

to really question who Jay is.

Jay has made incredible progress

to gain the trust of the hell's angels,

but he's still not being
accepted as an insider.

So he has to do something significant.

- Hey, how are you?
- Good, good.

To earn the respect of the hell's angels,

Jay presents a photo.

It's a photo of a dead biker
with his brains blown out.

And that biker is wearing the colors

of the mongols, the arch
rival to the hell's angels.

And Jay claims to
have been the one who

murdered this biker in
order to earn his right

into the hell's angels.

But Jay does not really
have blood on his hands,

at least not human blood.

This picture is a staged picture.

We're creating the illusion
that the victim of our hit

was hit over the head with
a baseball bat with his hands

behind his back, shots to the head.

This is actually a local
police officer dressed up

in the clothing, with pig
organs and fake blood,

to make it seem that he had been killed.

The photograph of the fake dead biker

gives him street credibility.

That brings him into their inner circle.

And that gives him
access to what he needs,

so that the government can build

an airtight case against them.

The atf bureau calls a halt
to the operation in 2003.

But the final reckoning
does not go to plan.

Jay's work against the hell's angels

led to one of the largest take downs ever

by the bureau of alcohol,
tobacco, and firearms.

They collected a hundred
thousand phone calls,

800 hours of bugged conversation,

8,500 incriminating documents.

But the prosecution's
case suffers over worries

that presenting all the evidence

could jeopardize other atf investigations.

Some of those members
plead to lesser charges,

which resulted in jail time.

But other charges were
dismissed altogether,

which put those members
back on the street with the

hell's angels, with an opportunity to look

for the very same
person who had put them

in court in the first place.

Jay survived his time in the gang.

But now, both he and
his family are in danger.

After the trial, dobyns and his family

were given new identities.

But then the atf revoked
that, five years later.

So he lives in the open.

There have been two
attempts against his life.

And to this day, he lives in fear.

One of the most feared
and respected spy

agencies operating
today is Israel's Mossad.

It's known for taking on daring missions,

including one that took
place in Sudan in the 1980s.

As a result of the Ethiopian civil war

and the famine that was
produced as a consequence

of it, Ethiopian Jews by the thousands

fled Ethiopia into Sudan.

Some 600,000 Ethiopian
refugees flee to Sudan,

including at least 16,000 Jews.

Sudan is still a third-world country.

So the refugee camps,
they've got disease.

They're overcrowded.

The Israelis believe that
the Ethiopian Jews were

actually one of the lost tribes of Israel

that were exiled from the holy
land thousands of years before,

and were now ripe
to return back to Israel

and reconnect with their people.

But Sudan is an islamist country

and hostile to judaism.

So the problem for the
Ethiopian Jewish refugees

is that in Sudan, they're not safe.

They are actively being hunted

and they are a target for killing.

So Israel has to find a way to exfiltrate

their Jews out of the
refugee camps in Sudan

and smuggle them to Israel.

The Sudanese government won't help.

Time for Mossad to come up with a plan.

Mossad identifies an officer, Dani limor,

to go to Sudan, to try to find a way

to bring these Ethiopian
Jews back to Israel.

Well, he knew from the start
that he needed something

on the sea because these
evacuations would have

to start on the coastline.

The ratline would lead them
over water, directly to Israel.

So he starts shopping for a location,

when he finds the perfect cover story

in the form of this
abandoned Italian dive resort,

right on the water's edge.

It was almost a turnkey project for him

because he could move in and
occupy the existing structures,

and people would be
attracted to that resort,

and he could use it as a cover story

to evacuate Ethiopian Jews to Israel.

So he does a deal
where he's able to lease

the resort for a quarter million dollars,

using Mossad's funds.

Mossad rebuilt the resort at arous

to turn it into a functioning
vacation destination

that Europeans would want to go to

and that the Sudanese government

would not want to interfere with.

Mossad would use the
resort as a cover story

to slowly and secretly
exfiltrate Ethiopian Jews.

During the day, the plan is
for Mossad to host guests.

Then at night, they will drive

over 500 miles to collect the refugees.

A two-night truck
convoy will then take them

to the coast, where Israeli
special forces will ferry them

via zodiac dinghies to
a naval ship offshore,

bound for Israel.

The mission is highly classified.

All involved are well
aware of the mortal danger

that they face, not only to themselves,

but all the fleeing refugees.

Mossad agents are
convinced that anyone

who's uncovered
participating in the operation

could be hanged in Khartoum.

By day, arous is a luxury resort.

By night, it's a Mossad escape route.

The refugee camps that were
holding the Ethiopian Jews

were about 500 miles from the coastline.

But under cover of darkness,
the actual agents on the resort

would go to the refugee camps,

and literally wake up the Ethiopian Jews

to smuggle them by truck.

And then by night, they
take the refugees out,

and deliver them to the Israeli Navy,

who then takes them back to Israel.

The rescue resort operates
for more than two years.

A thousand refugees
escape to a new future in Israel

until political chaos in Sudan

makes it impossible
to continue the mission.

The scuba diving
tourists wake one morning

to find that the entire senior
staff have deserted them.

The mission stays secret
for more than 20 years,

until a British journalist hears rumors

that lead to Dani limor.

And limor, feeling comfortable
that enough time had passed,

reveals details about
the way that the Mossad

operated a fake dive resort.

This is why Mossad has
the reputation that it has,

because it is willing to rebuild a resort,

to smuggle Jews across
500 miles of desert,

to take them back to Israel.

The scale of this operation
is absolutely mind boggling.

Going deep undercover
brings with it terrible risks.

No surprise that the
people in the shadows

often choose to stay there.

But when secret files are opened,

they can reveal stories
of incredible ingenuity

and courage.

I'm David duchovny.

Thanks for watching
"secrets declassified."