The secret medals of a CIA spy who managed to smuggle a Soviet MiG fighter jet into the US during the Cold War have been put up for action after they were hidden in a picture frame for decades.

CIA officer Jim Fees masterminded the covert acquisition of the MiG-23MS Flogger fighter jet in September 1977 when he was the Cairo station chief.

The Russian fighter jet was loaded onto a US cargo plane in the dead of night and flown to the US after Fees negotiated the deal with President Anwar Sadat's Egyptian government.

Because of the classified nature of his role in the Cold War, his awards could not be publicly acknowledged and so Fees hid them in special picture frames in his home in Hasselt, Belgium. The medals have now been sold in Britain for £22,000.

Fees, before arriving in Cairo in 1974, had been briefed by US Air Force Chiefs about the Soviet material that they most wanted to acquire - and the MiG-23 was at the top of the list.

The fighter jet had an advanced radar and fire control system which allowed it to fire missiles at targets beyond visual range.

The US Air Force wanted to acquire the Soviet fighter jet so that they could learn the capabilities of its adversary. It would allow fighter pilots to acquire realistic combat training against the then state-of-the-art Soviet technology.

Fees, who became US President Ronald Reagan's personal terrorism adviser in later life, had hidden the medals in specially made picture frames which hung on his living room wall.

The frames, which included a picture of the Middle East alongside the medals, were sold by his daughter who lives in England.

She had no one to pass them on to so she wanted her father's achievements not to be forgotten.

The medals had been expected to sell for £3,000 but sparked a bidding war when they went under the hammer with London auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb.

They were eventually bought for £22,000 by a London collector of spy memorabilia.

To read the complete article, see:
The secret medals of Cold Warrior who smuggled a Russian MIG to America that had to be kept in secretly hinged picture frames to keep them from prying eyes(https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9274947/Secret-medals-CIA-spy-hidden-picture-frame-decades-auction.html)

i) United States of America, Distinguished Intelligence Medal, mounted in a specially-designed gatefold glazed display frame together with the Central Intelligence Agency award certificate, dated 10 June 1980 and signed by then-Director of Central Intelligence, Admiral Stansfield Turner, and Central Intelligence Agency citation, the outer cover of the frame with an original scenic, Middle Eastern lithograph by the artist David Roberts

ii) United States of America, Intelligence Medal of Merit, mounted in a specially-designed gatefold glazed display frame together with the Central Intelligence Agency award certificate, dated 21 June 1974 and signed by then-Director of Central Intelligence, William Colby, and Central Intelligence Agency citation, the outer cover of the frame with an original scenic, Middle Eastern lithograph by the artist David Roberts

iii) United States of America, Intelligence Medal of Merit, mounted in a specially-designed gatefold glazed display frame together with the Central Intelligence Agency award certificate, dated 28 August 1964 and signed by then-Director of Central Intelligence, John McCone, and Central Intelligence Agency citation, the outer cover of the frame with an original scenic, Middle Eastern lithograph by the artist David Roberts,

To read the complete lot description, see:
An outstanding and important United States of America, Central Intelligence Agency Distinguished Intelligence Medal group(https://www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/lot-archive/lot.php?lot_uid=386913)