If You're Listening The FBI dug a tunnel under the Russian embassy
May 11, 2026
Cara Jensen‑McKinnon, a supervising producer and investigative storyteller, walks through Operation Monopoly. She recounts the FBI's covert surveillance house, the audacious tunnel dug beneath the embassy, the engineering hurdles, and the counterintelligence betrayals that unraveled the plan. Short, tense stories about secrecy, double agents, and a high-stakes intelligence failure.
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Undercover House Across From The Soviet Embassy
- The FBI bought a house at 2619 Wisconsin Avenue and staged a fake domestic life to surveil the new Soviet embassy construction across the street.
- They cut down trees, hid sawdust, and used agents posing as construction workers to secretly watch the site day and night.
Operation Monopoly Tunnel Plan
- The FBI conceived Operation Monopoly to tunnel roughly 150–200 metres under Washington to bug the Soviet embassy before it was occupied.
- They mixed real construction crews with FBI agents and disguised spoil by dumping it onto embassy dirt piles at night.
Tunnel Failed From Practical Problems
- The tunnel project faced major technical and cost problems: water seepage, existing White House tunnels to avoid, and inexperienced crews.
- It consumed millions and years without delivering usable intelligence from the embassy.