‘America’s Hidden Secrets’ Preview Monday On Smithsonian Channel

CIA CYBER ATTACK
Premieres Monday, April 1 at 8 p.m.

In 1982, satellites detected a massive explosion in the Siberian wilderness – the largest non-nuclear explosion in history. Decades later, new evidence reveals this may have been a CIA operation, utilizing the newly emerging field of computer viruses. Using intelligence taken from a high-level KGB defector, the United States devised a plan to salt stolen technology and information that the Soviets had pilfered under the guise of détente and diplomatic cooperation. The Siberian explosion was America’s revenge for decades of Russian espionage – the first shot in today’s cyber war.

THE GENERAL WAS A WOMAN?
Premieres Monday, April 8 at 8 p.m.

Polish-born General Casimir Pulaski was George Washington’s most charismatic cavalry commander. Although virtually forgotten today, his tactical brilliance helped propel the American Revolution toward victory and his courage and skill in battle may have saved Washington’s life at the Battle of Brandywine. But when his body was recently disinterred, forensic anthropologists found the skeleton of a woman. Was Pulaski secretly a woman, and does this explain the general’s strange behavior and mysterious background as a Revolutionary war hero? New DNA tests and cutting-edge forensic tests on the General’s bones reveal a startling account of gender and power at the very start of America’s story.

MRS. BENEDICT ARNOLD
Premieres Monday, April 15 at 8 p.m.

Benedict Arnold has been labeled as America’s worst traitor for nearly 250 years, but why did the patriot war hero turn to treason? New discoveries reveal that the spymaster behind Benedict Arnold may have been his teenage wife, Peggy, due in part to her close relationship with a British spy chief. Experts study papers that contain a never-before-seen record of correspondence that explicitly name Peggy as a central player in her husband’s treacherous plot. Did beautiful, young Peggy Arnold turn Benedict Arnold into a traitor?