Harm discovered that Webb competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea (good cover for a CIA officer) in the pentathlon, a five event contest. The pentathlon can be traced back to the Olympics in Ancient Greece in 708 BC, the original version of the event consisted of events that focused on the skills required by soldiers in Ancient Greece. The event started with the long jump, javelin throwing and discus throwing followed by the stadion (a 200 yard foot race) and finally wrestling.
When the Olympic Games were revived in 1896 the pentathlon was added to the games by International Olympic Committee founder Pierre de Coubertin. The modern pentathlon was a variation on the original event's military aspects and focuses on skills required by late 19th-century soldiers. The first event is shooting, competitors are tested on both precision (10 shots in 10 minutes) and rapid fire (10 shots in one minute) marksmanship; initially .22 rifles and pistols were used, for a long time a 4.5mm air pellet pistol was used, but since 2010 to comply with England's strict gun laws the IOC switched the weapon used to a laser pistol. Second event is running, specifically a 500 meter obstacle course with 20 obstacles. Third is swimming, competitors swim a distance of 50 meters and must overcome four obstacles. Fourth is fencing, a one minute duel where the goal is to be the first to land a body hit before time runs out. The fifth and final event is equestrianism, the event consists of a horse race over a 350-450 meter course with 12-15 obstacles. Each competitor is awarded a certain number of points for each event based on their performance, the winner is the person who has the highest total of points from all five events.
When the Olympic Games were revived in 1896 the pentathlon was added to the games by International Olympic Committee founder Pierre de Coubertin. The modern pentathlon was a variation on the original event's military aspects and focuses on skills required by late 19th-century soldiers. The first event is shooting, competitors are tested on both precision (10 shots in 10 minutes) and rapid fire (10 shots in one minute) marksmanship; initially .22 rifles and pistols were used, for a long time a 4.5mm air pellet pistol was used, but since 2010 to comply with England's strict gun laws the IOC switched the weapon used to a laser pistol. Second event is running, specifically a 500 meter obstacle course with 20 obstacles. Third is swimming, competitors swim a distance of 50 meters and must overcome four obstacles. Fourth is fencing, a one minute duel where the goal is to be the first to land a body hit before time runs out. The fifth and final event is equestrianism, the event consists of a horse race over a 350-450 meter course with 12-15 obstacles. Each competitor is awarded a certain number of points for each event based on their performance, the winner is the person who has the highest total of points from all five events.
A superconductor is a material that has zero electrical resistance, in most systems the amount of energy you put in does not equal the energy put out because some is lost due to friction in the conducting material. Researchers discovered that when some metals are cooled to extremely cold temperatures, close to absolute zero (-273.15 °C or -459.67 °F), they become perfect conductors of electricity, which is one of the things that make quantum processors in modern supercomputers possible. There have been attempts to find materials that act as superconductors at higher temperatures but as of 2022 a viable "room temperature superconductor" has yet to be discovered. Currently the material that has the highest superconductivity temperature is called cuprates and is able to operate at a temperature of 138 Kelvins (-138 °C or -216.4 °F).
The Venona project was a counterintelligence operation started during World War II by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service, it became part of the NSA when it was founded in 1954. The project lasted from February 1, 1943 until October 1, 1980, it was intended to decrypt messages transmitted by the Soviet Union's intelligence agencies (NKVD, KGB, GRU). At the onset of the project the Soviets were a US ally, but not a trusted one as many in the government believed the Soviets could turn on the Allies at any time. The project took on increased work and importance during the Cold War, over its 37 year duration over 3,000 messages were decrypted and uncovered major Soviet espionage operations such as the spy ring in the United Kingdom that became known as the Cambridge Five and a Soviet spy inside the Manhattan Project.
Susan Haskell, who plays Lieutenant Colonel Jordan Parker also appears on an episode of NCIS (2003) where she played the murdered Army Sargent's wife.