CIA Lock Picking: Field Operative Training Manual

This manual was written by the Central Intelligence Agency as a Field Operative Training Manual. It contains beginner’s instructions and diagrams on how to pick locks as well as the names of types of tools and how to use them.

From the introduction: “In this volume we will discuss not only the fundamental theories of lock picking but proper terminology, the importance of tool design (using the right tool for the right job), the effects of tolerances, and finally the techniques most commonly used by locksmiths to successfully pick the vast majority of standard pin and wafer tumbler locks.”

The chapter in the manual are: BASIC LOCK PICKING, THE CONCEPTS BEHIND LOCK PICKING, PICKING PROCEDURE, TOOL DESIGN, MOST COMMON PICKING TECHNIQUES, and THE LOCKPICKING PROCESS.