Late celebrity chef Julia Child [1] may have brought all things culinary to the masses, but there was one secret she kept from the world: She was a spy.

Newly released personnel records reveal that Julia Child was part of an international spy ring [2] managed by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), an early version of the CIA created during World War II by President Theodore Roosevelt. Before she became a famous chef, Child helped the OSS develop shark repellent [3], an explosives coating that was critical to protecting ammunition used to sink German U-boats during the war.

Yesterday, the National Archives released a list of nearly 24,000 names [4] that were in the previously classified records. Are you surprised by this recent news? Does it change the way you perceive the nation's first celebrity chef?

Source [5]