The Cold War to Brittney Griner: a new twist in U.S.-Russia prisoner swaps

American pilot Francis Gary Powers (far right) during his 1960 trial in Moscow. Powers was shot down while flying a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union. He was jailed for nearly two years before he was freed in a swap for a Soviet spy imprisoned in the U.S. (AP)

In a darkened exhibit hall at the International Spy Museum, Executive Director Chris Costa recounts the most dramatic prisoner swap between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

In 1960, the U.S. had limited human intelligence on the ground inside the Soviet Union, and desperately wanted more information on its military capabilities.