[McGruff]

Seems cutting the cables would be a self defeating move. Now tapping into them would be better scenario. But I guess that's been happening for a long time.

[Alberta's Child]

Check out the history of a top-secret U.S. military operation called "Operation Ivy Bells."

The whole thing was eventually compromised by an NSA employee named Robert Pelton who sold out to the Soviets in the early 1980s.

[Chode]

tapping fiber optic cable isn't like tapping wire,,,

[RinaseaofDs]

Tough to tap into a fiber optic cable. Very tough. There is no skin effect going on with fiber. The signal is actually passing through the fiber medium, not over it like with copper.

That’s the way we did it to the Soviets. We inductively coupled onto their main comms line and listened to everything they were saying. Not sure which spy gave that up, but it was a devastating loss.