and since I am on a environmental kick (cause you know I am a
kind of guy), I want all the liberals to
Posted on 01/10/2007 10:13:56 PM PST by Nachum
Can the coins jingling in your pocket trace your movements? The Defense Department is warning its American contractor employees about a new espionage threat seemingly straight from Hollywood: It discovered Canadian coins with tiny radio frequency transmitters hidden inside.
In a U.S. government report, it said the mysterious coins were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006 as the contractors traveled through Canada.
The U.S. report doesn't suggest who might be tracking American defense contractors or why. It also doesn't describe how the Pentagon discovered the ruse, how the transmitters might function or even which Canadian currency contained them.
Further details were secret, according to the U.S. Defense Security Service, which issued the warning to the Pentagon's classified contractors. The government insists the incidents happened, and the risk was genuine.
"What's in the report is true," said Martha Deutscher, a spokeswoman for the security service. "This is indeed a sanitized version, which leaves a lot of questions."
Top suspects, according to intelligence and technology experts: China, Russia or even France - all said to actively run espionage operations inside Canada with enough sophistication to produce such technology.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service said it knew nothing about the coins.
"This issue has just come to our attention," CSIS spokeswoman Barbara Campion said. "At this point, we don't know of any basis for these claims." She said Canada's intelligence service works closely with its U.S. counterparts and will seek more information if necessary.
Experts were astonished about the disclosure and the novel tracking technique, but they quickly rejected suggestions Canada's government might be spying on American contractors. The intelligence services of the two countries are extraordinarily close and routinely share sensitive secrets.
"It would seem unthinkable," said David Harris, former chief of strategic planning for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. "I wouldn't expect to see any offensive operation against the Americans."
Harris said likely candidates include foreign spies who targeted Americans abroad or businesses engaged in corporate espionage. "There are certainly a lot of mysterious aspects to this," Harris said.
Experts said such tiny transmitters would almost certainly have limited range to communicate with sensors no more than a few feet away, such as ones hidden inside a doorway.
"I'm not aware of any (transmitter) that would fit inside a coin and broadcast for kilometers," said Katherine Albrecht, an activist who believes such technology carries serious privacy risks. "Whoever did this obviously has access to some pretty advanced technology."
Experts said hiding tracking technology inside coins is fraught with risks because the spy's target might inadvertently give away the coin or spend it buying coffee or a newspaper.
They agreed, however, that a coin with a hidden tracking device might not arose suspicion if it were discovered loose in a pocket or briefcase.
"It wouldn't seem to be the best place to put something like that; you'd want to put it in something that wouldn't be left behind or spent," said Jeff Richelson, a researcher and author of books about the CIA and its gadgets. "It doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense."
Canada's physically largest coins include its $2 "Toonie," which is more than 1-inch across and thick enough to hide a tiny transmitter. The CIA has acknowledged its own spies have used hollow, U.S. silver-dollar coins to hide messages and film.
The government's 29-page report was filled with other espionage warnings. It described unrelated hacker attacks, eavesdropping with miniature pen recorders and the case of a female foreign spy who seduced her American boyfriend to steal his computer passwords.
In another case, a film processing company called the FBI after it developed pictures for a contractor that contained classified images of U.S. satellites and their blueprints. The photo was taken from an adjoining office window.
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On the Web:
CIA hollow coin:
https://http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/artifacts/dollar.htm
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OMG..I read this story earlier, but the stupidity of it still seems hard to swallow! Do the Canadians not know how we toss our change about?
Wonder what happens when the 'target' deposits his 'coin' into a roadside truck stop prophylactic machine? LOL
Wait a minute---a spy takes his film to Walgreens for processing?
"Wait a minute---a spy takes his film to Walgreens for processing?"
LOL...only in Canada and other universal health care countries! They can no longer afford in house processing!!
kind of guy), I want all the liberals to
Would walgreens employees be able to spot the problem in the first place, much less bother to report it? It was probably a little more exclusive grade of film processor than walgreens.
Maybe they should take a closer look at the coffee shop or newspaper stand nearest the defense establishment or cafeteria within it. I would think that if you're using coins you would arrange to be the last place a target shops befoe entering such a facility so that your coin would do its work before he goes elsewhere to spend money. Pick a microbiologist and pass him the change, etc, find out where the lab is. I suppose with these you could try to locate a specific lab within a defense complex or trigger some other device or at minumum alert someone who's busy snooping in offices within that an individual so tagged is about to return to his office and it might be wise to leave. Weird.
They were probrably given these at a hotel and the 'watchers' just wanted to know when they left the building...
(blowing sigh...)
ping
Can't say I'm surprised
check your pockets Bruck! ;)
Thanks, yes, I read about that. I'd be interested to see how it works.
Not if the spy's "Target" is in on it.
Agreed.
You know, I'd seen this headline and passed it by because I couldn't imagine that the technology existed to actually do this. Just out of curiousity, I'd love to know if the coins were illegally manufactured to hold the transmitters or if legal tender is actually somehow hollowed out and the transmitter placed inside and then closed back up.
This is a bizarre story in many respects and I'm sending it on to a few e-mail friends who love stuff like this. Thanks for the ping.
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