“Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me” for Spies

Inspired by the NPR program, “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me” and Discovery’s New York Exhibit on Spying, here are three questions on animals, people, and objects. Can you guess which one is true? Answers at the end of the post.

Animals:

1. South Korea trained pigeons to fly X numbers of miles, then poop. They had been fed delicacies with very small listening devices which sent information back from targets in North Korea to the South for two weeks.

2. The CIA created a robotic catfish to collect water samples near suspected nuclear facilities and bring them back for testing.

3. Russia used snakes to deploy wires in embassies and hotels frequented by foreigners. Unfortunately, the snakes sometimes sought out warm places like beds so this animal program was discontinued.

People:

1. Russia employed a spy in the US who joined SCIP and attended several chapter meetings as well as an annual conference. He called himself Don Heathfield, a name of a deceased Canadian man. When asked what his business did, he responded with it searched for relevant information online, thus hiding in plain sight as all CI vendors search for relevant information online.

2. South Korea was concerned that one or more of a group of refugees from North Korea were actually spies. But how to tell the spy from legitimate escapees? South Korea found the spies weighed 10 pounds on average than the refugees. Most North Koreans have a marginal diet so the privileged people, including spies, weight more.

3. El-Quada is recruiting elderly men and women to be suicide bombers on planes. They believe that they can insert bombs in the canes and other assistive devices used by older infirm people which will pass through security undetected and be able to be detonated on-board.

Objects:

1. US Embassies around the world prepared traditional Thanksgiving Dinners complete with orange silverware, napkins with embroidered images of the Pilgrims, and napkin rings in the shape of big, fat turkeys to present to foreign dignitaries. Listening devices were hidden in the turkey napkin rings. The CIA figured that most of the enemies of the US did not bother with napkins which would—including the bugged rings—sit around for a while and transmit information.

2. South Korea has been sending small items such as leaflets, pens, bibles, warm socks, and money to North Korea via balloons. But the latest plan by activists received such a vehement threat of armed retaliation by North Korea that the South Korean government closed off the areas close to the border where the wind was right.

3. Russia distributed chocolate covered candy in Sudan, saying it was from the US, and then other agents claimed it contained live small pox viruses. But the chocolate melted in the heat and was thrown away.

Answers:

Animals: 2 is true. An example of the catfish is in Discovery’s New York Exhibit on Spying.

People: 1 is true. I met him myself.

Objects: 2 is true. Too bad about the closure by South Korea.