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CIA & KGB Gadgets On Display 136

Posted by Hemos from the looking-a-tthe-gear dept.
ricst writes "Been postponing that visit to the Reagan Presidential library? Well, delay no more, because they are hosting an exhibit of some formerly secret CIA and KGB gadgets. reports, "For the first time, the public is getting a large scale view of the CIA's and KGB's real-life James Bond gadgets, from a replica of the Russians' deadly poison-dart umbrella to some of the Amercians' most ingeniously concealed cameras." The last 200 years of history of technology is reflected in these spy devices that go back to the Revolutionary War."
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CIA & KGB Gadgets On Display More

CIA & KGB Gadgets On Display

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  • MGB Gadgets? (Score:4, Funny)

    by R2.0 ( 532027 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @09:55AM (#3026146)
    Like the one-of-a-kind Lucas alternator that works?

  • CIA has thier own museum. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RobL3 ( 126711 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @09:58AM (#3026158)
    Believe it or not, the CIA has thier own museum complete with cool old spy gizmos. It's even online at:
    http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/artifacts/ [cia.gov]
  • They must be mistaken, doesn't spy on other countries...
    • The full text should read: They must be mistaken, the US doesn't spy on other countries... See now isn't it funny :)
      • The full text should read: They must be mistaken, the US doesn't spy on other countries... See now isn't it funny :)
        Or perhaps: They must be mistaken, the US doesn't spy on other countries... successfully.

        Given our recent (publicized) track record?

  • Microdot (Score:3, Funny)

    by Sarcazmo ( 555312 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:06AM (#3026186)
    The world's first microdot, a document shrunken down to a tiny point, is also on display. It dates back to 1852.

    Wow, and here I was thinking that Hoffman didn't invent LSD until 1943.
  • The question is when will the stuff that they are working on NOW be avail. for geenral use?

    Everyone knows that things like the internet, GPS and even caller ID would not have been developed without a certain amount of pushing of the technology spectre by those organizations in their race to outdo each other.

  • NSA museum (Score:3, Interesting)

    by asmithmd1 ( 239950 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:08AM (#3026203) Homepage Journal
    You might not believe it but the NSA has their own museum National Cryptologic Museum [nsa.gov] It has a real ENIGMA machine as well as the machine used to break the codes. The displays pretty much end in the 70's or 80's with a massive CRAY machine as the most modern thing they show
    • When I was there, about a year ago, they had a CM-5 in there. Significantly faster than a Cray Y-MP (for the right jobs), and looks a lot cooler...

      /August.

  • All I wanna see is the cat the cia cyborgized for remote recon mission, I

    Oh, I forgot, after all those millions, frankenkitty got squashed....

    This ought to be called the obsurdity display, How mush of these toys actually produced results ?

    What about all the mind control devices the CIA and KGB played with in the 50's and 60's ?

    WHAT ?? Theyre still using them?!?

    ......I forgot what I was going to say.....

  • Funny KGB Joke (Score:5, Funny)

    by Commienst ( 102745 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:11AM (#3026218) Homepage
    My Russian freind told me this joke one day.

    Place and time: somewhere in the Soviet Union in 1930s.

    The phone rings at KGB headquarters.
    "Hello?"
    "Hello, is this KGB?"
    "Yes. What do you want?"
    "I'm calling to report my neighbor Yankel Rabinovitz as an enemy of the
    State. He is hiding undeclared diamonds in his firewood."
    "This will be noted."

    Next day, the KGB goons come over to Rabinovitz's house. They search the shed where the firewood is kept, break every piece of wood, find no diamonds, swear at Yankel Rabinovitz and leave.

    The phone rings at Rabinovitz's house.
    "Hello, Yankel! Did the KGB come?"
    "Yes."
    "Did they chop your firewood?"
    "Yes, they did."
    "Okay, now its your turn to call. I need my vegetable patch plowed."
    • I miss the old Russian sub crew commercials, where they show up at an appliance store. (These were run in the 80's IIRC and are still a source of humor among my friends and I)

      Sub Captain: Hello, you! We require jumbo savings!

      Salesman well come right this way...

      a bunch of stuff shown, the Russian crew is back on the sub

      Sub Captain: Plotchnik, where Plotchnik?

      cut back to the store where a russian sailor is attempting to kiss the hand of a woman

      Plotchnik: Fifty watts per channel, babycakes.

      Woman yanks her hand away and leaves

    • As a CIA employee, whenever I hear that the Agency is programming people's minds, I have to laugh. I don't want to laugh when I hear this, but I have to because that's the way the CIA programmed my mind!

    • Another Secret Services Joke (Score:4, Funny)

      by Commienst ( 102745 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @11:08AM (#3026477) Homepage
      Apropos recent events, in case you're wondering what will become of all the unemployed KGB men in the event of a change of regime in the USSR, I was talking to a German friend recently and asked him what had become of all the former Stasi secret policement of East Germany.

      "Oh they're all taxi drivers now," he said, "it was the obvious solution."

      "Why is that?" I asked.

      "Simple," he said, "you just give them your name--and they know where you live."
    • A group of serving secret agents claimed Tuesday their superiors had ordered them to assassinate Boris Berezovsky (pictured), the controversial billionaire with close ties to Kremlin chief Boris Yeltsin and his family...Political commentator Andrei Piontkovsky said the furore was ironic given charges by Yeltsin's former chief bodyguard, Aleksander
      Korzhakov, that Berezovsky had asked him to have rival business baron Vladimir Gusinsky eliminated in 1994.--Reuters, Nov. 19
      (Boris Berezovsky is pacing back and forth in front of Boris Yeltsin's desk in the Kremlin. Yeltsin is busy writing)

      Berezovsky: Boris Nikolayevich, you must do something!

      Yeltsin: (without looking up) I am doing something, Boris, I'm working with documents.

      Berezovsky: (looking at paper in front of Yeltsin) You're doing a crossword puzzle!

      Yeltsin: I am TRYING to do a crossword puzzle. I'd be making much more progress if you weren't distracting me with your whining and complaining about people trying to kill you.

      Berezovsky: (outraged) People? People trying to kill me Boris Nikolayevich? It's the KGB trying to kill me! The KGB!

      Yeltsin: How can the KGB be trying to kill you when there is no KGB? There's the FSB...the "toothless shadow of a former Russian intelligence organization." Five across.

      Berezovsky: Toothless? It may be toothless but it's still armed Boris Nikolayevich - and the FSB is trying to kill me!

      Yeltsin: That's about the best guarantee of long life you could have.

      Berezovsky: That's easy for you to say, Boris Nikolayevich, but for me it is a source of constant worry!

      Yeltsin: (still concentrating on puzzle) Boris, if you found out that the mafia was trying to kill you, then I would say go ahead and worry, but the FSB? Who goes to the FSB when they want someone killed? Do you go to the FSB when you want someone killed?

      Berezovsky: No, but ...hey, what makes you think I get people killed?

      Yeltsin: Oh, I was speaking purely hypothetically, of course. So what would you do if you wanted someone killed?

      Berezovsky: (with an air of giving the question serious consideration) Well, let's see. I guess I'd send them somewhere dangerous. Like Chechnya. Or Miami.

      Yeltsin: Assuming you can't send them anywhere. Assuming you have to do the job here in Moscow. What would you do then?

      Berezovsky: Well, I might - and this is purely hypothetical of course - I might stand behind him in a crowd in Red Square and yell "So YOU'RE the one who got us into this financial mess!"

      Yeltsin: Hmm, clever, but not altogether reliable.

      Berezovsky: (warming to his theme) Or I could replace his briefcase with one of those nuclear suitcase bombs Lebed is always on about.

      Yeltsin: In which case, you'd wipe out most of the region. A bit excessive, I'd say.

      Berezovsky: Yes, I suppose - okay, how about this? I send him to the next Communist Party convention in a "Lenin Sucks" t-shirt.

      Yeltsin: Yes, that would probably do it. But you notice, you haven't once said, "I'd go to the FSB and ask them to knock him off," have you?

      Berezovsky: No.

      Yeltsin: So are you ready to admit that you've overreacted to the idea that the FSB is trying to kill you?

      Berezovsky: Well...maybe...

      Yeltsin: Good, then all's well. Give my regards to your family.

      Berezovsky: (leaving) I will. Good-bye Boris Nikolayevich.

      Yeltsin: (returning to puzzle) Four down - "one who is easily duped, a sucker." B-E-R-E-Z-O-V-S-K-Y...
    • "Knock, knock."

      "Knock, knock who?"

      "CIA."

      "CIA who?"
      "We ask the questions."
    • I forgot! KGB did not exist back then. They had the NKVD (Narkomat Vnutrennix Del).
    • Knock Knock.

      Who's there?

      Ghestapo.

      Ghestapo who?

      VEE ASK DE QUESTIONS HERE


      What did the german clock maker say to the broken clock?

      Vee have vays of making you tock

      Thank you.

  • CIA article (Score:2, Informative)

    by T-Punkt ( 90023 )
    I wanted to know how this "liberator pistol" (mentioned in the article) looks like, googled for it and found this link of an
    CIA article [chttp] with some pictures of older and/or pre-CIA stuff.
    • F*ck, I mangled the link [cia.gov], should have previewed, sorry...

    • Re:CIA article (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Rolo Tomasi ( 538414 )
      The Division's products ranged from silenced pistols to limpet mines to "Aunt Jemima," an allegedly explosive powder packaged in Chinese flour bags.
      I've read about this stuff before once. From what I've heard you could even bake pancakes out of it and eat them! Anyone have more on this?
  • Also on display is a pair of Diana Rigg's leather pants from the hit British TV spy series "The Avengers."

  • "Liberator" pistols... (Score:3, Informative)

    by mttlg ( 174815 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:19AM (#3026253) Homepage Journal
    From the article:

    From the early days of the CIA's predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, there are tire spikes, bombs and "liberator pistols." The latter were mass produced for $1.72 each and dropped to resistance fighters during World War II.

    Somehow, I don't think I'd want to brag about poorly designed, cheap guns that were dropped in large quantities to anyone claiming to be a "resistance fighter," which many times turned out to be a German intelligence operative. Or maybe they were hoping that the Germans would try to use them...

    But one device CIA officials say they never had was a version of the KGB's deadly umbrella that was used by an unknown assailant to kill Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in London in 1978. A model of the umbrella is part of the display.

    Death lasers, early death from too much sleep, Unix configurations, deadly umbrellas... I realize that Valentines day was just a few days ago, and a certain someone is entering into a particularly serious contract, but there's really only so much death you need on the front page...

    • Re:"Liberator" pistols... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Oggust ( 526634 ) <d3august@dtek.chalmers.se> on Monday February 18, 2002 @11:34AM (#3026575) Homepage
      Somehow, I don't think I'd want to brag about poorly designed, cheap guns that were dropped in large quantities to anyone claiming to be a "resistance fighter," which many times turned out to be a German intelligence operative. Or maybe they were hoping that the Germans would try to use them...

      The germans already had (way better) guns. This was someting like a single-shot, non-reloadable pretty concealable .45. The idea was for the wannabe resistance fighter to kill a german soldier with it and take his gun. From what I understand the plan worked fairly well.

      /August.

      • Like most dictators Hitler was very pro gun control. Outside the army, guns were very scarce in Nazi controlled territory, and simply carrying one was an incredible risk.
      • Right, they weren't designed to be fighting machines, but if the German army came to interrogate resistance fighters, they never knew who was armed or if the firefights would just errupt. The compact design of the Liberator was essential for the citizen cum guerrilla. Plus, a .45 at close range is usually effective enough. Even the guns of the day (like the 1911 .45) had a 6+1 capacity, so the limited firepower of the Liberator was not detrimental to its firepower.

        Facts about the Liberator:

        .45 caliber round
        single-shot, breech loading pistol
        hollow handle stored extra ammunition
        front sight only - designed strictly for close range, gun to head combat

        One more thing: Who would care how cheaply the gun was made, or how much capacity it had, or how effective it was at close range if the thing was pointed at your head and your military career was about to end?

        All in all, it was a successful program.

  • Goverment Intelligence = oxymoron (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Alien54 ( 180860 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:20AM (#3026254) Journal
    Spy gadgets from the other side are on display as well, including a replica of a large wooden seal of the United States that was a gift from the Soviet Union to Moscow's U.S. Embassy in 1945. It hung over the ambassador's desk for seven years before the listening device was discovered.

    And These are people who were suspicious of the Russians to begin with? jeeze.....

    • The obvious irony... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Bodrius ( 191265 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:29AM (#3026286) Homepage
      I know this is stating the obvious, but:

      A large wooden gift from your rivals?

      And you accept it at face value and bring it into your fortress?

      And it just happens to have a secret compartment with an electronic spy hidden in it?

      Hello?

      Weren't diplomats supposed to have gone to Ivy Schools where they teach all that literature in dead languages?
      • ...and here [spybusters.com] are a few pictures of that seal, along with an in depth story concerning past American blunders in the USSR...

        e.g. IIRC the embassy in the USSR (having been built by soviets, using soviet materials) was bugged *so* badly, deeply, and ingeniously that the US was forced to build several extra floors (using US labor and materials) on top of the original.

      • Re:The obvious irony... (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I've heard that decades later, the Russkys did it again, and the Amis fell for it again.

        That second time, it was a large metal seal. Of course, this time it was dutyfully searched for electronic listening devices, but none were found. The design was much more ingenious this time: the seal itself was the listening device. It would act as a giant microphone's membrane and vibrate along the sound waves. In order to listen in, the Russians would send an RF beam in its general direction, and the seal's vibrations would modulate the signal and reflect it back (remember: it was made of metal), carrying all conversations that happened near the seal.

      • Weren't diplomats supposed to have gone to Ivy Schools where they teach all that literature in dead languages?

        Yeah, unfortunately, a) the Russians unhelpfully refuse to speak Ancient Greek, and b) the Ivy League has become home to lazy, blow-dried hair idiots, the ultimate in PHBs whose only merit is being litter from the loins of previous graduates. I mean, Gore got worse grades than Bush for cryin' out loud, yet they both graduated.

        The days of Wild Bill Donovan are long behind us.

        Bah. (waving paw)
        • >>Gore got worse grades than Bush for cryin' out loud, yet they both graduated.

          Another person who swallowed YAMM(Yet Another Media Mischaracterization).

          Ask yourself, if Gore got worse grades than Bush, than how did Gore graduate cum laude and Bush did not?
        • the Ivy League has become home to lazy, blow-dried hair idiots, the ultimate in PHBs whose only merit is being litter from the loins of previous graduates.

          Hey, fuck you, buddy. Some of us (I would even say most) got here on our own merit, and are working damn hard to stay here. Maybe the business schools graduate PHB's, but you weren't talking about Wharton, were you?

          I don't appreciate getting a bunch of uninformed crap just because of where I chose to go to school.

          Respectfully yours,
          Zach Keane '03, Dartmouth College
    • ...The squeaking gets louder... an enormous twenty-foot-high wooden rabbit is wheeled out of the undergrowth into the open space in front of the castle. The ENGLISH scuttle back into the undergrowth. The rabbit has a large red bow tied round it and a rather crudely written label, which reads "Pour votres amis Francais". The CHIEF TAUNTER looks at it, narrowing his eyes. Then he turns and leaves battlements.

      CUT TO ARTHUR and COMPANY watching from the bushes. The main gate of the castle opens a little and the CHIEF TAUNTER's head sticks out, then another Froggie head, then another. They mutter to each other in French, look rather pleased, then rush out and start to pull the giant rabbit in.

      CUT BACK TO ARTHUR and COMPANY behind some bushes watching.

      ARTHUR
      Now what happens?

      BEDEVERE
      Well now, Launcelot, Galahad, and I wait until nightfall and then leap out of the rabbit and take the French by surprise, not only by surprise but totally unarmed!

      ARTHUR
      Who... Who breaks out?

      BEDEVERE
      Er... We... Launcelot, Galahad, and I... Er... leap out of the rabbit and...

      LAUNCELOT covers his eyes.

      BEDEVERE
      Look, if we were to build a large wooden badger...
    • Hmm, time for some slightly OT karma whoring...

      The bug that was found in that seal was invented by none other than Leon Theremin, inventor of the instrument of the same name.

      There's an excellent biography available about Theremin by Albert Glinsky called "Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage" - there's a review here. [popmatters.com] (No affiliate link here, just a review.)

      Theremin was quite an inventor - Glinksy's book is a good read, managing to be interesting and informative in equal measures.

      Go here [137.com] for more about Theremins, or here [bigbriar.com] to buy one.

  • micro dot? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Em Emalb ( 452530 ) <ememalb.gmail@com> on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:33AM (#3026307) Homepage Journal
    The article said the earliest microdot was made (i think) in 1854. Anyone know how this was done? Kinda light on details there.

    On a side note, where's the sharks with frickin' laser beams? They had Dr. Evil's ring, but not the sea bass? What gives?

  • Any X10's? (Score:2, Funny)

    by mccalli ( 323026 )
    Because after all, you can "stick this wireless camera anywhere!".

    Cheers,
    Ian

  • What I'd like to know from something like this is whether any tradecraft originally developed for movies, TV, etc. were later imported into industrial use. Like, maybe comrade Boris thought to make a real version when he saw Maxwell Smart's shoe.

  • No poison umbrella (Score:3, Insightful)

    by JohnBE ( 411964 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:46AM (#3026372) Homepage Journal
    Organizations like the CIA are so compartmentalized that I wouldn't expect anyone to make a definitive comment like 'CIA officials say there is no poision umbrella', probably translates to 'in my knowledge there is no poison umbrella'. For anyone, apart from the director, to say that there is no X or Y is wrong.

    Each employee probably knows his job section, the admin staff in his job section and nothing more. The canteens are seperated, the sections are seperated, even within sections the compartmentalization is such that one man can not have more knowledge than they need to complete their task.

    So my point is that their may well be no poison umbrella, but anonymous officials tend to spout the current political masters party line and know as little (or as much) about various departments as is dictated by overall security protocol. Which is good because it protects both the individual (can't cough up in interrogation or sell what he doesn't know) and therefore organization as a whole.
    • Organizations like the CIA are so compartmentalized...

      Like all good terrorist organisations.
      • True, its an overriding factor of any organization where secrecy (unlike comedy) is paramount. Look at the IRA, ETA, PLA or the records department of your local security service, only the motive and funding is different. Generally the CIA and other security services are the good guys.
        • Generally the CIA and other security services are the good guys.

          Depens on where you are standing. If inside US, and dont really care about your rights, then i can see why this statement would be true. Anywhere else, or you do care, then they are defn not the good guys.
    • I think to say that no one besides the director (DCI) would know is stretching it. The deputy director for science and technology (DDS&T) would definately know because (s)he would obviously be in charge of developing the device. The deputy director for operations (DDO) would also likely be informed of the device so that he could implement its use in the field. Although it is actually possible that the S&T directorate would implement use of the umbrella without telling the DDO, I highly doubt it. The device would be used for assassinations and the DDO would definately be informed of those. But people who served in such senior positions would likely not disclose the information.

      I think you're starting to step into Cold War novels or Hollywood when you say that people only know "their part of the job" and not the whole. I think the CIA trusts their employees enough. I think one would work better with a fuller understanding of the task. Certainly the CIA did use this technique during sensitive Cold War operations, and definately the KGB as well, but I question whether it is commonly used today.
      • Well it depends on the degree of departmental individuality and cover. I mean I would hope that your average CIA employee doesn't know too much (esp. those in the field) because it makes rubber hoses and interrogation more fruitfull. Even admin staff could be tempted by large enough payments, although this is greatly lessened by polygraphs and the like, plus I think that most are highly patriotic, well funded and mindfull of the safety of their collegues. However, there are semi-autonomous departments in most big organizations (business included) and they can really skew the big picture (even providing executive summaries and the like).

        Also I question a fuller understanding of the task, when I say minimum I mean the ammount needed to achieve a task with efficiency and due dilligence.

        Maybe I'm coloured by the fact I'm a UK citizen, the degree of secrecy over here is pretty extreme and you're right things have gotten looser since the break up of the Soviet Union. However I think current events will rapidly send us in the opposite direction, but differently.
        • Yeah, the SIS (or MI-6) is a ton more secretive than the CIA. I mean, we Americans have known about the CIA since it was created in 1947, but the SIS wasn't publically acknowledged until 1996, so that says a lot.

          You're right in your statment about knowledge of the device. I think I just took it farther than you intended.

  • Bomb Photo Caption (Score:2, Informative)

    by Habberhead ( 178825 )
    Did I fail history or was the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima named "Little Boy"? The caption for the article calls it "Fat Man". But I seem to remember in my foggy brain that "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki, three days later.

    Anyone?
    • You're right, "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki. A great example of "accuracy" in the news we get. Perhaps this is an attempt to rewrite history? 1984?
      • You're right, "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki. A great example of "accuracy" in the news we get. Perhaps this is an attempt to rewrite history? 1984?


        "Never blame on maliciousness that which can be explained away by stupidity." And trust me, there's more than enough stupidity in this world to go around.

  • I wonder if this exhibit has any connection to Alan Simpson who has been talking about putting together a spy musuem [spiescafe.com] or a spying themed entertainment park for several years now. The collection suggests a connection to me.

  • no umbrella of our own, huh ... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    http://www.jfk-assassination.de/articles/umbrella. html

    AC
  • If the presidential intelligence binder is the top piece of the exhibition ....
    • They've got an Enigma, for God's sake. Still, it's barely mentioned in the article! (it did get a picture) Methinks that someone at CNN slept through the history lesson on WWII. Come on, there is no way a binder for a routine intelligence report could be even compared with the machine that was instrumental in the Allied victory in World War II! Just goes to show how little many so-called "experts" really know.
    • I can see how many people would find the binder to be boring when compared the Enigma and other items, but this binder is what keeps the president informed of the latest intelligence, which is one of the most highly classified documents. This is the binder that keeps the president on top of the world, so to speak. I agree that some of the other items, like the wooden seal from the Moscow embassy, would be more interesting.
  • ...when first we practice to deceive. It wasn't just the yanks and ruskies who were engaged in the spying game. The Imperial War Museum in London (just near Waterloo station) has a permanent exhibition [iwm.org.uk] about the British secret war. The exhibition has lots of miniture radios and cameras, invisible writing equipment, escape maps, weaponry and cipher machines from M15, M16, SOE and Signals Intelligence. Super stuff, but far too many School Kids milling around on a week day.
  • The spy gadget gallery sounds like an excellent idea, but unfortunately most of the gadgets on display hardly measure up to the items on display from movies and TV shows, such as the "Get Smart" shoe phone. Obviously real gadgets won't measure up to ficticious Hollywood gadgets, but you'd think they could do better than the binder for the president's daily intelligence briefing. I wonder why they'd want to overshadow the real gadgets if their goal is to spread the word about why so much money is put into the intelligence community? It seems like some of those items are just filler so the exhibit is a decent size. Still, the cameras and the microdot sound interesting.
  • ..has austin powers mojo?
  • These are not my gadgets! ;-)

  • ...as long as John Cleese is nowhere within a 100 mile radius. Painful.

  • "Questions have been asked about why we invest so much money in the intelligence community," said Lloyd Salvetti, director of the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence. "We thought we should team with the president's library to get out our message about why we exist."

    "The answer is quite simple, we exist to buy cool toys. Yes, like our brothers in the Defense Department, we invest billions of dollars each year, in really super cool gadgets like this remote control airplane. Except we call it a drone, because drone sounds much cooler than remote control airplane."

    Josh

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