You know, in the security field there are times where we can all go overboard. I have been guilty of that myself in the past and will most likely do so again. The best thing about these overreactions is the chance to laugh about them afterwards. Well, sometimes at least.
The case that caused me some giggles today is the case of the covert Canadian spy coins. Our government went to great lengths to track and monitor the activities of American contractors visiting our country via bugged coins. The CBC reported on this in January 07.
Canadian coins containing tiny transmitters have mysteriously turned up in the pockets of at least three American contractors who visited Canada, says a branch of the U.S. Department of Defence.
Security experts believe the miniature devices could be used to track the movements of defence industry personnel dealing in sensitive military technology.
“You might want to know where the individual is going, what meetings the individual might be having and, above all, with whom,” said David Harris, a former CSIS officer who consults on security matters.
The funny part here is that CBC had an ex-CSIS officer comment on the article. In all fairness, he couldn’t have known. This episode had all the hallmarks of a silly as hell spy movie. Not to mention the impractical nature of attempting to track someone with a loonie quarter.
The counter-intelligence office of the U.S. Defence Security Service cites the currency caper as an example of the methods international spies have recently tried to illicitly acquire military technology.
Well, it appears our attempt to track and gather illicit military technology has been undone in a grand fashion.
The Defense Security Service disavowed its warning about spy coins after an international furor, but until now it has never disclosed the details behind the embarrassing episode.
The United States said it never substantiated the contractors’ claims and performed an internal review to determine how the false information was included in a 29-page published report about espionage concerns.
The Defense Security Service never examined the suspicious coins, spokeswoman Cindy McGovern said. “We know where we made the mistake,” she said. “The information wasn’t properly vetted. While these coins aroused suspicion, there ultimately was nothing there.”
Excellent! Our disinformation campaign is working just as we planned…sigh.
“Agent 99, we missed it by that much“.
[tags]Coin Transmitters, Bugged Coins, Defense Security Service, CSIS, Funny[/tags]
