'BUGGED' EAGLE IS PRIZE EXHIBIT IN ANTI-SPY 'CHAMBER OF HORRORS'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP92B01039R002204340002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 25, 2013
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 27, 1960
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/04/25 :CIA-RDP92B01039R002204340002-1
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Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/04/25 :CIA-RDP92B01039R002204340002-1
 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/04/25
CIA- R D P92 B01039 8002204340002-1
Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Grorngko, at left, looks
as United States Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge shows
the United Nations Security Council in New York a listen.
ing device which Lodge said.Soviet authorities had' plant-
ed in the office of the American Ambassador in Moscow.
Ambassador Lodge, left, shows equipment replica of the Great Seal of the United
which was concealed in the carving. The States was a gift to a U. S. Ambassador.
Bugged' Eagle Is Prixe Exhibit
I n Anti-Spy `Chamber of Horrors'
By Warren Rogers Jr.
Nereid Tribune News-Service
The "bugged" eagle dis-
played yesterday at the
United Nations as evidence
of Soviet spying was one
of the toughest. cases ever
cracked by American counter-
espionage agents.
The reason is that the hid-
den microphone was extreme-
ly small and used no wiring.
Even today it is considered
to be an extremely advanced
piece of electronic equip-
ment. '
The eagle, part of a 2-foot
wooden replica of the Great
Seal of the United States,
came from an underground
room in Washington called
"the Chamber of Horrors" by
State Department security
men. The eagle'is the Cham-
ber's prize exhibit, but there
are many others.
Ferret Out 'Bugs'
This reporter toured the
basement, which is kept
locked under maximum secu-
rity. There is even a peephole
in the door.
Two men, whose names can
not be disclosed, work among
the subterranean treasures.,
Their job is to tinker with the
captured cameras, radios,
transmitters, wire recorders
and so on, and to try to figure
out a defense against them.
They have developed elab-
orate devices to ferret out
hidden microphones and trans-
mitters.
Assisting Lodge is Richard Pedersen, of the U. S. dele?
gation. In center at table is Sir Pierson Dixon, and be?
hind Gromyko (laughing, with hand to mouth) is Arkady
Sobolev, Soviet delegate to the U. N. The device was
concealed in 'a 'replica of the United States Seal.
the State Department Officejor early 1946, when he was
of Security. ambassador to Moscow. It was
About 80 of the office's 300 not unmasked as a listening
employes work abroad, and
20 of those 80 are electronic
specialists. The job of these
specialists is to tap .walls, test
locks, search ceilings, disman-
tle electrical sockets, tear
down telephones-in short to
go over every inch of build-
ing~ occupied by American of-
ficials.
In Iron Curtain countries,
they make such exhaustive
checks whenever a new build-
ing is acquired and frequently
thereafter. In Czechoslovakia
one time, when the American
military attache rented a
house, ~ the security check
turned up 14 hidden micro-
phones.
State Department personnel,
office help as well as top diplo-
mats, are taken to the "Cham-
ber of Horrors" before being
sent on Iron Curtain assign-
ments. '
There, they are shown what
to expect when they get to
their posts. They see tele-
phones, radios, books, purses,,
light sockets, lamps. wall pic-
tures, doors windows andi
many other seemingly inno-I
cent paraphernalia of every-
day life.
They are challenged some-~
times to try to find the hid-
den microphone. Often they
can not. The security men
then point it out to them.
The best available recollec-
tions here are that the Great
device until 1952, according to
these informants.
By that time it had hung on
the wall through at least four
American ambassadors-Har?
riman, Walter Bedell Smith,
Alan G. Kirk, and George F.
Kennan. It was taken, offi-
[The story of the micro-
phone hidden in the Great
Seal was first reported in The
Washington Post by column-
cow ?in 1952 revealed the
matchbox-sized device which
had been broadcasting Am-
bassador Kennan's p r i v a t e
conversations for many months
to listening Soviet ears.
[Kennan yesterday declined
to discuss the incident in de-
tail, saying he was not sure
what particulars still might
be classified.
CIn New York, Harriman
confirmed that he had re-~
ceived the replica as a gift
~
in 1945 from a Soviet official
but did not think it was bug-
ged at that time, United Press
International reported. There
have been reports that the
spying device may have been
installed when the replica was
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