THE MIND BOGGLERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B01125R000300120019-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: November 26, 1977
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

__-,.J,(A Decla and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP88B01125R000300120019-1
THE NATION
ON PAGE
26 November 1977
The Hind Bogg1ers
Speaking of the spy trade, one Of the most absurd
of its manifestations has been for years * the microwave
radiation of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow by the Soviet
intelligencers. No doubt we do the same sort of thing to
them, but one somehow bears less about it, This electronic
cooking of our establishment near the Kremlin has been
in the news lately because the Russians have apparently
been applying sporadic bursts of intense radiation. Some
spooks of our own think that the Soviet Helmses are
either trying to activate balky listening devices planted
there earlier or else. to interfere with our eavesdropping
equipment.
The espionage world doesn't mind having itsnonsen-
sIcal ways exposed for all the world to see It has
vested interest in the notion that secrets, dark' or light,--
really exist and the comedy of the microwaves may even
serve as an advertisement for the industriousness of the
snoopers. After all, the public never gets to know what
if anything this second-rate 007 game produces. After
years of microwaving, scientists know that sustained radi-
ation can cause depression and absent-mindedness. Per-
haps that is all the Russians are after-not intelligence
but just to 'shove our diplomats down into the dumps.
And maybe, tit for tat, we have theirs mooning in Wash-
ington. It isn't work for adults..
>I Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP88B01125R000300120019 1