S.E.S Archive · Unclassified
Fun Facts
Real spy secrets. Once Top Secret. Now safe to share with junior recruits.
Animal Agent · WWII
#01
32 Pigeons Won The Dickin Medal
During World War II, carrier pigeons flew across enemy lines with tiny message capsules strapped to their legs. Thirty-two of them were awarded the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. One pigeon, GI Joe, is credited with saving over a thousand lives by delivering a message just in time to stop a bombing.
Animal Agent · Alsatian
#02
Rin Tin Tin: The Alsatian Pulled From A Trench
In 1918 an American soldier found a German shepherd puppy in a bombed-out kennel on the Western Front. He named the dog Rin Tin Tin and smuggled him home. Within ten years that puppy was the biggest film star in Hollywood, starring in 27 movies and reportedly receiving more fan mail than any human actor of his era. Alsatians have served as trackers, search-and-rescue agents and military police dogs in every conflict since, and remain the breed most often chosen by intelligence services today.
Animal Agent · Cold War
#03
Acoustic Kitty: The CIA's Cat Microphone
In the 1960s the CIA spent around 20 million dollars trying to turn a cat into a listening device. They surgically implanted a microphone and a tiny antenna and trained the cat to wander near foreign officials. On its very first mission the cat strolled into the road and the operation was quietly abandoned.
Animal Agent · Marine
#04
The Navy Has A Dolphin Unit
The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program trains bottlenose dolphins and sea lions to find underwater mines and recover lost equipment. Dolphins have built-in sonar far better than any machine. They wear little harnesses and clock in for work like everybody else.
Animal Agent · K9
#05
A Dog Once Held A Military Rank
Sergeant Stubby was a stray bull terrier who served 18 months on the Western Front in WWI. He warned soldiers of gas attacks, found wounded men, and once caught a German spy by biting the back of his trousers and holding on until soldiers arrived. He was promoted to sergeant, the only dog ever to earn rank by combat.
Tradecraft · Declassified
#06
Spies Really Did Use Invisible Ink
The British SIS used lemon juice, milk and even diluted semen as invisible ink in WWI. The CIA's own recipe, declassified in 2011 after nearly a hundred years, called for mixing copper sulphate with plain water. Messages written with it were invisible until the paper was gently heated with a lamp or iron, when the words would darken and appear. Children's kitchen science was, briefly, a state secret.
Tradecraft · Cold War
#07
The Bug In The Great Seal
In 1945 Soviet schoolchildren gave the U.S. Ambassador a beautiful carved wooden Great Seal as a gift of friendship. It hung in his Moscow office for seven years. Inside was a tiny passive listening device with no batteries and no wires, powered only by radio waves. It is considered the most elegant bug ever built.
Animal Agent · Aerial
#08
Bat Bombs Were Almost A Real Thing
During WWII the U.S. tested a plan to strap miniature incendiary devices to thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats, drop them from planes at dawn, and let them roost in enemy attics before the timers went off. The project was cancelled, but not before the bats accidentally set fire to an American airbase first.
Tradecraft · Modern
#09
MI6 Once Hid Messages In Fake Rocks
In 2006 a fake rock was discovered in a Moscow park. It contained an electronic dead drop that British agents and their contacts could swap data with just by walking past holding a phone. The trick worked for years until somebody noticed people loitering very intensely around an ordinary stone.
Field Note · Junior Recruits
Every fact in this file actually happened. The world of intelligence is stranger than any story, and a good agent reads as much as they run.
Section B · Field Assessment
Declassified Intelligence Quiz
Fifty multiple-choice questions in the file. Ten served at random each time you sit down. Score six or more and Douglas Barker himself signs your certificate.
Declassified Intel · Multiple Choice
10 questions per session · 50 in the pool · 6/10 to pass
Q 1 / 10
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