Espionage

The James Bond movies are filled with toys and gadgets that he used to spy on his enemies. The lipstick gun, bugs, miniature cameras, and birds that fly over enemy zones and take pictures, this may come as a shock, but these gadgets actually exist! The lip stick gun is real and it is called the kiss of death! Most gadgets were made in the 1940's during WWII. However it was the Cold War that lit the fire under the espionage show down. Soviet and American spies wanted to know what the other was up to so they came up with gizmos and gadgets to get the information they were looking for. Cameras that used to be the size of baseballs were used in enemy territory to hear what the opposing side was saying. Now, cameras are basically microscopic; invisible to the naked eye! Every year, newer gadgets are made, and the old ones are revised. So there is no limit to what the government has come up with.

What does this have to do with me? The President of the United States came to visit our school in 2005. Two weeks before he arrived, the secret service came placed cameras and microphones all over our school. If you went outside, you could see the transmitters that were placed on the roof of our building. I never saw the cameras, and microphones, but i found out they were there when some of my teachers started to get in trouble for saying negative things about the president, when they thought no one was listening. There was a loading dock at our school that no one ever used and I used to go in and out of that door all of the time, well I noticed an M&M's truck sitting there with movers unloading something, but it wasn't candy. They were loading and unloading all of their eavesdropping (so to speak) equipment.

If espionage technology was that advanced in the 40s and 50s, who knows where it is now. It is kind of unnerving to think that someone is constantly watching you and listening to every word that you say. The Patriot Act itself gave the government permission to listen to anyone's conversation at their choosing. Granted, it is unsettling not knowing the kind of weaponry espionage has but it is fascinating. Who knows what they will have 10 years from now.


http://www.history.com/media.do?action=clip&id=mm_bg_spy_museum_broadband