Imagine you are a spy deep undercover and you have to relay a message to another spy
without saying a word.
Short of telepathy, how could you possibly convey a secret message without anyone realizing
it?
Well, how about your shoe laces?
Hello, and welcome to The Infographics Show.
Today we're looking at the Shoelace Code and other secret techniques used by the CIA.
During the height of the Cold War the world hung on the brink of nuclear annihilation
as the Soviet Union and its Soviet Bloc allies prepared for war against the United States
and NATO.
Each side knew that in the case of war, every single advantage possible would have to be
exploited to try and avert all-out destruction, and so the golden age of spying began.
For spies deep undercover though it was vital to be able to communicate with their handlers
or other spies without being detected, as a good spy assumes he is- and probably was-
under surveillance 24/7.
As is so often the case in the world of spying, one of the most effective techniques for clandestine
communication turned out to be one of the most effective.
Agents were taught to 'read' hidden messages written with, of all things, a person's shoe
laces.
While no official lexicon was ever created so that if one spy was caught the entire system
couldn't be deciphered, instead agents were taught different ways to tie their shoes or
arrange the laces through the shoe's eyelets so they could communicate pre-arranged messages.
Thus spies would come up with their own meanings for different shoelace combinations, leaving
the message completely secret except to the two communicating spies.
Some examples of possible messages included, “I brought someone with me”, “I am being
followed”, or “I have information.”.
Though the CIA remains secretive about specific operations, it is known that the Shoelace
Code was in wide use across its operations around the world throughout the entirety of
the Cold War, with the Soviets never the wiser.
Government bureaucracy is notoriously slow and always seems out of pace with the modern
world- yet the CIA proves time and again that it is always on the forefront of new technologies
and trends.
In 2017 Wikileaks published a trove of secret CIA documents given to them by a leaker.
Amidst the leaked documents there appeared a new form of secret CIA code- emojis.
Using their popularity around the world, the CIA has apparently adopted a complex system
of emojis to create entire covert sentences, the meaning of which is only apparent to somebody
who understands the secret code.
As an adapted form of a Vigenère cipher, a secret code developed over 500 years ago,
each emoji represents a specific word or letter, but the meaning of an individual emoji can
be changed depending on what other emojis appear in front or behind it.
So for example, a smiley face may mean 'you', but a smiley face in front of an angry face
may change the meaning to 'me'.
Thus entire messages can be written and even if the enemy discovers part of the cipher,
they still won't accurately decrypt the message without understanding how each individual
emoji changes the meaning of those next to it.
We've all seen James Bond films, so what about when the time for words is done and it's time
instead for action.
To that end, CIA agents have had a plethora of tools at their disposal to incapacitate
or kill.
In the 1970s US President Gerald Ford signed into law an executive order that banned political
assassinations by the CIA or other clandestine agencies.
Up until then though, any politically dangerous individuals were fair game.
Yet as the Cold War began, the US realized it was far behind in sophisticated covert
killing techniques versus their Soviet adversaries.
As Nikita Khrushchev came to power after Stalin's death in the 1950s, one of his first orders
was the assassination of Ukrainian nationalist Georgi Okolovich, leader within a Russian
anti-communist group.
After a conversation with his wife though, Okolovich's would-be assassin, KGB officer
Nikolai Khokhlov, defected to the US, where he revealed the tool that was to be used in
the murder- an electrically operated gun and silencer hidden inside a cigarette pack and
loaded with cyanide-tipped bullets.
Yet while Okolovich was spared, other Ukranian leaders were successfully assassinated by
another KGB officer, Bogdan Stashinsky, who after defecting to the US in 1961, revealed
that he had killed both men with a cyanide gas gun concealed in a rolled-up newspaper.
The CIA recovered the weapon which Stashinsky had ditched in a river canal after his last
kill and began to accelerate the development of its own covert weapons.
The US would go on to develop the Non Discernible Bio-inoculator, a modified .45 caliber pistol
fitted with a telescopic sight that fired a toxin-tipped dart silently and accurately
up to 250 feet.
While the weapon was not as easily hidden as its Soviet counterparts, the dart that
delivered the deadly poison was just barely wider than a human hair and almost completely
undetectable during an autopsy.
For more close-range and stealthier kills though, the CIA developed the STINGER, a small,
.22 caliber single-shot weapon hidden inside a tube of toothpaste.
But what about when an assassination needs to be carried out in such a way that the assassin
has time to get away?
For that the CIA proved incredibly ingenious, developing slow-acting but deadly poisons
made from shellfish toxins, cobra venom, Botulinum bacteria and crocodile bile, all of which
would be sprayed onto things as innocent as a hankerchief.
While it's impossible to know how many times these were used in the field, it is known
that in 1960 one such attempt was made against Congolese President Patrice Lumumba, with
a tue of poison-laced toothpaste prepared to be inserted into the President's toiletry
kit.
The plan was rejected at the last minute by a CIA office chief for unknown reasons.
Fidel Castro proved to be a popular target for CIA ploys.
The leader of Communist Cuba was considered a major threat after he began to cozy up to
the Soviets and declared intentions for Soviet military weapons and even missiles to be based
on Cuban soil.
The possibility of a sizable Soviet military force less than a hundred miles from American
soil was completely unacceptable to the US, and thus the green light was given for Castro's
removal from power either by assassination or by discrediting him in the eyes of the
Cuban people.
This chapter of CIA history would be known as Operation Mongoose.
At first the CIA attempted outright assassination, and to that end proved to be quite ingenious
even if their efforts failed for a variety of reasons.
In one attempt a Cuban double agent was to offer Castro a cigar treated with Butolinum,
a toxin produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum, but the plan failed when the double
agent failed to get the cigar to Castro.
Knowing that Castro dearly loved his cigars, the CIA did not give up in their efforts and
developed an exploding cigar which would, in their own words, “blow his head off”.
A box was developed and prepared for delivery during a visit by Castro to the United Nations,
but fearing the political fallout of an assassination during a UN visit, the plan was ultimately
scrapped.
Not easily discouraged though, the CIA started thinking way, way outside the box and came
up with a plan to plant explosive sea shells at one of Castro's favorite beaches.
Ultimately that plan was canceled too when it proved ineffective during CIA trial testing.
After President Ford's ban on assassinations, the CIA changed its strategy to one of instead
discrediting the leader.
Knowing of Castro's pride in his 'macho' image, the CIA developed a cigar coated with a depilatory
agent that would make Castro's beard fall off.
After that plan was scrapped, Cuban security officials eventually created the private cibar
brand Cohiba, exclusively for Castro and to safeguard his supply of cigars from tampering.
Yet the CIA would not be discouraged, and proceeded with attempts to discredit Castro
by more attempts at harming his macho image via hair loss.
Known for leaving his boots outside his hotel room door at night to be shined, the CIA developed
a powder to be dusted inside the boots which would cause Castro's hair to fall out.
Ultimately the plan failed when he canceled his targeted trip.
On yet another attempt to discredit Castro, CIA agents prepared a device to spray LSD
remotely inside one of Castro's broadcast studios from which he gave his weekly addresses.
That plan too was ultimately scrapped for unknown reasons.
From secret messages written with shoelaces, to exploding sea shells, and cigars that make
your hair fall off, the CIA proves it has no shortage of imagination.
It's impossible to know what new and incredible plots and tools modern CIA agents are equipped
with, but one thing is for sure: if it sounds too crazy to work, it's almost certainly been
tried or tested by either the CIA or their Russian rivals, because in the great spy game
if you come second, you're probably dead.
Do you know any other great tricks that CIA uses or used?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called FBI vs CIA.
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!