In August 1945, Harriman, the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, was invited to participate in a Young Pioneers event in the Soviet Union. After the event, a Young Pioneer presented Harriman with a gift, a huge wooden American coat of arms. Tonight's gift was so beautifully crafted that Harriman didn't take it lightly and let the professionals carry out a rigorous test.
The results showed that there was no problem with the gift, both the signal and the electromagnetic waves, so Harriman happily hung the coat of arms in his office. Curiously, in the years that followed, many unusual things happened inside the U.S. Embassy.
It wasn't until 1953, when the CIA conducted a thorough search of the embassy's office, that it was found that the problem was a gift from the Soviet teenager. What kind of secrets are hidden in this national emblem? And what kind of negative impact has it brought to the United States?
Confidential listening, making monitors
The international community surged in the 20th century, the most notable of which was the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
When the United States developed into the number one power in the capitalist world, the Soviet Union became the only country in the world that could compete with it.
After the end of World War II, the power of both countries swelled sharply, resulting in a strategic intention to expand their power in the world, and naturally regarded the other side as their biggest opponent.
In 1933, the Soviet Union and the United States established diplomatic relations for the first time, and the United States immediately built a magnificent embassy in the Soviet Union.
Watching a steady stream of American ambassadors come to the Soviet Union, Stalin felt not joy, but fear and worry.
He knew that the United States was a very difficult opponent for the Soviet Union, and since the embassy was built in the Soviet Union, he had to control everything in the embassy to ensure that it was not threatened.
Stalin wanted to know everything about the embassy, but on the surface could not act, so he gave the task to the Soviet spy agency, the KGB.
In order to complete the surveillance mission, the KGB first sent a group of heavily trained and beautiful female agents.
In the spy agency, these female spies, code-named "Swallows", disguised as actors of the National Ballet Theatre, managed to enter the embassy.
This trick was really easy to use, attracting many lustful American officers in the Soviet Union. They did not have the slightest doubt about the identity of these beauties, talked about military affairs in front of them, and confided a lot of American secrets. However, most of the officers attracted by these female agents were low-level officers, and although they knew some secrets, they were not important content.
Stalin realized that if he wanted to get important intelligence, he had to monitor the current U.S. ambassador, Harriman.
Therefore, Stalin again pressed the KGB's leader, Beria, to find a way to eavesdrop on the office of the Us embassy, no matter what means he used.
At that time, the United States and the Soviet Union not only had strong military capabilities, but also had the same level of scientific and technological development, so this task was actually very difficult.
It is already very difficult to complete the work of eavesdropping, and once the eavesdropping action is exposed, it will become the laughing stock of the international community.
Beria led the KGB staff through a sleepless effort to create a very sophisticated eavesdropping device, the Golden Lip.
The biggest feature of this eavesdropping device is that it is small, and the shape looks like a small tadpole, which looks almost like dust to the naked eye and cannot be distinguished.
Due to the special monitoring task, this bugging device requires neither equipment nor external current, so it will not be detected by any anti-eavesdropping device.
The invention of the golden lip bugging device was of great significance to the Soviet Intelligence Service, greatly increasing its surveillance level. However, because it performed a very secret mission, the existence of this bugging device was only known to a small number of Soviets. With this bugging device, the Soviet Union was tasked with spying on the offices of the U.S. Embassy.
Installation eavesdropping is difficult
Once the monitor was built, how to get it to the U.S. Embassy office became another problem.
Initially, some Soviet experts proposed placing bugging devices in gifts and sending them to the U.S. Embassy, and their alternative gifts included ivory telephones, mammoth ivory, and Scythian shields.
These gifts are indeed precious, but there are also certain loopholes, such as the density of ivory products is too large, which can lead to poor monitoring quality and is not suitable for loading monitors.
At the same time, items such as telephones are the focus of the inspection of anti-eavesdropping experts in the United States, and if the experts in the United States screen these gifts in detail, the monitor may also be exposed.
As a result, these programmes were eliminated as soon as they were presented to Beria.
After careful consideration, the Soviet Union spent a huge amount of money to buy a building opposite the U.S. Embassy.
The people living in the building looked no different from ordinary residents on the surface, but in fact they were all workers of the Soviet government.
Whenever the weather is clear, they hang carpets, bedding and other objects high on their balconies, which are equipped with gold lip bugging devices.
When the staff shook and slapped the carpet and bedding, they were actually quietly using the power of the wind to let the golden lip bugging device fall into the U.S. embassy opposite.
After their secret operation, there are indeed many bugging devices that have successfully entered the embassy courtyard, but they are difficult to float into the office, so they have not been able to successfully eavesdrop on any important secrets. Some also interrupt the signal because they float too far and the distance is too long.
Beria realized that it wasn't enough to just let the golden lip bugging device into the U.S. embassy, and that they had to land precisely into the embassy's office.
Of course, it was difficult to do this by the power of the wind alone, so it was not long before the Intelligence Service orchestrated a fire.
When Soviet agents disguised as firefighters took the opportunity to enter the U.S. Embassy to fight the fire and try to arrange eavesdropping equipment, they found that the U.S. Ambassador Harriman behaved in a dangerous manner, and even so dangerous, he did not leave the office, let alone remove the guards in the office.
The firefighters, under their noses, had no chance to install bugging devices, and the operation failed.
The Soviet Union was desperate to place wiretaps in the offices of the U.S. Embassy, so how could Harriman not feel it at all? That's why he made the U.S. Embassy like an iron barrel that no one could easily enter, let alone place a bugger here.
The two sides have superficially established friendly diplomatic relations, but in fact, they have been secretly engaged in a contest, just waiting for the moment of final outbreak.
Juvenile gifts, hidden mysteries
By February 1945, World War II had come to an end. In order to obtain the greatest benefit, the United States could not wait to convene the Yalta Conference, which was attended by the Soviet Union, Britain and the United States at the same time, which also meant that the world's three major political giants Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin had a meeting that attracted the world's attention.
The meeting made Stalin feel threatened, and it was at this time that he also gave Lilia an ultimatum that the task of installing a bugging device must be completed in the near future.
After much trial and error, the KGB finally decided to place the bugging device in the office of the U.S. Embassy in the form of a gift. With past failures, this time they conducted a rigorous material screening and finally decided to install the bugging device in the woodwork, which not only made it easier to store, but also did not affect the signal reception.
In order to reduce the vigilance of the U.S. Embassy while satisfying the condition of aesthetics, Beria and his subordinates finally decided to carve woodwork into the U.S. national emblem.
The material chosen to make this coat of arms is precious gold silk sandalwood, which looks delicate and generous in appearance, and is a gift that looks very safe.
After the gift was made, the KGB began to make intensive arrangements for the gift.
In order to create a perfect opportunity for gifts, the Soviet Union decided to hold a junior team fitness camp event and invited President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill to the opening ceremony.
Beria did this because he knew that President Roosevelt would never come to such a small event, but he would not simply refuse, and he would definitely send an ambassador to participate, so that he could justifiably give this gift to Harriman.
Everything was as Beria had expected, and it was the two Ambassadors of the United States and Britain to the Soviet Union who finally came to the opening ceremony.
The ceremony was held very smoothly, and the ambassadors were immersed in the children's vibrant smiling faces and songs, and let down their vigilance and vigilance.
When the opening ceremony of the camp was about to end, four Soviet Young Pioneers suddenly appeared, carrying the very exquisitely made wooden American national emblem. As soon as U.S. Ambassador Harriman saw this national emblem, he was attracted by its exquisite workmanship and could not help but express his admiration.
Stalin's personal translator then immediately introduced the coat of arms to everyone, indicating the prestige of his materials and the complexity of the workmanship, and expressed that he would give the coat of arms to the American ambassador as a gift.
Naturally, Harriman could not refuse such a well-prepared gift, and accepted it happily, and couldn't help but say, "I really don't know where to put such a precious gift!" ”
At this time, Stalin's personal translator immediately suggested that the coat of arms could be placed in his office, and Harriman gladly accepted this proposal, and everything went smoothly according to the KGB's plan.
Strange things happen frequently, find the real culprit
Although he accepted the offer to hang the national emblem in his office, Harriman could not be defenseless. Back at the embassy, he immediately called in staff to conduct various tests on Congress, and of course the results showed no abnormalities. The national emblem was so exquisitely made that Harriman and the staff were naturally reluctant to take it apart and look at it, so they hung it in their offices.
This huge national emblem, which was loaded with a pure gold lip bugging device, stayed in the office of the U.S. Embassy for 8 years.
During these years, the intelligence of the U.S. Embassy was frequently leaked, and many important information was obtained by the Soviet Union, and they also conducted many screenings, but nothing unusual was found.
When U.S. Ambassador Harriman's term ended, three more ambassadors moved in, and they made several layout changes to the office, replacing all the original items, even a small pen.
But the only thing that hasn't changed is the American coat of arms sent by the Soviet Union, because it is so delicate that it attracts the attention of every ambassador, and no one can bear to replace it.
Until 1953, the leaks of U.S. intelligence were so severe that the 4th ambassador, George Kennan, vowed to find out what was wrong. So, the first thing he did after taking office was to conduct a carpet search of the office.
When he found that there was no problem with everything in the room, he set his eyes on the national emblem hanging on the wall.
Eventually he decided to let the professionals open the coat of arms, and the intelligence officers discovered that there was a small bugging device hidden inside.
In their view, the bugging device is incomplete, since it has neither electricity nor a transmitter setup, and consists of only a eardrum and a metal needle.
But then they learned that the original working principle of this wiretap was to cause the eardrum vibration from the sound and conduct it to the metal needle.
Subsequently, the two media interact with the eavesdropper to produce a very subtle radio wave, and the equipment that receives this super radio wave is placed opposite the U.S. Embassy.
There are dedicated staff here to receive and record these tiny vibrations, and after a series of conversions, they can be translated into language.
At the level of scientific and technological development at that time, no one expected that the Soviet Union had actually invented eavesdropping equipment that did not use electricity.
Of course, this was a shame for the United States, so they did not choose to disclose the secret eavesdropping carried out by the Soviet Union.
It was not until May 1960 that the matter was made public through a declassified document, which attracted the attention and discussion of the international community.
Until now, the bugging device has been displayed in the CIA's museum, reminding them of the unspeakable history of being eavesdropped by the Soviet Union for eight years.
With the development of the times, the means of eavesdropping have become more and more advanced, more sophisticated eavesdropping equipment has emerged, and the United States has also used superb eavesdropping technology in its own criminal investigation cases. In the 2017 case of Zhang Yingying, the US police listened to the suspect by installing a sophisticated wiretap device on the suspect's girlfriend, grasped a large amount of criminal evidence, and finally successfully convicted him.
As two superpowers of the 20th century, the United States and the Soviet Union never stopped competing in science and technology, such as the space race that focused on aviation enthusiasts around the world. They not only have to compete for who will achieve satellite launch first, but also scramble to send humans to the moon, and let the world see the power and charm of science and technology.
In this golden lip bugging incident, the Soviet Union was obviously superior, because no one thought that in that era, they had already taken the lead in developing this kind of non-electric eavesdropping equipment, and successfully lurked in the office of the US embassy for 8 years, becoming a shameful stroke in the history of the United States.