How the CIA Uses Communication

You might think that in this era of wireless e-mail something as behind the times as a shortwave radio would be left out of the spook's field pack, alongside the Minox spy camera and the self-destructing tape recorder. Not so. Although the CIA, NSA, and various covert ops divisions of the United States military have surely upgraded to better gadgets than these, shortwave radio is still widely used by United States and foreign intelligence agencies to communicate with agents in the field. It's inexpensive, portable, reliable, and can be heard around the globe. In all likelihood, even as you read this, somewhere in the world an intelligence agent is secretly transmitting an enigmatic sequence of numbers into the ionosphere.

According to insiders, these numeric transmissions are jotted down by recipients who pick up the signals at preordained times. They are then decoded

into important messages ("The Eagle has landed." "Meet me at 0800 225 hours." "Your dry cleaning is ready") using what is known as a one-time pad, with a different code for each day. Because the code is used only once, it is impossible for counterspies to break. Some CIA agents reportedly eat the pages when they're finished with them (high in fiber and low in fat).

Although the Agency and its overseas cousins, MI6, the Mossad, and others will not even confirm these stations exist, there are plenty of shortwave hobbyists with tape recordings to prove otherwise. Some begin with tones, whistles, Atencion! or Achtung! Others play the beginning of a popular melody. Most numbers stations use a female voice. Avid shortwave listeners, known as DXers, have even nicknamed the announcers (Bulgarian Betty, Sexy Lady, Russian Man, etc.). Numbers are typically read in blocks of five, sometimes with a pause between the third and fourth digit.

Shortwave being an equal opportunity medium, anyone with a set can listen. If you need a new hobby, buy yourself a shortwave radio with a good tuner and a strong antenna. You don't need to spend a fortune. Even an inexpensive shortwave radio (less than $200) will do the job. Numbers stations can be located by methodically tuning outside the normal commercial bands. North American listeners will find more numbers stations on the air during the evening hours.

In addition, DXers have carefully compiled lists of numbers stations' frequencies, transmission dates, times, and educated guesses about who is doing the broadcasting. For an exhaustive listing of numbers stations by time of broadcast (always given in Greenwich Mean Time) see www.spynumbers.com. If you have no luck getting a numbers station to come in or don't want to buy a shortwave set, go to http://home.freeuk.com/spook007/ to listen to sample recordings.

Of course, without a decoder pad, these numbers are just gibberish. Even with one they may turn out to be gibberish, too, a sort of Hardy Boys caper for adults. Only the spies know...and they're not telling.