STATE DEPARTMENT SLEUTHS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000600040059-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 15, 1998
• Sequence Number: 59
• Publication Date: April 1, 1964
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

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n hr.
onviction, "I'm absolutely sure of
He crossed the room to where the
boodle stood and looked closely at
CPYRGHT.
State
APRIL
Department
* Sleuths
Probably the strangest detective agency in the world is DOFO
CPYRGHT by Emile C. Schurmacher
The recent publicity surrounding ` The "tourist" was a coun eresp -
a Washington scandal has revealed age agent working for DOFO, the
very little about the most hush-hush Division of Foreign Operations,
S. State Depart-
U
of Security
Off
.
,
ice
organization in America. Known as rrtent. He was one of about 30 ex-
DOFO, the Division of Foreign ports who constantly check our em-
Operatio~ts, this agency became in- bassies and the homes of U.S. diplo-
volved in recent headlines when matic personnel at 94 U.S. foreign
Otto F. Otepka,, chief security oval- service posts in 86 countries through-
his officer, was. dismissed from
his post for -giving secret inforrna- out the world. His job was to guaru
ionage
es
b
i
d
lion to a Senate subcommittee,
it is not the controversy between
Mr Otepka and his superior, John
F. Reilly, deputy assistant secretary
of state for security, that this article
is concerned with, but the fantastic
cloak and dagger aspects of DOFO,
probably . the strangest detective
agency in the world.
.f OT LONG AGO the U.S. mili-
tary attache of one of our most.
sensitive embassies in Europe was
visited at his home by an American
who looked like a tourist, with a
camera suspended from his neck and
a leather camera bag slung'over his
shoulder.
Instead of filters, exposure meter
and similar accessories usually car- held upa a warning hand.
ried by amateur. photographers, the ' The agent
"Let's try a little r gt," he
bag contained several compact and said. "For the next 30 seconds
vices. ingenious electronic detection de- neither of us will speak."
._._
Two of these were of special use- The two men lapsed into silence.
fulness: a small gadget somewhat So did the, dog. She relaxed.
Half a minute went by. Then 'the
like a miniature mine detector could agent said: "I think this room is
locate a microphone hidden in a bu ed."
wall; and a radio frequency probe At the sound of his words the
could indicate the presence of a con- poodle again
ain began to howl.
cealed tiny transmitter.
- Ariproved For Release ? CIA-RD
p
y
ng
ropp
against eaves
agents and spies.
The U.S. military attache received
the agent hospitably and conducted
him to the living room. The, family
pet poodle was curled up napping on
the floor. When they began to talk
the poodle suddenly woke up, howl-
ing and whining as though in pain.
"Curious about our dog," the mili-
tary attache remarked. "She's been
behaving like that lately. There
doesn't seem to be anything wrong
physically. You'd think she actually
resented conversation."
The agent suddenly began to study
the poodle with more than casual in-
terest. He watched as the dog ran to
a corner of the room, whining and
'A
d For
ele
he parquet floor. It showed signs of
emovcd the squares of parquet.
ecent tampering. Methodically, he
Jndcr one of them, near the corner
f the room, a tiny FM radio trans-
nitter was cleverly concealed in the
ollowed-out sub-flooring.
No bigger than a lump of sugar,
tad wired to a battery the size of a
itch box, it was capable of broad-
acting normal conversation as far as
block away!
The military attache was staring at
he ingenious device, his face a study
n mixed incredulity and indigna
"Is this why my dog has been
arrying on so strangely?"
"That's right," the agent ex-
ransmitter here doesn't expect to
eturn to replace the battery. There-
ore, to conserve the life of the bat-
:cry, the transmitter is only activated
y the sound of voices. The sending
ignal is too high pitched for the.
human car to hear, but like those
ilent dog whistles, it's disturbing, if
of painful, to your pet."
But for the agent's visit, important
iplomatic secrets discussed in the
upposed privacy of the U.S. military
o be overheard by Communist es-
ionage agents stationed in a room
khe house.
nusual in that the counterespionage
gent detected the-eavesdropping de-
ice without using his anti-caves-
ropping apparatus.
"We rely heavily on 'scientific
techniques," declared a State De-
partment spokesman. "Rapidly ad-
lancing technology has been a great
help to us in detecting eavesdropping
operations in our posts abroad-es-
pecially behind the Iron Curtain.
"Our Office of Security has ex- .
panded its technical security opera-
tions to combat this threat to the
privacy of our embassy offices and
This expansion is shown in the
State Department's appropriation for .
anti-eavesdropping devices. Three
b75-00149R00066O4 3-1
 -RDP75-00149R000600040059-1
FOIAb3b
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000600040059-1