Spycraft - Melton [225]
OTS’s laboratory for concealments grew out of the OSS Research and Development—Camouflage Division in Fort Washington, Maryland, which had produced letter drops for use by World War II agents.4 The drops were originally made from tree limbs. The wood was split and a metal container inserted in such a fashion that the wood could be replaced and present an innocent appearance to any observer.5 An important principle learned after receiving comments back from the field was that the drops should never be constructed of anything burnable or edible, lest they be picked up and used by some passerby needing food or fuel. Afterward, better drops were produced in various forms that included stones and old tin cans. Such drops were designed to be be ignored by anyone not involved with the operation and could be left at public locations, such as at a prearranged distance from a mile-marker on a European road, for a two-way exchange of intelligence. 6
Sensitive notes and information could be protected by use of a Combustible Notebook. The ordinary-looking notebook contained Pryofilm, which when ignited by an incendiary pencil, would destroy the notebook and contents in thirty seconds, 1940s.
Another research and development unit, Division 19, Miscellaneous Weapons of the National Defense Research Committee, supported OSS’s wartime requirements and established its first lab in June 1943 at the Congressional Country Club outside Washington, D.C, operating as the Maryland Research Laboratory.7 Under the project code-named MOTH, three containers were created for transporting concealed secret intelligence documents with devices to destroy the contents “if opened by a person unfamiliar with its use.” One device could be camouflaged inside a fountain pen or shaving kit and held two or three folded sheets that would be destroyed thirty seconds after initiation. The second was a medium-sized notebook with bound sheets that was destroyed summarily, and the third was a briefcase capable of destroying a special insertable pocket for maps and papers.8
The U.S. Army operated a secret Escape and Evasion (E&E) laboratory and facility under the secret MIS-X program at Fort Hunt, Virginia, during World War II. This lab produced concealments and E&E aids including silk maps hidden in clothing and playing cards; compasses inside uniform buttons, safety razors, pencils, and fountain pens; and shortwave radios inside mess kits, baseballs, and cribbage boards.9
The true nature of the CIA’s original concealment program, a charter function of the Technical Services Staff, was obscured by its name, “Furnishings and Equipment Division.” During the Cold War, objects with un-apparent cavities such as furniture and automobiles were required when it became operationally desirable to hide a person, passageway, or object. Concealment created the illusion that the object being used for hiding had no relationship to a clandestine operation.10 Camouflage was a less-secure means of hiding than concealment; like a cover, if camouflage is removed, the contents could be seen. A large safe with a tarp thrown on top may be camouflaged and removing the tarp would expose the object as a safe. However, if a false bottom was created inside the safe and the cavity door could be opened only by manipulating a hidden latch, the safe was transformed into a concealment.
A concealment device, or CD, includes a hidden compartment to which access is obtained by mechanical decipherment of locks, hinges, and latches. The mechanical actions necessary to open a CD are normally a sequence of unnatural twists, turns, and pulls. Intelligence services