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3 Operating principles
The Thing consisted of a tiny capacitive membrane connected to a small quarter-wavelength antenna; it had no
power supply or active electronic components. The device, a passive cavity resonator, became active only when
a radio signal of the correct frequency was sent to the device from an external transmitter. This is currently referred in NSA parlance as illuminating a passive device. Sound waves (from voices inside the ambassadors
oce) passed through the thin wood case, striking the
membrane and causing it to vibrate. The movement
of the membrane varied the capacitance seen by the
antenna, which in turn modulated the radio waves that
struck and were re-transmitted by the Thing. A receiver
demodulated the signal so that sound picked up by the
microphone could be heard, just as an ordinary radio receiver demodulates radio signals and outputs sound.
Replica of the Great Seal which contained a Soviet bugging device, on display at the NSA's National Cryptologic Museum.
The Thing, also known as the Great Seal bug, was one
of the rst covert listening devices (or bugs) to use passive techniques to transmit an audio signal. It was concealed inside a gift given by the Soviets to the US Ambassador to Moscow on August 4, 1945. Because it was
passive, being energized and activated by electromagnetic
energy from an outside source, it is considered a predecessor of RFID technology.[1]
Theremins design made the listening device very dicult to detect, because it was very small, had no power
supply or active electronic components, and did not radiThe Thing was designed by Soviet Russian inventor Lon ate any signal unless it was actively being irradiated reTheremin,[2] whose best-known invention is the elec- motely. However, these same design features, along with
the overall simplicity of the device, made it very reliable
tronic musical instrument the theremin.
and gave it a potentially unlimited operational life.
The principle operational component of The Thing, a resonant cavity microphone, had been patented by Wineld
R. Koch of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in
3.1 Technical details
1941. In US patent 2,238,117 he describes the principle
of a sound-modulated resonant cavity. High-frequency
The device consisted of a 9-inch (23 cm) long monopole
energy is inductively coupled to the cavity. The resonant
antenna (quarter-wave for 330 megahertz (MHz) frefrequency is varied by the change in capacitance resulting
quencies, but able to also act as half-wave or full-wave,
from the displacement of the acoustic diaphragm.[3]
the accounts dier)a straight rod, led through an insulating bushing into a cavity, where it was terminated
with a round disc that formed one plate of a capacitor.
2 Installation and use
The cavity was a high-Q round silver-plated copper can,
with the internal diameter of 0.775 in (19.7 mm) and
The device was used by the Soviet Union to spy on the about 11/16 in (17.5 mm) long, with inductance of about
United States. It was embedded in a carved wooden 10 nanohenry.[5] Its front side was closed with a very
plaque of the Great Seal of the United States. On August thin (3 mil, or 75 micrometers) and fragile conductive
4, 1945, a delegation from the Young Pioneer organiza- membrane. In the middle of the cavity was a mushroomtion of the Soviet Union presented the bugged carving shaped at-faced tuning post, with its top adjustable to
Creation
7 NOTES
5 Aftermath
Wrights examination led to development of a similar
British system codenamed SATYR, used throughout the
1950s by the British, Americans, Canadians and Australians.
Discovery
6 See also
Nonlinear junction detector
TEMPEST
Surveillance
7 Notes
[1] Hacking Exposed Linux: Linux Security Secrets & Solutions
(third ed.). McGraw-Hill Osborne Media. 2008. p. 298.
ISBN 978-0-07-226257-5.
[2] Glinsky, Albert, Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage,
University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 2000
[3] US Patent 2238117, Koch, Wineld R, Ultra high
frequency modulator, published 1941-04-15, assigned
References
Wright, Peter (1987). Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Ocer. New
York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-82055-5.
Kennan, George (1967). Memoirs, 19251950. Little, Brown.
Kennan, George (1983). Memoirs: 19501963.
Pantheon. ISBN 978-0-394-71626-8.
External links
Passive Resonant Cavity & Spycatcher Technical
Surveillance Devices
The Great Seal Bug Story, Spybusters, Kevin D.
Murray
A Trojan Seal Security Management, Ken Stanley,
April 2010
History of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the
United States Department of State, October 2011,
pp. 136137
How the Soviet Union spied on the US embassy for
7 years, Hackaday, Adam Fabio, December 2015
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