I n light of the many and varied amazing spy “gadgets” that have appeared
in popular films and television shows about espionage—cue Oddjob’s razor-edged
hat in the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger —anyone can be forgiven for
thinking that such over-the-top contraptions are merely the brainchildren of
imaginative screenwriters. The truth might surprise you.
The International Spy Museum (SPY) in Washington, D.C. provides visitors with
a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the dark world of global espionage. Boasting a
vast array of incredible artifacts in its collection which shed light on
“spycraft,” the museum has shared a selection of the most devious devices in
its collection with Military History Quarterly which span decades of the
Cold War—the complex global political struggle between the Soviet Union, the
United States, and nations allied with both.
This underhanded “war” had peaks and valleys as tensions between East and West
waxed and waned. The Cold War nominally ended with the collapse of the Soviet
Union in 1991. However, some historians argue that the conflict never truly
ended.
This rectal tool kit was issued to CIA agents during
the 1960s at the height of the Cold War. The pill-shaped container was
designed to be neatly stored in the body cavity where it could remain
undetected during searches and possibly prove useful to agents needing to
escape. The tools inside included saws, drill bits and knives. 
Ostensibly the Great Seal of the United States, this
is a modern replica of a so-called 1945 “gift” in the style of the Trojan
Horse from Soviet children to the U.S. ambassador in Moscow which contained a
sophisticated eavesdropping device. Known as “The Thing” to American
intelligence operatives, the transmitter, which had no batteries or circuits,
was eventually removed from the ambassador’s office in 1952. 
During the Cold War, gutted dead rats, similar to this
2016 reproduction from France, were used as “dead drops” by the CIA to pass
hidden messages, money and film to other agents. According to the museum, the
rats were doused with pepper sauce to deter scavenging cats—demonstrating that
even animals were caught up in spy games during the secretive struggle. 
These scent jars, dating from the 1970s-1980s, were used by
the Stasi secret police of East Germany and stored in the thousands. The Stasi
collected the scents of “suspicious” people to allow trained dogs to track
them down. In 1978,
Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi Markov was assassinated in London by a
communist agent wielding an umbrella gun, like this replica, which fired a
poison capsule into his leg. The Steineck wristwatch
produced in Germany in 1945 was sophisticated for its time in its ability to
snap secret photos and contained a film disk with eight exposures. What
about designing a spying device that nobody wanted to touch? The so-called
“tiger dung transmitter” would do the trick. This 1970 CIA transmitter was
used to direct airstrikes in Vietnam. 
This silver bar, given by the Soviets to infamous
spy John Walker, embodies a different type of espionage tool used for
centuries to deadly effect to steal state secrets and corrupt those in
positions of power or responsibility—the lure of money. 
Although it might remind you of the 1960s TV show “Get
Smart,” this shoe transmitter is real, having been planted in the heel of an
American diplomat’s shoe by local secret police when he sent his shoes out to
be repaired in an Eastern European country. 
Women’s fashion throughout the Cold War didn’t exactly
lend itself well to surveillance gadgets, especially not if the said lady
spies were wearing summer dresses. So four female Stasi operatives came up
with this solution in 1985. Codenamed “Meadow,” this “wonder bra” contains a
mini camera that could be controlled by a pocket-held remote. 
This lipstick pistol, dating from 1960, was used by the KGB.
A small but deadly 4.5 mm weapon, it could fire a single shot when its user
pressed the “lipstick” barrel into an intended victim. Disguised as a
cosmetic, it was unlikely to attract attention. 
Hiding Minox cameras in ordinary accessories was a trend
in the Cold War among Soviet and East German spies during the 1960s and 1970s.
This particular camera is concealed in a humble hairbrush. 
This is no ordinary coin. This KGB device was used to
conceal microfilm and microdots, and could be opened by inserting a needle
into a tiny hole on the face of the coin. Soviet agents used these devices
from the 1950s to the 1990s. This is a piece of the
U-2 “Dragon Lady” spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers when he was shot
down over the Soviet Union in 1960, resulting in an international scandal.
This piece of the wreckage is marked with small rivets, which were added by
the Soviets when they attempted to reassemble the fragments of the downed
plane.
this article first appeared in military history quarterly
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