3 ms·

One of the great stories of using "Non-Linear Junction" devices occurred circa 1985, during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. The US was buildi

One of the great stories of using "Non-Linear Junction" devices occurred circa 1985, during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. The US was building a new embassy in Moscow. Naively, they allowed the Soviets to do most of the work. The result was a building impossible to secure. Eventually the top 4 stories needed to be completely replaced.[1] The relevant part to this discussion is that the Soviets mixed thousands of discrete diodes[2] into the precast concrete. What is a diode? A nonlinear junction. What does it cost? A few pennies. What does it do? It creates false positives, so it keeps you from using a device such as the one discussed in this article to detect actual bugs. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_of_the_United_States,_Moscow#Building https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_of_the_United_States,_... [2]https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/06/18/unbeatable-bugs-the-moscow-embassy-fiasco/5bb6dcbf-0a61-4948-a953-e2d81085ed05/?noredirect=on https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/06/18/u...

userbinator 8y ago
The USSR was extremely skilled at creating listening devices that didn't have nonlinear junctions, or indeed any active electronics at all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)
- CamperBob2 8y ago
  Yes, that's a famous one. I got a chuckle out of the photos of Pelosi and Schumer leaving the White House after meeting with Trump a while back ( https://twitter.com/cbouzy/status/1072563584796909568 https://twitter.com/cbouzy/status/1072563584796909568 ). It's as if the Russians aren't even trying to hide their bugs anymore.
  - hatsunearu 8y ago
    What's going on in that picture?
    - CamperBob2 8y ago
      I don't know if you're up to speed with US politics, but at the time the photo was taken, they were the Congressional minority leaders. They had just told the President that they wouldn't support funding for his border wall project: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/12/11/trump_meets_pelosi_and_schumer_the_wall_is_getting_built_one_way_or_another.html https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/12/11/trump_mee... The President insisted on debating the issue with them with the press in attendance, which is somewhat unusual, and they embarrassed him rather badly as a result. They are strutting away more or less triumphantly. Whether that was a good or bad thing isn't a good thing to get into here, but that's basically the gist of it. The joke is that the wooden plaque above the front door to the White House resembles the 'Great Seal' bug that userbinator mentioned. This was an advanced listening device that the Soviets presented as a gift to the US ambassador at the end of WWII. It was advanced in the sense that it was entirely passive, requiring no power or vacuum tubes, and was very hard to detect with the technology of the day. It could be said to be among the first applications of modern RFID technology.
      - hatsunearu 8y ago
        Ah, the plaque. Thanks.
CamperBob2 8y ago
That WaPo article is great. I'd never heard of "Batwing" before. Sounds like it may have been a radiothermal generator reminiscent of those used for long-duration space missions http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph240/belanger2/ http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph240/belanger2/ . The Soviets were known to be liberal in their use of small-scale atomic power sources elsewhere.

userbinator 8y ago

The USSR was extremely skilled at creating listening devices that didn't have nonlinear junctions, or indeed any active electronics at all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)

CamperBob2 8y ago
Yes, that's a famous one. I got a chuckle out of the photos of Pelosi and Schumer leaving the White House after meeting with Trump a while back ( https://twitter.com/cbouzy/status/1072563584796909568 https://twitter.com/cbouzy/status/1072563584796909568 ). It's as if the Russians aren't even trying to hide their bugs anymore.
- hatsunearu 8y ago
  What's going on in that picture?
  - CamperBob2 8y ago
    I don't know if you're up to speed with US politics, but at the time the photo was taken, they were the Congressional minority leaders. They had just told the President that they wouldn't support funding for his border wall project: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/12/11/trump_meets_pelosi_and_schumer_the_wall_is_getting_built_one_way_or_another.html https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/12/11/trump_mee... The President insisted on debating the issue with them with the press in attendance, which is somewhat unusual, and they embarrassed him rather badly as a result. They are strutting away more or less triumphantly. Whether that was a good or bad thing isn't a good thing to get into here, but that's basically the gist of it. The joke is that the wooden plaque above the front door to the White House resembles the 'Great Seal' bug that userbinator mentioned. This was an advanced listening device that the Soviets presented as a gift to the US ambassador at the end of WWII. It was advanced in the sense that it was entirely passive, requiring no power or vacuum tubes, and was very hard to detect with the technology of the day. It could be said to be among the first applications of modern RFID technology.
    - hatsunearu 8y ago
      Ah, the plaque. Thanks.

CamperBob2 8y ago

That WaPo article is great. I'd never heard of "Batwing" before. Sounds like it may have been a radiothermal generator reminiscent of those used for long-duration space missions http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph240/belanger2/ http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph240/belanger2/ . The Soviets were known to be liberal in their use of small-scale atomic power sources elsewhere.