Warning issued on Spy Coins, page 1

A classic Cold War spy gadget is making a comeback. An official warning from the Defense Department to its American contractor employees went out recently to deal with this re-emerging threat.

in.us.biz.yahoo.com
Can the coins jingling in your pocket trace your movements? The Defense Department is warning its American contractor employees about a new espionage threat seemingly straight from Hollywood: It discovered Canadian coins with tiny radio frequency transmitters hidden inside.

In a U.S. government report, it said the mysterious coins were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006 as the contractors traveled through Canada.

The U.S. report doesn't suggest who might be tracking American defense contractors or why. It also doesn't describe how the Pentagon discovered the ruse, how the transmitters might function or even which Canadian currency contained them

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

I don't get it. What do China, Russia, or even France have to gain from the use of spy coins? Is there something so secret going on north of the border that they have to sneak coins into the pockets of workers to track their movements? I quess it could pose a security threat, but how much intel can a coin really gather?

[edit on 11-1-2007 by Icarus Rising]