SPYSCH_141026_735
Existing comment:
The Thing:
In 1946, Soviet school children gave the US ambassador a carved wooden replica of the Great Seal of the United States. The ambassador prominently displayed the seal in his study. In 1952, technicians discovered a small bugging device hidden within the seal.
The bug was activated by an ultra-high frequency beam generated from a van parked near the US Embassy.

Americans learned of "the Thing" in 1960, when American Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge displayed the inside of the seal to the United Nations.
Proposed user comment: