Hundreds of American spies during the Cold War were caught in the USSR for silly reasons

Inattention to minor detalyam



During the Cold War there were many secret agents, and they are constantly under threat of being caught.

Both sides have found many ingenious ways to deceive the enemy and to penetrate "the other side". Spies, not only to get information about what the opponent is doing, but also to disseminate false information about what makes a party has sent a spy.

It was an extremely dangerous work, and work hard, knowing that they have hardly any chance for salvation when they were seized. The prison or the death penalty were the most common types of punishment for those unfortunates who have made mistakes that caused their disclosure.

Fake passports were the main tool for spies. Therefore, during a fake passport attention needed to be given to anyone, even the smallest detail.

The Americans have missed something, something seemingly insignificant. However, this led to the disclosure of hundreds of American spies, already abandoned in the USSR. That "something" turned out to be such a seemingly small thing, like a paper clip!

Staples used in the Soviet passports, began to rust rather quickly. America is at the time of the creation of false passports for its spies used a clip of stainless steel. Obviously, these clips can not rust. And it was kind of familiar to Soviet officials, who told them that the passport can be forged.

via factroom.ru