TRICKS OF THE SPY BUSINESS

Evening Star, Issue 22206, 7 December 1935, Page 2

TRICKS OF THE SPY BUSINESS

[By E. P. Tisdali/, in Liverpool ‘Weekly Post.’)

The life of a spy, in peace and war, hangs perpetually on a thread. It is perhaps this uncertainty that attracts women to the ranks of this often illpaid, dangerous profession. Just a trifling error in the forgery of a passport was the downfall of one of the most famous spies which Germany sent over here during the war. Tins man, Breeckow, came over here in the early part of 1915 with some compatriots, but as he had previously spent several years in America and spoke English with a distinct American accent, the German Secret Service had thought it advisable to have an American passport made out for him.. This was done in the name of “ Reginald . Rowland,” but tho man who forged the passport wasn’t quite accurate enough, for our Secret Service agents at Southampton—actually one of the C.I.D. special branch men—detected the fact that the American eagle design on the passport of “ Reginald Rowland ” had one claw missing. PASSED THROUGH. As a result of this forger’s mistake Breedkow was detected, but he was allowed to pass through with O.K. by the Customs men. .For a short time he was allowed to operate in Scotland, where he made futile attempts to obtain naval information. And all the time he was shadowed by a British Secret Service agent. We were thus able to get a good idea of the way German spies were instructed to act. Eventually Breeckow was informed of the fateful error of his forged passport, and he was taken to face the firing party in the Tower, . . . but actually died of heart failure just a few seconds before the flag was due to drop. It is on such vital details as these, in wartime, that the life of a Secret Service agent depends. But forgery plays just as big a part in counter-espionage during peace times. FORGED PAPERS. Forged passports and Government papers are still necessary to give a Secret Service agent free access to all ppssible sources of information. Tho agent of a foreign Government 'who wishes to pose as a research chemist or analytical expert in the steel line (in order to gain access_ to the latest developments in munitions factories) needs papers which, apparently made out in good faith, give him the “ entre ”■ to the mumtions-makmg front. • So small printers and process engravers are employed by many indirect sources to produce papers which are the “ magic carpet ” of a Secret Service man in peace time. Not only passports and visas have to be forged and copied, but commercial letter headings have to be duplicated, and the signatures of many famous business men transferred to forged documents. Much of this work is done photographically, as the modern forger finds it easy to work with photographic copy in front of him. Official documents often bear water marks which are copied by the simple process of impregnating the duplicate paper with wax—after the forger has made an exact copy of the original water mark. Codes, cyphers, methods of Secret Service communication, and the establishment of codes to cover Government secrets all form part of an espionage man’s work. All mariner of dodges ate resorted to by Secret Service, who have to carry messages from one centre to another under the eyes of Customs and Government officials; and also by espionage men, who, detecting messages in transit, have to get photographic copies made, have the code transcribed, and allow the original message to go through unchecked, so that the spy shall not know that h© is under observation and so change his plans. _ Contrary to what is generally given out in the Press, the British Secret Service does not use elaborate means of disguising communiques. It is found that too much secrecy and coding is apt to make other Secret Service men suspicious. Sir Edward Grey, when he was Foreign Secretary, had the _ happy knack of upsetting diplomatic procedure by always writing in “ plain code ” so that exasperated foreign propagandists never knew whether or not his personal messages were facts or simply an elaborate code to hide the truth. UNSEALING LETTERS. Secret Service papers which are marked “ Confidential,” “ Secret,” and “ Very Secret ” are always more 1 likely to be the object of observation than those which go through unmarked. But when letters of other Secret Service men are discovered it is sometimes necessary that they . should reveal their contents so that duplicate copies can be made. Experts in the Secret Service can remove and replace seals, so that there is really no effective way of doing up a letter securely. Banks, for example, still send confidential documents in envelopes which are heavily sealed at one end, but which usually have tho other end gummed down and unprotected ! This, of course, is easy work for a counter-espionage agent. THE KEY WORD. When the agents get, by means of forged introduction, into the employ of the concern whose machines he is actually spying it is necessary for him to get coded messages out through Secret Service channels to his own War Office Department. Many codes, ■ such as the “ Playfair,” are used for this purpose. In spite of the famous decoding of the Zimmermann note, there are still many codes which the Secret Service believe are insoluble without the decoder being in possession of the original code word. And even in peace time the success of Secret Service working depends on code.