Army Tried To Get Data On Soviet Lasers With Bond-Like Sensors Hidden In Consumer Cameras

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated Jun 28, 2019 1:09 PM EDT

When it comes to intelligence gathering, one of the biggest hurdles can just be finding a way to get close enough to the target to get any meaningful data. During the Cold War, the U.S. Army devised a small sensor that sounds straight out of a James Bond movie, which an individual could hide inside a camera lens to try to discreetly record the signatures from lasers on Soviet armored vehicles, helicopters, and other weapon systems in East Germany.

The Army’s then-brand-new Intelligence and Security Command initiated the project, nicknamed Trivial Tiger, in 1977. Declassified details of the program are included in an INSCOM history covering activities during the 1978 Fiscal Year, which a private individual received through the Freedom of Information Act request in May 2018. Government transparency website GovernmentAttic.org then posted a copy of this document online in July 2018.

“A means of delivering these microminiaturized devices into the proper area was studied with the resultant sensor/camera piggy back configuration,” according to the historical review. “[The] object of the project was to acquire Electro-Optics signals believed associated with such tactical devices as field artillery range finders, helicopter-borne target designator, and other weapons associated systems that might use lasers to increase offensive operational effectiveness.”

It’s not entirely clear how the system worked or what kind of data it necessarily recorded and how. The sensors themselves were modified variants of devices that INSCOM had first developed under a separate project called Gravel Stream. Almost all of that section in the history is redacted, with only a portion of the last sentence left uncensored.

US Army troops patrol the Berlin Wall in West Berlin in 1986., Roland Holschneider/Picture-Alliance/DPA/AP Images

It says “[redacted] position horizontally polarized, thereby changing its mini-directional transmit capability, severely impacting on the possibility of success,” which could reflect trouble with placing the sensors and attempting to operate or receiving information from them remotely. This could explain the decision to convert two of the five Gravel Stream types into the hand-held Trivial Tiger versions. It could also imply that the sensor was recording information about possible laser signatures in a format that could be transmitted via radio frequency.

We do know that the Trivial Tiger configuration was small enough to slot in between a regular Nikon camera and a 1000 millimeter telephoto lens. This had to be the case since the U.S. Military Liaison Mission to Commander in Chief, Group of Soviet Forces in Germany , routinely used these cameras already. Inserting the sensor inside made it less likely that the Soviets would notice anything out of the ordinary.

A rare 1970s-era Nikon Nikkor-P 1200mm f11 lens, similar to the 1000mm lenses that the U.S. Military Liaison Mission would have had access to in 1978, attached to a modern DSRL camera., via Nikon Rumors

The kind of laser systems the history describes were just beginning to come into their own in the 1970s and gathering any information on what frequencies they operated on or their other characteristics would have been immensely important to the U.S. military. With this information in hand, American engineers could devise defensive systems to detect and even counter them.

These could warn friendly forces on the ground, at sea, and in the air of impending attacks, since laser range finders or designators would be indicators of enemy forces targeting them. This might also alert those same forces that they were under surveillance or that an enemy was just nearby based on those signal signatures. Today, laser warning receivers are a common feature in various self-defense systems for vehicles and aircraft.

And planning to give them to the U.S. Military Liaison Mission made good sense given its unique situation. This unit was the product of a broader deal then-allied powers – the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France – agreed to at the Potsdam Conference in Germany very shortly after World War II. The ostensible goal was to set the ground rules for the occupation and rebuilding of the German nation and to increase transparency about military activities between the various parties to prevent any confusion or dangerous altercations.

The trailer below for the documentary Keep The Cold War Cold includes video footage that members of the U.S. Military Liaison Mission captured during their operations in East Germany.

Even as the Soviet Union drifted apart from its former allies and Germany came to exist as two separate countries, the Military Liaison Missions continued to operate in both the East and the West. Both sides understood the inherent intelligence-gathering value and worked to exploit it as much as possible.

The U.S. mission liaising with Group of Soviet Forces in Germany was no different and operated out of a building in the city of Potsdam in East Germany proper with its personnel exploiting quasi-diplomatic status to move with relative freedom around East Germany taking pictures and recording video of military facilities and activities whenever possible. As such, the unit was, until 1990, a highly reliable source of information about new Soviet equipment and combat doctrine.

The Trivial Tiger sensors would have been a perfect addition to the Military Liaison Mission’s intelligence gathering toolkit. Even if the Soviets had become aware of the equipment, it’s not clear how they would have been able to directly counter it short of seizing the cameras from American personnel, which would have caused a major incident and threatened the mutually-beneficial liaison arrangements across Germany.

The situation could still be dangerous for all involved, though. In 1985, a Soviet guard shot and killed a member of the Military Liaison Mission who was taking pictures of a base in Ludwigslust, East Germany. The Soviets claims that U.S. Army Major Arthur Nicholson refused to heed warnings that he was in a restricted area.

A low-quality scan of a picture a member of the U.S. Military Liaison Mission in East Germany took of a MiG-23 combat jet., DOD

After subsequent negotiations, the Soviets issued a blanket order to their forces not to use force against Western military personnel unless under direct threat. They violated this policy again in 1987, wounding another member of the U.S. Military Liaison Mission. After the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, the issue became increasingly moot.

We don’t know if the Military Liaison Mission ever received the sensors, though. They were only delivered for testing during the 1978 fiscal year and we do not have access yet to the historical review for the next fiscal cycle. We do know that the U.S. military shared information about Trivial Tiger with its counterparts in the British Commanders’-in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany. Spreading the sensors around to other allied elements would have made good sense and increased the opportunities to potentially collect valuable information.

To think that the Army had developed this sensor package, which was small enough to conceal inside a camera without being detected, more than four decades ago, one can only imagine the advanced equipment that the service’s spies have access to now.

Contact the author: jtrevithickpr@gmail.com

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作者：约瑟夫·特雷维西克

更新于美国东部时间2019年6月28日下午1:09

在情报搜集方面，最大的障碍之一就是如何接近目标以获取有效数据。冷战期间，美国陆军设计了一种小型传感器，听起来就像是从詹姆斯·邦德电影里走出来的一样。这种传感器可以隐藏在相机镜头内，用于在东德秘密记录苏联装甲车、直升机和其他武器系统上的激光信号。

1977年，当时新成立的陆军情报与安全司令部启动了这项代号为“琐碎之虎”（Trivial Tiger）的项目。该项目的解密细节包含在一份涵盖1978财年活动的INSCOM历史记录中，这份记录是一位私人人士于2018年5月通过《信息自由法》申请获得的。随后，政府透明度网站GovernmentAttic.org于2018年7月将这份文件的副本发布在了网上。

根据历史回顾，“研究了一种将这些微型设备输送到合适区域的方法，并采用了传感器/摄像头背负式配置。” “该项目的目标是获取与野战炮兵测距仪、直升机载目标指示器以及其他可能使用激光来提高进攻作战效能的武器系统等战术设备相关的光电信号。”

该系统的工作原理、具体记录哪些数据以及如何记录，目前尚不完全清楚。这些传感器本身是INSCOM最初在名为“砾石流”（Gravel Stream）的独立项目中开发的设备的改进版本。历史资料中几乎全部内容都被删减，只有最后一句话的一部分未被审查。

1986年，美军士兵在西柏林柏林墙附近巡逻。（图片来源：Roland Holschneider/Picture-Alliance/DPA/AP Images）

报告称“[已编辑]位置呈水平极化，从而改变了其微定向发射能力，严重影响了成功的可能性”，这可能反映出传感器的放置以及尝试远程操作或接收信息时遇到的问题。这或许可以解释为何将五种 Gravel Stream 型号中的两种改装成手持式 Trivial Tiger 型号。这也可能意味着该传感器正在以可通过射频传输的格式记录有关潜在激光特征的信息。

我们知道，Trivial Tiger 的设计非常小巧，可以安装在普通尼康相机和 1000 毫米长焦镜头之间。这一点必然成立，因为美国驻德苏军总司令部军事联络团当时已经经常使用这种相机。将传感器安装在相机内部，可以降低苏联方面发现任何异常情况的可能性。

一支罕见的 1970 年代尼康 Nikkor-P 1200mm f11 镜头，类似于美国军事联络团在 1978 年使用的 1000mm 镜头，被安装在一台现代数码单反相机上。（图片来自 Nikon Rumors）

历史记载的这类激光系统在20世纪70年代才刚刚兴起，收集有关其工作频率或其他特性的信息对美国军方来说至关重要。掌握这些信息后，美国工程师就能设计出防御系统来探测甚至对抗这些激光武器。

这些设备可以向地面、海上和空中的友军发出即将遭受攻击的警告，因为激光测距仪或指示器会显示敌军正在瞄准他们。根据这些信号特征，这些设备还可以提醒友军他们正被监视，或者敌人就在附近。如今，激光告警接收器已成为各种车辆和飞机自卫系统的常见配置。

考虑到其特殊情况，将这些部队移交给美国军事联络团是明智之举。这支部队是二战结束后不久，当时的盟国——美国、苏联、英国和法国——在德国波茨坦会议上达成的一项更广泛协议的产物。该协议的表面目标是为占领和重建德国制定基本规则，并提高各方军事活动的透明度，以防止任何混乱或危险的冲突。

下面这段纪录片《保持冷战冷态》的预告片包含了美国军事联络团成员在东德行动期间拍摄的视频片段。

即使苏联与其昔日盟友渐行渐远，德国也分裂成两个国家，东西方的军事联络团仍然继续运作。双方都明白其内在的情报收集价值，并竭力加以利用。

美国驻德苏军联络团的情况也类似，其办公地点位于东德波茨坦市的一栋建筑内。该联络团人员利用其准外交身份，在东德境内相对自由地活动，尽可能地拍摄军事设施和活动的照片和视频。因此，直到1990年，该联络团一直是了解苏联新型装备和作战理论的重要情报来源。

“微虎”传感器本可以完美地补充军事联络团的情报收集工具包。即便苏联方面知晓了这些设备，除了从美军人员手中缴获摄像机之外，他们似乎也难以找到直接应对之策。而缴获摄像机无疑会引发重大事件，并威胁到美德之间互惠互利的联络安排。

然而，这种情况对所有相关人员来说仍然可能很危险。1985年，一名苏联警卫在东德路德维希斯卢斯特枪杀了一名正在拍摄军事联络团成员的美军。苏联方面声称，美国陆军少校亚瑟·尼科尔森无视警告，拒绝进入禁区。

这是一张低质量扫描图，原图是美国驻东德军事联络团成员拍摄的米格-23战斗机照片。（美国国防部）

经过后续谈判，苏联向其部队下达了一项全面命令，除非受到直接威胁，否则不得对西方军事人员使用武力。1987年，他们再次违反了这项政策，导致美国军事联络团的另一名成员受伤。1989年柏林墙倒塌后，这个问题变得越来越无关紧要。

我们尚不清楚军事联络团是否收到过这些传感器。它们仅在1978财年交付用于测试，而我们目前还无法查阅下一财年的历史回顾。我们确实知道，美军曾与驻德苏军英国总司令部代表团分享过“微不足道的老虎”行动的相关信息。将这些传感器分发给其他盟军单位是明智之举，也能增加收集宝贵情报的机会。

想想看，陆军早在四十多年前就开发出了这种传感器组件，它小到可以隐藏在摄像机内部而不被发现，人们只能想象现在该军种的间谍能够使用多么先进的设备。

联系作者：jtrevithickpr@gmail.com

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