Short range agent communications (SRAC) are one-way or two-way short-rangewireless communications used forintelligence purposes. This communications technology became possible with the arrival of thetransistor and small scaleintegrated circuits. In the late 2000s computerWi-Fi technology andUSB flash drives had evolved into technologies that ordinary people can buy – yet can be used in a similar way to SRAC systems.[1]
SRAC devices were adopted by Westernintelligence agencies during theCold War in the 1960s, butEastern Bloc nations possessed and used similar technologies.[1] The devices are miniature to ease concealment, and are capable of transmittingencrypted data.
Examples of a US-made set, theCDS-501, were captured inCuba and are thought to have seen use in Central and EasternEurope. The device operated in the upper part of theVHF band and sent high speedbursts of encrypted data from an agent to a receiving station located within a Westerndiplomatic facility in a hostile country to avoid interception by the adversarysignals intelligence service.[2]
A high-grade US intelligence source in Cold War Poland, ColonelRyszard Kukliński, is believed to have been using an SRAC device shortly before his defection to the West in late 1981.[3] Another SRAC device's nomenclature was RT-519, which operated in theVHF spectrum.
Former British intelligence officerRichard Tomlinson mentioned SRAC devices of a cigarette pack size in his bookThe Big Breach: From Top Secret To Maximum Security. The text of a message was first typed on a computer and then uploaded into the SRAC device. When an agent came within the range of the interrogating signals from the receiving station, usually mounted within British diplomatic posts, the device instantly transmitted its message.[4]
In 2006 Russian authorities accused Britain of conducting spy operations in Moscow and exposed an artificial rock, which housed an electronicdead drop allegedly used by British assets in Russia.[5] The device likely exchanged short bursts of data withPDA computers in the possession of the assets.[6]