Slick Spy Gear

By Elisabeth Salemme

It sounded a little too James Bondy that pocket change could be tracking your every move. The Defense Department quickly retracted a report that Canadian coins--like the $2 "Toonie," at left--with tiny radio transmitters had been planted on Canada-bound Pentagon contractors. Then again, it sounded kinda CIA. Here are some spy gadgets that turned out to be real.

THE ROCK HAD EARS

The Russians last January nabbed foreign operatives--British spies, they claim--who used an electronics-filled fake rock on a Moscow street to transmit classified documents.

BROUGHT TO HEEL

No, it's not a prop from the Get Smart set but rather a covert Soviet listening device that dates to the 1960s. Planted in the heel of a target's shoe, it could monitor conversations.

IKE'S SILVER COURIERS

The CIA has admitted to using hollow Eisenhower silver dollars to conceal messages or film. According to the agency, the coins are "virtually undetectable."

THE KISS OF DEATH

An equal opportunity employer, the KGB used attractive women to seduce some targets. These so-called honeypots would use lipstick tubes--actually one-shot pistols--to finish the job.