3487 Attack Taiwan 4576 8903

[OverTQ]

Chinese Spy Radio?

Thank You for Listening Says Mysterious Numbers Station

By WENDELL MINNICK

TAIPEI Debate over the origin of a shortwave radio broadcast in Chi­nese reciting numbers remains un­resolved as Taiwan military and in­telligence officials deny responsibil­ity, while others suggest China is be­hind a numbers station. Described as one-way voice links, numbers stations have been used since World War I to send encrypted messages to spies.

On Feb. 1 at 11.430 MHz, a broad­cast of a female voice recited 20 sets of four numbers in Chinese: Now were ready to broadcast the first 55­word telegram of February. Unit 2236 please write down and receive. 2744, 3449, 1269, 2291, 1773, 7330, 9816, 8023, 1872, 7381, 9726, 5171, 2227, 5393, 6736, 3842, 7994, 7732, 3102, 4911. This is the 20th set telegram that was just broadcast. During a broadcast April 20 at 10.520 MHz, with what some called a Taiwanese accent, a female voice signed off in Chinese with: Thank you for listening. Wishing you good health and a happy goodbye. The broadcasts do not use any standard broadcasting protocol, such as identifying the station or origin.

A Taiwan government communi­cations official said the broadcasts are a topic not open to discussion or inquiry. Officially, Taiwans Ministry of Na­tional Defense (MND), upon listen­ing to the messages, said, no com­ment. However, an MND official said the broadcasts were coming out of China, not Taiwan, and the military was aware of them.

Though the method appears anti­quated, there is a beauty to using the system.

Theres no link to the recipient. With e-mail and other methods, theres always the chance of identi­fying the recipient. Also, all that is required is a common portable shortwave radio, said Chris Smolinski, who moderates the Spooks Digest Listserv via the Black Cat Systems Web site. Spooks Di­gest routinely identifies numbers stations around the world.

Numbers stations reached their peak during the Cold War, only to decline significantly after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, though China, Cuba, Israel and North Korea have been accused of continuing to use the method.

Some sources have suggested the broadcasts are a false flag opera­tion to confuse the enemy.

Some percentage of the trans­missions from such stations are very likely to be dummy traffic to make it harder for counterespionage outfits to draw conclusions about the num­ber of spies working against them and their level of activity, said a U.S. defense analyst, adding that such agencies would quickly figure it out if it were all dummy traffic.

It only makes sense to operate such a station if you are communi­cating with real spies. However, not everyone agrees the broadcasts are intelligence-related.

It is easy to be conspiratorial about numbers stations, and there is no doubt that they have been, and still are, used in intelligence and mil­itary operations, said Gary Rawns­ley, professor of Asian international communications at the University of Leeds. However, they are also used for technical reasons to check the clarity of signals, etc., on specified frequencies. Sounds boring, but there we go. Other sources said the broadcasts could be connected to the Chinese Telegraph Code (CTC) to communi­cate with fishing vessels, said Scott Henderson, author of the book The Dark Visitor: Inside the World of the Chinese Hacker. The CTC runs from 0000-9999 with the character for each block identified by an individual number, he said. If the operator passes the string 1034, 6878, 9801 ... etc, just write out the characters and see if they form a sentence. If they dont, its coded. However, the numbers do not match the CTC.

I can guarantee this is not for fish­ing boats or any other commercial radio communication, said a Tai­wan defense analyst.

Erik Baark, author of Lightening Wires, a history book on the CTC, said the broadcasts sound like someone using the CTC, but to my knowledge, one would not use this method in communication with commercial fishing. … Either one would use Morse code, easier to dis­tinguish on shortwave, or one could simply read the text. Smolinski said the signal strengths of the Chinese broadcasts are a bit too high for it to be someone using a ham transmitter, or amateur ra­dio. There are also too many trans­missions.

The hoaxes in the past have gen­erally been one-time affairs, and ob­vious pranks, done for entertain­ment, with no attempt to pass them off as real numbers transmissions, he said.

Members of the local Chinese Taipei Amateur Radio League dis­missed suggestions the broadcasts are fake. We dont know who is broadcasting the numbers, said one member. It could be China or Taiwan. Those who doubt countries con­tinue to use the method need only look at Cuba. In 1998, the U.S. gov­ernment arrested a group of Cuban intelligence agents, known as the Wasp Network, receiving instruc­tions from a Cuban numbers station being operated as Atención. In 2001, a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, Ana Belen Montes, was ar­rested for spying for Cuba. Investi­gators discovered she also received instructions from Atencion.

However, some sources are still debating why China or Taiwan would continue using a system that seems antiquated in comparison to the Internet and cell phones.

It seems like an arcane practice, but espionage tradecraft also loves the tried and true, said Richard Bitzinger, a former U.S. intelligence analyst. Agents still use dead drops, microdots, etc. Shortwave radios are easy to come by and operate, and when all the really sophisticated means of communication fail, this is probably a good fallback. ■

Edited for Source: Defense News

Edited April 27, 2010 by OverTQ

[amcflyboy]

Edited for Source: Defense News

"Jean has a long mustache!"

[-Roll-]

I heard about these things a while back!

More information on number stations

Edit: The horrible pun has been removed...

Edited April 27, 2010 by -Roll-

[Guest Sandlapper]

"R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R T-O D-R-I-N-K Y-O-U-R O-V-A-L-T-I-N-E"

Awww, Nuts!

[contraildash]

"Jean has a long mustache!"

"the chair is against the wall, the chair is against the wall"

[Hacker]

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42

[Ram]

This is the most interesting one I've heard of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76

[BolterKing]

"R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R T-O D-R-I-N-K Y-O-U-R O-V-A-L-T-I-N-E"

Awww, Nuts!

That's funny as hell.

[BQZip01]

This is the most interesting one I've heard of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76

A similar voice message was broadcast on September 12, 2002, but with extreme distortion (possibly as a result of the source being too close to the microphone head) that rendered comprehension very difficult. This second voice broadcast has been partially translated as "UVB-76, UVB-76. 62691 Izafet 3693 8270."

Interesting coincidence (or maybe not?) that the layout of the messages are the same

[DFRESH]

check out Enigma E5...

[snoopyeast]

I've heard these numbers stations a few times while messing around on HF. Most recently while over A-stan and the signal was LOUD.