In 1946, a group of Russia presented a carved wooden replica of the Great Seal of the United States n children



In 1946, a group of Russian children from the Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization (a Soviet scouting group) presented a carved wooden replica of the Great Seal of the United States to Averell Harriman, the U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union.

The gift was meant as a gesture of friendship to the USSR's World War II ally and was hung in the ambassador's official residence at Spaso House in Moscow. For seven years, it adorned the study wall until a discovery was made by the State Department: the seal was more than a mere decoration; it was a bug.

The Soviets had cleverly built a listening device, nicknamed "The Thing" by the U.S. intelligence community, into the replica seal. They had been eavesdropping on Harriman and his successors the entire time it was in the house. Diplomats and other Americans working in the USSR had already suspected the possibility of being monitored, and the device confirmed their suspicions.

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