CIA Declassifies WWI-Era Secret Documents

"WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA is declassifying secrets for writing with invisible ink and even opening sealed letters without detection: state-of-the-art spying techniques from World War I.

"Six secret documents, made available on the CIA's website Tuesday, show how diplomats and generals of yesteryear got the drop on each other. There's a document written in French about the German's secret ink formula, showing that the French had cracked the German code.

"CIA Director Leon Panetta says it's possible to reveal these secrets now because the old methods have been far outpaced by recent advances in the chemistry of secret ink and the lighting methods used to detect it.

"Documents on secret writing fall under the CIA's authority to declassify. The agency said it declassified more than a million historical documents last year alone."

https://www.cia.gov/news-informatio...-documents-in-u.s.-government-collection.html

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/04/19/us/politics/AP-US-CIA-Secret-Writing.html?hp

 

By default, nothing should remain a secret for more than 60 years.

 

The documents are available here:

CIA FOIA - Overview


Dave