THE WATERGATE BUG EXHIBIT
CLOSE UP PHOTOS & HISTORY OF THE WATERGATE BUG

HISTORY OF WHAT'S RUMORED TO BE
ONE OF ONLY THREE WATERGATE BUGS

The Watergate Bug on exhibit at the Spy And Private-Eye Museum is non operative. By that, we mean it does not work and was disabled many years ago. This historical artifact was allegedly made by Bernard B. Spindel who was one of the top men in the country for development of such equipment. The material was first allegedly sold in a lot of old equipment to one electronics supply house that was then baught out by another one after the first one went out of business. The second supply house then sold this artifact to James Greenwold owner of Tactical Surveillance Inc of Chippewa Falls, WI. Mr. Greenwold specializes in countermeasures, TSCM, video forensics and audio forensics. He maintains one of the nation's leading high tech state-of-the-art crime labs. James Greenwold was kind enough to donate the material to the Spy And Private-Eye Museum in 2006 after having the unit on display in his office for about 12 years.

No one knows for sure exactly how many bugs where used and how many times the Watergate Burglars broke into the Democratic National Headquarters. However, the rumor is that there where three and this was one of them. A certain unnamed person involved was shown this material a decade or so ago and his comment was, "If we had any bugs, they looked just like that."

CLOSE UP OF THE ACTUAL BUG
The bug was modular and could be adapted for a number of different uses. Either a microphone of telephone wire could be connected to the plug in the bottom left hand corner of the photo or to the plug coming out the top right side.

THE BUG CAN APART
As you can see, the bug took one battery so it's life was limited. However, the unit could be turned on and turned off from it's receiver which you will see in a a photo below.

The top of the bug contained a squelch control knob and a volume control knob.

The Receiver for the Watergate Bug could pick up audio for several miles. The attachment to the receiver had two buttons on the unit that would turn the bug on and then turn it off. This would, of course conserve battery power. It would also be non-operational in the event the room it was in was sweep for eavesdropping.

RETURN TO WATERGATE EXHIBIT FRONT PAGE

From The Ralph D. Thomas PI Vintage Collection
THOMAS INVESTIGATIE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INVESTIGATIVE SPECIALISTS, INC.
SPY EXCHANGE AND SECURITY CENTER
P O Box 82148, Austin, Texas 78708
Showroom: 9513 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas 78758
Phone 512.719.3595 Fax 512.719.3594
Email: RThomas007@aol.com

Copyright: 2006, Thomas Investigative Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
Thomas Investigative Publications, Trademark, 1981.
National Association Of Investigative Specialists, Inc, Trademark, 1986.
Spy Exchange, Trademark, 1999