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Route 55 Series - James Bond Cache Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

Gilwell1: Been here too many times (including this one) to find out that cache was still here. It was very perplexing but the cache has run its course. Thanks to everyone who came to look.

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Hidden : 6/17/2009
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

When you find it, the name of this cache will become
apparent.

In espionage, a dead drop is a place for an agent to
leave documents without having to meet his contact.

A dead drop or dead letter box, is a location
used to secretly pass items between two people,
without requiring them to meet.

Spies have been known to use dead drops,
using various techniques to hide items
(such as money, secrets or instructions)
and to signal that the drop has been made.

The system involves using signals and locations
which have been agreed in advance. These signals
and locations must be common everyday things to
which most people would not give a second glance.
The signal may or may not be located close to the
dead drop itself.

The location of the dead drop could be a loose
brick in a wall, a library book, a hole in a tree,
or under a boulder etc. It should be something
common and from which the items can be picked
up without the operatives being seen by a member
of the public or the security forces who may be watching.

The signaling devices can include a chalk mark
on a wall, a piece of chewing-gum on a lamppost,
a newspaper left on a park bench etc. Alternatively,
the signal can be made from inside the agent's
own home e.g. hanging a distinctively colored
towel from a balcony, or placing a potted plant
on a window sill where it can be seen by anyone
driving down the street.

Aldrich Ames left chalk marks on a mail box
located at 37th and R Streets NW in Washington, DC
to signal his Russian handlers that he had made a
dead drop. The number of marks on the box prompted
some local residents to speculate, somewhat jokingly,
that it was used by spies.

The dead drop is often used as a cut-out device.
In this use the operatives who use the device to
communicate or exchange materials or information
do not know one another and should never see one
another. While this type of device is useful in
preventing the roll up of an entire espionage
network it is not foolproof. If the lower level operative
is compromised he or she may reveal the location of
and signal for the use of the dead drop. Then the
counter espionage agents simply use the signal to
indicate that the dead drop is ready for pickup.
They then keep the spot under continuous surveillance
until it is picked up. They can then capture the operative
who picked up the material from the dead drop.

Imagine how useful handheld GPS units would have been during the cold war to create and find dead drops.

Team Gilwell is a great fan of James Bond movies. When you logthis cache, tell us which actor is your favorite James Bond, and who you think is the best Bond villian.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Erny fcvrf qba'g hfr uvagf.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)