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Jason English
Great Moments in CIA History
by Jason English - January 24, 2007 - 12:57 PM

“One of their psychological warfare schemes was to drop gigantic condoms apparently made for Americans, labeled ‘medium,’ into Russia.”

I need to do more research and get back to you. I told this to a co-worker, and he acted like it was common knowledge. Am I the only one who didn’t have this information?

When it comes to condoms and psychological warfare, why am I always the last to know?

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Comments (6)

  1. That reminds me of the EU fiasco from a few years ago.

    The EU standardized condom sizes across all of its member states. Then the Germans stated complaining that the prophylactics were becoming, shall we say, ‘disengaged’ during use. Apparently German men did not quite measure up.

    Of coarse the Germans were quick to say that they were quite adequate and it was the EU who had overestimated the size of all men.

    Funny, none of the other EU members have complained. Hmmm… It is pretty cold up in Deutschland.

    posted by n2y2 on 1-24-2007 at 2:00 pm

  2. Why does the whole thing sound like an urban legend to me? Are there any sources for any of these stories?

    posted by Sillstaw on 1-24-2007 at 2:38 pm

  3. I added in a link to a 1996 David Fromkin article with the quote above. He says the CIA agents later claimed they were joking, but who knows.

    posted by Jason on 1-24-2007 at 2:42 pm

  4. N2Y2, so when the Germans invaded the rest of Europe, they were just ‘compensating’?

    I think it’s more likely that the men were too concerned about their image. They want to be seen buying the largest size available and ignore practical considerations.

    I propose calling it “The Hummer Gambit”

    posted by Bryan on 1-24-2007 at 3:45 pm

  5. the condom story involving the USA and USSR might be linked (or inspired by) the real WWII story involving the UK and Germany.

    The UK soldiers found that there was some benefit to putting condoms over the end of their riffle muzzles — either due to troubles with rain or mud or possibly the insulating effect (essentially, I don’t recall what the reason was, but it was logical and worked).

    Churchill heard of the technique and ordered very long condoms to cover more of the barrel. He supposedly thought it would have the added benefit that leaving behind the very long condoms on the battlefield would put a bit of shock and envy into the German soldier’s assessment of the UK fighters.

    posted by completely anonymous on 1-24-2007 at 11:43 pm

  6. This oversized-condoms-as-psy-ops thing is a very old joke. I read it in Asimov’s Guide to Humor (I think that was the title), back in the 1970’s.

    posted by Mark on 1-25-2007 at 8:34 pm

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