File:Elephant Counter - Flickr - The Central Intelligence Agency.jpg

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Original file ‎(5,616 × 3,744 pixels, file size: 1.96 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

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Description

CIA technicians invented and used this unusual device in the 1960s to keep track of the enemy in Southeast Asia. The mission was to count people and supplies moving down the Ho Chi Minh Trail from North Vietnam to South Vietnam along the borders of Laos and Cambodia. Many of the Laotian trail watchers whom CIA recruited could not read or write, let alone understand English. And so the device featured “pictograms,” such as symbols representing troops, trucks, motorcycles, carts, bicycles, tanks, cannons, small artillery, missiles, donkeys, and yes, occasionally elephants, a common beast of burden in Laos. Alongside each pictogram was a knob that could be set to a number, and then the data could be transmitted to an airplane by activating a toggle switch.

For more information on CIA history and this artifact please visit www.cia.gov
Date
Source Elephant Counter
Author The Central Intelligence Agency

Licensing

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Public domain This image is a work of a Central Intelligence Agency employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a Work of the United States Government, this image or media is in the public domain in the United States.

čeština ∙ Deutsch ∙ eesti ∙ English ∙ español ∙ français ∙ italiano ∙ português ∙ polski ∙ sicilianu ∙ slovenščina ∙ suomi ∙ Tiếng Việt ∙ български ∙ македонски ∙ русский ∙ українська ∙ বাংলা ∙ മലയാളം ∙ 한국어 ∙ 日本語 ∙ 中文 ∙ 中文（简体） ∙ 中文（繁體） ∙ العربية ∙ پښتو ∙ +/−

This image was originally posted to Flickr by The Central Intelligence Agency at https://www.flickr.com/photos/59094030@N08/7415431818. It was reviewed on 26 October 2013 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the United States Government Work.

26 October 2013

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current11:03, 26 October 2013Thumbnail for version as of 11:03, 26 October 20135,616 × 3,744 (1.96 MB)Slick-o-bot (talk | contribs)== {{int:filedesc}} == {{Information |Description=CIA technicians invented and used this unusual device in the 1960s to keep track of the enemy in Southeast Asia. The mission was to count people and supplies moving down the Ho Chi Minh Trail from North...

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