“...you can actually use an existing electrical wiring system to eavesdrop by internally turning on a radio, phone, etc. That becomes the listening device and picks up sounds in the room which are then transmitted back along the electrical wiring to a machine that can record them.”
You would be correct. EMI filtering of the power supply is required and EMI screens on all openings in a shielded secure facility. I wouldn’t say squat in the Oval office. The Oval office windows are a big concern to me. There are much more powerful directional microphones today.
One point to keep in mind that makes this guys point a little less relevant.
The NSA does not often rely on physical bugs or listening devices to capture conversation and/or electronic communications like we see in the movies. Big brother does their “tapping” at the phone company nodes, in the server farms for internet service providers, the cellular phone company networks, and just about every type of communication node that exists to include satellites.
In fact, if Snowden and many others are to be believed - they can activate your cellular phone or computer to act as a microphone. Creepy isn’t it?
The windows of the oval office are designed to defeat eavesdropping. There was an article I read long ago (maybe popular mechanics) that talked about how they could make the windows to defeat what you are describing. I think they set them to vibrate where a person in the room does not notice it to defeat this, but I cannot remember the exact science.
OftheOhio. Thanks for telling me that I wasn’t imaging things, that I’m not crazy.
Now would you please tell that to my wife?