Editing Numbers station (section)

=== Recent cases ===
In 2001, [[Ana Belén Montes]], a senior US [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] analyst, was arrested and charged with espionage. The federal prosecutors alleged that Montes was able to communicate with the Cuban [[Intelligence Directorate]] through encoded messages, with instructions being received through "encrypted shortwave transmissions from Cuba".

In 2006, [[Carlos Alvarez (professor)|Carlos Alvarez]] and his wife, [[Elsa Alvarez|Elsa]], were arrested and charged with espionage. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida<ref>''United States v. Alvarez'', 506 F. Supp. 2d 1285 (S.D. Fla. 2007)</ref>{{which|date=January 2020}} stated that "defendants would receive assignments via shortwave radio transmissions".{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

In June 2009, the United States similarly charged [[Walter Kendall Myers]] with conspiracy to spy for Cuba, and receiving and decoding messages broadcast from a numbers station operated by the Cuban Intelligence Directorate to further that conspiracy.<ref>{{cite web |first=Dirk |last=Rijmenants |url=https://www.ciphermachinesandcryptology.com/papers/cuban_agent_communications.pdf |title=Cuban Agent Communications |year=2013 |type=PDF |website=Cipher Machines & Cryptology |access-date=30 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/05/myers.indictment.pdf |title=United States v. Walter Kendall Myers, United States District Court, District of Columbia, no. xxx. |access-date=26 August 2010}}</ref> As discovered by the FBI up to 2010, one way that Russian agents of the [[Illegals Program]] were receiving instructions was via coded messages on shortwave radio.<ref name=":0" />
It has been reported that the United States has used number stations to communicate encoded information to persons in other countries.<ref name="MNT" /> There are also claims that [[State Department]]-operated stations, such as KKN50 and KKN44, used to broadcast similar "numbers" messages or related traffic, although these radio stations have been off the air for many years.<ref>{{cite book |last=Helms |first=Harry L. |title=How to Tune the Secret Shortwave Spectrum |year=1981 |publisher=TAB Books] |location=Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania |isbn=0-8306-1185-1 |page=58 |chapter=Government and Military Communications}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Schimmel |first=Donald W. |title=The Underground Frequency Guide: A Directory of Unusual, Illegal, and Covert Radio Communications |edition=3 |location=Solana Beach, California |publisher=High Text Publications |year=1994 |isbn=1-878707-17-5 |pages=88–95}}</ref>

[[North Korea]] revived number broadcasts in July&nbsp;2016 after a hiatus of sixteen years, a move which some analysts speculated was [[psychological war]];<ref name="Choe-2016-07-21-NYT">{{cite news |last=Choe |first=Sang-Hun |date=2016-07-21 |title=North Korea revives coded spy broadcasts after 16&nbsp;year silence |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/22/world/asia/north-korea-spy-radio-broadcasts.html |access-date=2016-07-30}}</ref> sixteen such broadcasts occurred in 2017, including unusually timed transmissions in April.<ref name="Osbourne-2017-05-12-DExp">{{cite news |last=Osbourne |first=Simon |date=2017-05-12 |title=North Korea sends chilling coded radio messages to South Korea amid fears of WW3 |newspaper=[[Daily Express]] |url=http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/803845/North-Korea-broadcasts-coded-radio-messages-South-Korea-Kim-Jong-un-World-War-3}}</ref>