To most, the world of espionage is supposed to be inhabited by hard-bitten types; ruthless assassins who, like James Bond, are licensed to kill.
But the greatest leak in the history of the CIA now suggests that the world's foremost spook agency is less occupied with bumping people off thanin discovering cute internet symbols for seals and puppies.
Among almost 9000 files and documents, published by WikiLeaks yesterday, was a dictionary of hundreds of Japanese emoticons (symbols that communicate words or phrases) compiled by a CIA hacker.
The document, entitled Faces of the Internet, includes "baby seal", "happy dog", "angry guy flipping a table" and, bizarrely, "vomits saliva". One annotation simply reads: "WOOPwoopwowopwoopwoopwoop".
Online speculation over the dictionary's purpose ranges from a repository for codes to enable hackers to break into household devices to the ramblings of a bored operative.
What it does show is that there is a new cadre of spy out there that is more familiar with "nerdy" computer terms than Aston Martins or dry martinis.
The apparent naivety of these agents is suggested in one document that informs them to remember their credit card pin when travelling to Frankfurt, where the CIA had a hacking base.
Yesterday's leak revealed that the CIA, in collaboration with GCHQ and MI5, has a secret unit devoted to hacking phones, televisions and tablets for use as bugging devices.
