Secret Squirrel. Does the phrase conjure the image of a furtive squirrel, perhaps wearing a mask, clandestinely robbing the backyard birdfeeders? Maybe a cartoon image, similar to Underdog or Mighty Mouse, boldly fighting crime and injustice? But it probably does not conjure the image of a group of uniforms gathered around a safe, arguing about who will load codes and who will “shoot” the jets. Alas, the last is closest to the truth.

 

Here We Come to Save the Day!

A quick internet search of “secret squirrel” will return YouTube links to an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon called, oddly enough, Secret Squirrel. While it does look like a cool cartoon, and the idea of a James Bond-like squirrel appealed to kids in the 60s, in the military it means something altogether different.

In military and government vernacular, Secret Squirrel can either be a noun or an adjective. “Who’s that guy, and why isn’t he in uniform?” “Oh, that’s one of those Secret Squirrels from Langley (or Creech, or somewhere else equally mysterious) here to do some Secret Squirrel shit.” See how easily that rolls off the tongue? That phrase has probably never been uttered in real life, but you get the gist of its meaning.

 

The Secret Squirrel Origin Story

Searching for the origin of this phrase, mostly point to the aforementioned cartoon as the source. A SandBoxx article recounts an anecdote from a “Crusty old CW4” who told him the term originated in World War II. Supposedly, Germans have a very hard time pronouncing the word squirrel. By casually attempting to get someone to say the word, mispronunciation could lead to the discovery of German spies.

According to The Washington Post, in an editorial for the Iranian newspaper Resalat the author has some interesting things to say. According to him, Iranian intelligence officials captured 14 actual secret squirrels! Supposedly, foreign governments had captured, trained, and equipped these squirrels with “spy gear,” then released them at the country’s borders.