German Paper Reports CIA Counterfeiting US Currency

The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung is reporting that the CIA may be counterfeiting $50 and $100 bills to avoid congressional oversight of covert operations, while blaming the forgeries on North Korea.

Don't take this with a grain of salt, take it with one of those 25 pound salt licks. No one else in the world seems to be repeating this story and it was published sunday. On the other hand, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung is a fairly respectable paper (info here) and, if it weren't for how far out their the story sounds and the fact that no one else is touching it, I'd probably believe it. Consider this story an illustration of how much damage the CIA's secret prisons in Europe and 'extraordinary rendition' progam have done to the US
reputation abroad -- we're now no more trustworthy than Kim Jong Il.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (translation courtesy of Watching America):

The American secret service, the CIA, could be responsible for
manufacturing the nearly-perfect counterfeit 50 and 100-dollar-notes that Washington pins on the terror regime of North Korea. The charge comes after an extensive investigation in Europe and Asia by the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung of Frankfurt, and after interviews with counterfeit money experts and leading representatives of the high-security publishing industry.

The U.S.-dollar forgeries designated "Supernotes," which are so good that even specialists are unable to distinguish them from genuine notes, have circulated for almost two decades without a reliable identification of the culprits. Because of their extraordinary quality, experts assume that some country must be behind the enterprise.

The story goes on to say that North Korea lacks the technology to forge $50 and $100 bills.

Like I say, approach this story with all the skepticism you have, but consider why europeans would find this kind of story believable.