Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Policy

Virtual Honeypot

Espionage via Twitter?

Peter Suderman | From the July 2011 issue

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
Credit: Reason Magazine

On Twitter, no one knows you're a spy. In fact, no one really knows what you look like at all. So posing as a scantily clad, flirty woman who just happens to be well-connected in the national security sector takes little more than an image of an anonymous bikini-clad body on a beach. 

When a Twitter user going by the handle "1st Lady of Missiles" first showed up on the service, she picked an alluring photo of a young woman in a skimpy bathing suit. Later, under a different account named PrimorisEra, she used a photo of a woman's chest, draped in long brown hair with one shoulder exposed. 

Under her various accounts, she claimed to be working with both the CIA and the Pentagon. As Spencer Ackerman reported for Wired in April, it didn't take long before the user built up a following among defense policy professionals, some of whom now say she used her Twitter connections to ask for sensitive information about security operations. 

The woman, who sometimes went by the name Shawna Gorman, was eventually accused of being a "honeypot": a spy who uses sex appeal to get others to reveal secret information. The Pentagon launched an investigation into her online interactions at the end of April.  

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: Less Time, Less Crime

Peter Suderman is features editor at Reason.

PolicyCultureScience & TechnologyCrimeInternet
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Show Comments (40)

Latest

Americans Don't Actually Like Trump's Bad Guy Posturing on Immigration and the Military

Matthew Petti | 9.9.2025 12:42 PM

New York City Wants $250,000 From SoHo Artists Just To Stay in Their Homes

Anastasia Boden and Christopher Kieser | 9.9.2025 11:15 AM

The Kawhi Leonard Scandal Raises the Alarm: Are Salary Caps Fair, or Fiction?

Jason Russell | 9.9.2025 10:45 AM

Epstein's Birthday Book

Liz Wolfe | 9.9.2025 9:30 AM

Prison Guards Forcibly Cut a Rastafarian Inmate's Dreadlocks. SCOTUS Will Decide If They Can Be Sued Over It.

Damon Root | 9.9.2025 7:00 AM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2025 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300
Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300
Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300