February 21, 2026
Spy kids, milk, and Bob did it
What Not to Write on Your Security Clearance Form
FBI vs a 12-year-old: Commenters blame Bob, swoon over milk.com
TLDR: A famed computer pioneer recalls how a lost code sheet got him an FBI file at age 12, later nudging him to keep quiet on clearance forms. Commenters roast government waste, joke that “Bob was the spy,” and marvel that he owns milk.com—turning a tiny wartime scare into meme gold.
The internet is cackling over an old-school spy caper gone hilariously sideways: in 1943, future computing legend Les Earnest lost his glasses case—with a homemade secret code inside—and a “patriotic” stranger handed it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Cue agents showing up at his mom’s door, only to discover the “spy” was a 12-year-old in swim trunks. Years later, Earnest says he only got a security clearance by not bringing up this awkward FBI record. The comments section? Absolute chaos—and comedy.
Top vibe: “This is adorable and so on-brand for an OG,” cheered one fan, calling the 1988 retelling “real cute.” But the sharpest take skewered bureaucracy: “How much money gets burned on dead-end investigations?” Sidelined by wartime paranoia or just classic government overreach? The crowd leaned hard on the roast, with almost no one stepping up to defend the feds.
Then the memes took over. One joker declared, “The real spy was Bob,” turning Earnest’s childhood friend into a full-on villain. Another winked at a famous crypto in-joke—“Is the author’s name Alice?”—while a different crowd got completely distracted by Earnest’s incredible domain flex: milk.com. The result is a perfect internet cocktail: a tiny spy story, a big government facepalm, and a comment section doing what it does best—turning it into legend.
Key Points
- •In 1943, 12-year-old Les Earnest created a private code after reading Fletcher Pratt’s cryptography book “Secret and Urgent.”
- •He hid the typed code key in his glasses case, which he lost on a San Diego trolley after a trip to Old Mission Beach.
- •A citizen found the case, assumed the code key belonged to a Japanese spy, and turned it over to the FBI during wartime.
- •About six weeks later, the FBI questioned Earnest’s mother, creating a juvenile record for him.
- •Years later, Earnest says this FBI record complicated his security clearance, prompting him to conceal the incident.