Learning English from CIA

The sentence that caught my attention in this article is at the end of the quote:

The official, described as having direct knowledge of an analysis done by the U.S. military and intelligence agencies of the Dec. 12 launch by the secretive Communist country, told CNN the United States and its allies were caught "off guard" even though U.S. and Japanese military vessels and missile defenses were in place to monitor it and to protect land, sea and space.

"We had our dukes up, operationally, but we were caught off guard," the official was quoted as saying.

So, of course, I went googling for the "dukes". Now I know. These are the same dukes that CIA fellows can't find their backsides with. Without a manual, that is.

Cool.