Chapter 4. The Indoctrination

1320 Zulu, Friday, August 8, 1980, Agency Headquarters somewhere near Washington D.C.

Jason Speare reports to Agency headquarters at 1300 Zulu on a Friday morning. One of the two security officers behind the reception desk escorts him to an office where she takes his Agency badge, goes over some papers on the desk and finally gives him a new one. Then she spends ten minutes validating his security clearances. The security officer, who doesn’t identify herself, escorts him to through a maze of halls with tiled floors to a locked door. She opens the cipher lock and leads him in. David Green’s office is in this large windowless SCIF with several small offices, and a conference room; all painted a pale industrial green. A secretary works at a desk in a common area. The security officer does the necessary formal security introduction between Jason and David and leaves the SCIF.

“Sorry I’m a bit late David. I arrived early enough but checking in was a bit of a hassle. The only Agency ID I had is from my job in West Berlin. They did find your note saying I would be arriving today and gave me a temporary ID to use until I get the permanent one. Good thing you alerted them or they wouldn’t have let me in. Then they had to see if I have the proper clearances and it took ten minutes to confirm my clearances were forwarded from Berlin.”

“It’s great to finally have you here in hot and muggy Washington Jason. Sorry, the transfer took so long but you know how the Agency bureaucracy works, slow and careful. I got you an office close enough for you to share my secretary, Jane Kiefer. She’s married so don’t hit on her. If you have any administrative issues or need anything for your office Jane is great at working the system. She is also secretary to the Director of the CID, Jackson Spruell, our boss.”

“I am glad to be back in Washington even with the heat and humidity. It beats Berlin’s dreary winters and I’m looking forward to working with you. By the way, how are Nancy and the kids?”

“They’re great Jason and they will be happy to see you more often. Your holiday visit each year hasn’t been enough. Nancy insists you stay with us until you find an apartment and I second that; it’ll give us a chance to catch up.”

“Thanks, David. I’d like that. It’ll give me a chance to get to know your girls better. I can start to teach Rachael to kick a soccer ball.”

“Great. I’ll give Nancy a call and tell her you’ll be staying. I would take you to meet the Director, Bill Allen, but he’s on travel today. He served in the OSS with our fathers and he’s kind of like a father to us. He still has a crew cut and wears suits he must have bought in the 1950s. I guess fashion isn’t interesting to him. He’s always serious but he’s fair and I like working for him.”

“My dad said I’m lucky to be working for Mr. Allen when he learned I transferred back to Washington.”

 “My dad also respects him and keeps reminding me not to screw up any work for Allen. I guess they were all close during the war. Now, let me outline my plan to get you up to speed on the CID and how Jackson operates. First, I’ll explain how Jackson wants us to work and do the security introduction to Jackson and the others you will be working with. Then we’ll go over some of the technical details likely changed since your training nine years ago.”

“Before Jackson and I were promoted separate teams worked Collection CI and Defensive and Offensive CI’s. The teams coordinated work at weekly reviews. Jackson feels this isn’t the most effective way to conduct CI so he organized us in teams each responsible for all three elements of CI. Jackson assigns each team a mission. I believe this is how teams were organized in the Operations Directorate where Jackson worked before his promotion and transfer to CID. With this new organization, the coordination takes place as the work is done and we only need to review the status of the missions on a biweekly basis. It cuts out half of the meeting time.”

“Let’s get the security introductions taken care of and let Jackson welcome you. I should warn you, Jackson is a quiet guy. He’ll share his background but rarely his thoughts. I think it comes from being in the Operations Directorate for so long. But it does make him hard to know. If I had to guess I’d say Jackson is hoping to become Agency Director when Allen retires. That would explain why he is so serious and careful with what he says. At least I hope that is the reason for his behavior.”

“Thanks, David; I am sure I can get used to Jackson’s quietness. I worked with some peculiar people in Europe. Which reminds me; I assume the dress code here is suits and ties. In Operations in Europe we dressed however we needed to fit in with the people we were targeting or running as assets.”

“Yes the dress in CID is standard business clothes. We are expected to be as inconspicuous as possible although I think it marks us as Agency people to others in the government.”

After finishing the security introductions with Jane and the three others working in the small offices David takes Jason to Jackson’s office, does the formal security introduction. Jackson welcomes Jason and explains how he is reorganizing the CID’s work.

Jackson wraps up by asking, “David, have you decided to which mission team you’ll assign Jason?”

“Most definitely, I think it’s best Jason begins with the Green Fox team. That’s the East European mission, Jason. We use the code name Fox for CI missions and colors for the geographical areas included in the mission. Green is the code for Eastern Europe. You are already familiar with East Europe from the Operations perspective. I think it will make your transition to CI easier and bring some fresh and knowledgeable eyes to Green Fox,”

“I agree David. Oh, and be sure and brief Jason on our secure comms and the new portable computer terminals. Sound okay to you Jason?

“It does. I hope my eight years collecting intel and trying to recruit agents from East European countries will be useful.”

David interjects: “Thanks, Jackson. Jason, let’s go to your new office, I want to show you how to use our computer network and your portable terminal.”

“Ok David, Thank you, Jackson, for the warm welcome and explaining how the CID operates.”

When they get to Jason’s new office David explains: “This computer terminal can access and edit files or add new files to the supercomputer in the adjoining SCIF. We still use the computer terminals that print out on rolls of paper in our offices.  I hear more modern terminals with TV-like displays are coming but we don’t have them yet. You are responsible for making sure no printout paper with classified data gets out of your office. Just put paper you are finished with into one of these burn bags and someone will properly destroyed it each day. File printout you want to reference in this filing cabinet with the cipher lock. Ask Jane for the combination.”

Handing Jason a piece of paper David says: “You have ‘need-to-know’ for these files. The files are stored on the supercomputer.  It is the heart of a secure network each of us in CID uses to analyze stored data from the Collection CI efforts and to store plans for Defensive and Offensive CI. The supercomputer allows each agent to see only files he or she has an approved need-to-know. The network is modeled after an unclassified network developed by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Our network is secure and allows communications of classified data between the supercomputer here at Headquarters and PDP-10 computers located at other agencies in the intelligence community.”

Jason is amazed when he learns the DARPA scientists have developed techniques allowing the Agency to have secure communications between computers, “Why didn’t we have terminals in our Berlin Office David?”

“Budget limitations force us to implement the network slowly. It isn’t the cost of the terminals like this one in your office. It’s the cost of the secure communication system that allows us to send data anywhere in the world without any chance of it being intercepted. Did your Berlin facility happen to be getting a new HVAC system on the roof before you left Jason?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I saw equipment with HVAC labels being installed by contractors in the last month.”

“HVAC is the cover being used for the secure communications equipment. The equipment must be installed with a clear line of sight to a communications satellite so it works from a roof and since most roofs have HVAC equipment it’s a good cover.”

“How can you be sure it’s secure David? Can’t someone intercept the signals?”

“Ah, those DARPA engineers had a very special antenna developed that uses a technique they call side lobe cancellation so only a narrow beam is detectable and it goes straight to a satellite. The signal is encrypted, buried in electronic noise and synchronized to a random code known only to our supercomputer. Each station has its unique random code. Panels enclose the equipment and transmit no signals except the main beam going straight to a satellite. The panels are protected by electronics that can detect any tampering and shut the systems down to protect from bugs installed on or near the units. Our engineers tried every way they could think of to intercept the signal from the first unit installed at a US test site and failed. They even hired some MIT scientists to invent a way of intercepting the signals. The scientists also failed. So we have a lot of confidence in our communications. Of course, we must keep it secret just in case we missed something.”

Then David lifts what looks like an oversized briefcase onto Jason's desk. "This is your portable computer terminal Jason. You can take it home and on travel. It enables you to communicate via the ARPA net. ARPA net is the unclassified communications network DARPA created for computer to computer communications. The Agency doesn't have a computer to computer network for classified information other than the secure comms system I just showed you, which uses fixed terminals that must remain inside SCIFs. The portable terminal sends encrypted messages and information to a computer outside the SCIF. The local computer prints a paper tape of the encrypted messages. The paper tape is hand carried into the SCIF housing the PDP-10, which stores the only copy of the code required to decrypt the message."

"Are you saying we now have a way to send any classified information from any location using one of these terminals?"

"Not quite Jason. We are pretty confident we have a reliable system but it's relatively new so we don't yet trust it for Top Secret information. So, for now, we are limiting its use to encrypted Secret level information but with the use of code words we are able to get good use of the portable terminals. It gives us faster communications from locations not yet having the secure comms system than we can get if we require everyone to limit communications to inside SCIFs."

"How do I use the portable terminal?”

David flips open the latches on the cover and shows Jason what seems to be a normal typewriter keyboard, a tiny display and two rubber disks the size of coffee cups spaced about six inches apart above the keyboard.

"When you are alone in a room with a telephone and can't be seen by anyone you put the telephone receiver into these two rubber holders, with the microphone in the one marked with an M. Then you dial the telephone number that connects directly to a computer in this building. If you are on foreign travel you’ll use a phone number that connects to the closest site with a secure uplink. When the connection is made this little light turns green and you are ready to send your message. You type your message; the terminal encrypts it and sends it to the local computer or one with a secure uplink. You can see what you type on this small display. When your message is complete you type END using all caps. Wait for a minute or so and if the computer has successfully received the message it sends a tone that turns on this blue light so you know your message is received. If the computer concludes the message has been garbled in transmission this red light comes on and then you repeat your message. If you get a reply it displays on this tiny screen."

"How can we be sure someone can't pick up the keystrokes and intercept the message?"

"The engineers developed a special keyboard that doesn’t emit any sound or signals from your keystrokes. As long as no one can see you type there is no way to see what your message contains. The only thing that leaves the terminal is the encrypted message and without the key it can't be decrypted, at least we believe it can't."

“Now, Jason if you are ready to get to work on Green Fox I’ll leave you to it. You will find everything you need to begin work in the Green Fox file on the computer.”

Suddenly Jackson Spruell bursts into David's office and says: "David, we have a flap the Green Fox team needs to jump on immediately. Gather the team in the conference room and I'll explain what's happened and the team's new assignment."

"Ok Jackson, we're on it. Let's go, Jason, this’ll show you how the team works. We have long term tasks that take up most of our efforts but several times a year Jackson comes in with one of his flaps. Then we have to stop our other tasks and, as he said, jump on the new problem until it’s resolved."