Freaky Friday: Watching You Watching Them

 

I joke from time to time about people in the Washington DC area not being able to tell you what they really do for a living.  At our holiday gathering I asked one of my neighbors what kind of work she did, and she said she worked for military intelligence, and her wife promptly said, "and if she tells you any more I have to kill you." Probably kidding, but maybe not. 

I was recently reminded of the first retired CIA agent that I met.  I shared an office with him for a few months in Florida.  John was born and raised in Tennessee, his parents and grandparents had immigrated from Germany after World War I, he was raised speaking German at home, and English everywhere else.  He enlisted in the Army Air Corp in World War II, and served in Europe.  At the end of the war, two men in dark suits appeared in his office one day and informed him that his country needed him.  He was recruited into military intelligence.  His language skills were invaluable.  He spent a decade after the war undercover in Germany trading in the blackmarket.  The CIA wanted to know who was buying and selling what, and he was given money and free reign to be a market trader.   

He returned to the states, married, started a family, with his family believing that he worked for the Airforce.  For over a decade he left the house in uniform, and changed into a suit at the office. Eventually he told his family.  

One day in the mid 1970's he arrived at the office, swiped his ID card and the door wouldn't open.  He swiped it again, and a message popped up to see the guard.  The guard looked up his ID and said, congratulations John, you retired last night. He responded "I what?"  The answer was the Director and President accepted your resignation last night, someone will be down in a minute with your personal effects, your last check is in the mail, your pension starts today, the check will be in the mail next month.  

John knew the process, he had initiated it a few times over the years.  Somehow he had been compromised.  He never knew how, or by whom.  Most likely an insider in a foreign intelligence service had identified who he was, what he was working on, and who his contacts were.  That made him a risk to national security, and honestly a risk to his personal safety.  The only answer he got from his office was, move away, stay quiet.  He did.  

I have met a couple of other former intelligence agents over the years that were able to talk a little bit about what their adventures, but not much.  I have met many more who simply don't tell you what they really do.  

Okay, a couple more funny stories.  One friend told me that when she was a teenager and her mother worked in a US embassy someplace in the world.  On her mother's last day on an assignment, as they were leaving the country to return to the states her mother took her to the office.  They went into a supply closet, and in the back corner through a locked door into another office, that led to a long hallway and another door to mom's office.  That was the day she knew what mom really did.  Another friend here in DC, said play a game,  stand outside and count the number of floors based on rows of windows, then get in the elevator  (lift) and see how many floors there are buttons for.  If there are more rows of windows, than floor buttons on the elevator, you know the spies have their own floor. I worked in one of those buildings and never knew who was on the floor between 3 and 4.  

7 months 26 days