Spycraft - Melton [121]
Target sites were usually well protected, and the more valuable the information inside, the more layers of protection surrounded it—locks, secured doors, gates, windows, file cabinets, vaults, safes, and even the alarm systems. A lock specialist had to be proficient in dozens of mechanisms since locks in different parts of the world varied in type and method of operation. The techs discovered that German locks were particularly difficult compared to those in South Asia.
The grab bag of different locks and security architecture the techs found in countries from Ghana to Paraguay ranged from early colonial to state-of-the-art. With narrow time windows for covert installations, the techs had to know how many minutes were required to break through locks and security barriers and then restore and rearm the security systems. Information on all of these factors was obtained in a detailed preinstallation clandestine survey of the target conducted by techs and included in the operational proposal. Only after headquarters approval of the survey could an installation operation commence.
Under the best of circumstances, the CIA would obtain advance information that a Soviet intelligence officer planned to move into a new apartment or that the Chinese government was renting an office suite for a new trade mission. If possible, local support agents were recruited to rent or even buy office space, apartments, houses, or property adjacent to target buildings.
Techs infrequently picked a lock, preferring to find other methods to gain entry. Picking took too long, the results were unpredictable, scratches from the picking on the mechanism or housing were detectable, and once a lock was picked open, it had to be picked closed at the end of the operation. Sometimes, when the location was known far enough in advance, the techs could wire the vacant property before its occupants moved in. Architectural spaces, such as the attics of row house buildings, were particularly inviting, since their design offered a contiguous common space over each unit. Once the tech gained access into the attic, he had unobstructed movement to any top-floor unit in the row. Buildings might also provide common basement areas with several outside entrances that enabled the tech team to avoid being seen coming and going through the front door. Given complete access and unlimited time to do the installation, the techs planted multiple microphones and transmitters as well as ran wires, precluding the need to pick any locks.
Depending on the relationship with security services of the host country, known collectively as “liaison,” the CIA could assign the task of performing an entry to liaison. In many countries, the internal security service already had duplicate keys to all rooms in every major hotel, and master keys for apartment houses and important commercial buildings.
The techs also made duplicate keys. By the early 1960s, master keys for every popular hotel in more than one major European city hung neatly on a rack in the techs’ shop in local stations. When possible, case officers would “beg, borrow, bribe, or steal” master or original keys. OTS had key-cutting machines at its bases and the traveling techs carried portable key-making devices that fit inside a briefcase. From the properly sized and configured blank, the techs could cut a duplicate within a few minutes.
For keys that were briefly available, OTS developed a portable key-impressioning kit. The kit consisted of a small mold with two halves filled with plastic modeling putty.14 The purloined key was placed on the putty and the two halves of the mold pressed together to capture a three-dimensional model of the key. Later, the tech could pour Wood’s Metal into the mold and create an exact copy of the key.15
The last choice was to attempt to pick an unknown lock. For this contingency, OTS issued leather lock pick kits that were small enough to fit in a jacket pocket, but provided the necessary tools for picking and raking the tumblers of many commonly found locks.16