Spycraft - Melton [124]
Epoxy was the tech’s best friend. The strength of small amounts and its brief curing time were important to completing a permanent installation quickly. It could repair broken housings, fill cracks and holes, and hold equipment suspended at awkward angles in almost any location. Epoxy could also teach a lifelong lesson. A tech on his first job and anxious to please his mentor, was asked to quickly prepare a batch of epoxy. Without seeing a container to hold the mixture, the tech squirted the two components into his palm and stirred them together. His palm became warm, then very warm, then very hot. Yet, the tech’s professional pride and urgency to get the installation finished overrode the burning pain. He said nothing until the team returned to base and the medics treated him for a first-degree burn that permanently scarred his palm.
While techs were officially a “service” that responded to DO operational requirements, they frequently became involved in defining the requirement and developing the operational proposal for Headquarters. When operational proposals required technical detail, the writing responsibility fell to the tech. All technical operations required formal approval from both OTS, weighing in on the technical feasibility, and the operational division, which evaluated intelligence value and counterintelligence risk. Therefore, the field proposal issued under the local chief’s signature became all-important. The COS always had the final word on the proposal, but the techs established informal codes to communicate differing opinions to Headquarters without crossing the chief.
One effective method for informing Headquarters of what the tech really thought involved the length of the proposal. In drafting the cable, concise and clear language signaled the tech’s confidence in the operation, while a lengthy, excessively detailed proposal, with pros and cons, conveyed the tech’s doubts and gave Headquarters plenty of information to “pick at” and challenge. In this way, when an operation was turned down, the chief directed his displeasure at Headquarters, not the tech.
Interactions between the audio techs and station management mirrored family relationships more than commercial customer-supplier exchanges. This was because OTS had no competitors for the services that the stations needed, but, more significantly, the case officers and techs shared a commitment to the common mission. Even so, disagreements between case officer and tech were part of the everyday picture.
“A regular philosophical battle was the ‘time on target’ discussion for an operation,” explained a senior audio tech. “There’s a school that said, when you go into a target site, stay as long as you have to and be as quiet as you can. You might be inside for three hours or four days, but take as long as needed to do the operation ‘silently.’ Another school said, you get in there, minimize the noise, but do it as fast as possible and get out in a few hours. I had one of these battles with a very tough chief of station. I lost, but he heard me out. He said go in, don’t make noise, and stay as long as you need. It took five solid days to get through thirty inches of concrete drilling by hand. We smelled pretty ripe. But there wasn’t any question about the chain of command. When the ops people made the operational call and Headquarters concurred, we saluted.”23
Another tech disagreed with his case officer over his choice of cars for his cover status. “I had a 1957 Chevy, it was a wild-looking thing and the case officer was perturbed