Spycraft - Melton [229]
An access agent presented the statue to the ambassador during a ceremony on the annual celebration of the communist country’s national day. A listening post, a block away from the embassy, recorded the event as the access agent wheeled the bronze into the embassy and made the presentation. After several minutes of listening to diplomatic social chatter, the listening post’s keeper remotely switched the device off until the next morning. All waited anxiously to hear where the ambassador would display the sculpture.
When the audio was switched on again, the concealed statue continued performing splendidly. The ambassador had it sitting next to him as he conducted his daily briefing of his senior ministers. The placement could not have been better, right in the ambassador’s conference room.
Congratulations for the CIA officers were, however, premature. The ambassador then announced that a treasure like this statue deserved to stand in the embassy’s most prestigious location. All important visitors would pass this prominent spot at the top of the stairs leading to the ambassador’s suite and thus could pause to admire the sculpture.
The announcement was terrible news for the operation. The top of the stairs would not be an area used for secret briefings and meetings. The listening post monitored the device for several weeks but obtained nothing of intelligence value. The concealment tech and sculptor had done their jobs, perhaps too well. Assessment of the ambassador had not anticipated his need to display and show off the magnificent gift.19
OTS created masking or camouflage for equipment whose size, location, or function precluded concealment, but which could not be left visible. Roof antennas were masked by tool or storage sheds to prevent another security service from determining the antenna’s direction and configuration. A laser communication device pointing out of the window of an agent’s dining room might be camouflaged as a large decorative urn. The entrance to a secret tunnel in the basement of a safe house could be masked by a bar and wine racks that slid easily aside for the tunnel access. Each masking system is designed to draw attention to the mask itself without attempting to hide the fact of its existence. Because the mask is something that would be expected in the environment, no particular curiosity is aroused and no further examination of the mask is invited.
OTS techs enjoyed James Bond movies for the beautiful women, daring men, quips, and especially for the clever ingenuity exhibited by Major Quentin Boothroyd, known as Q. They never failed to be amazed at how well Q’s devices always worked in the field.20 The gadget master for Her Majesty’s Service met with Bond before each operation and issued him devices drawn from a seemingly endless array of well-designed and highly crafted gadgets. Q always anticipated needs and applied technology that pushed the boundaries of design, materials, and craftsmanship. In the character of Q, techs recognized a surprisingly realistic depiction of a scientist-craftsman-intelligence officer who shared many of their everyday problems. Q dealt with officers who were technophobic, worked with people who neither understood nor trusted technology, spent hours teaching the proper use of devices, and unsuccessfully admonished Bond to remember to return the gadget to stores when finished with it. At OTS, a real-life Q would have felt comfortable at a location known simply as “the lab.”
The OTS lab,