Spycraft - Melton [230]
Compared to a university environment, the lab wanted for neither money nor skilled craftsmen. If the concealment tech needed a new tool or piece of equipment, he could get it or make it. Men and women with twenty or more years of experience seemed eager to pass their knowledge on to the new arrival. Not only did the lab have talented techs, it also had the necessary tools and materials, such as industrial-quality sewing machines for professional work with textiles, fabric, and leather. Thousands of dollars’ worth of the finest glove and belt-weight leathers, dyes of every color, along with cutting and buffing machines, were available to make items appear “factory new” or “old as dirt.” The shop could produce handbags with fine stitching and maintained a selection of needles, guards for hands, colors and weights of threads, and various types of fabrics. In the metal shop there were tools that few universities could afford, including special gauges and single-purpose cutters. The cabinetmaking shop turned out furniture, molding, or decorative boxes with the look, craftsmanship, and quality of the finest manufacturer. Exotic woods were available to match any operational need. The plastic and electronic shops were similarly equipped.
As clandestine ops in the Soviet Union accelerated, the lab devoted half of its concealment output to supporting these operations. Soviet operations were considered so sensitive that case officers demanded a different type of concealment item for every operation; and since no item was ever repeated, each required the full process from design to fabrication.21
Items with the largest cavities were usually wooden structures such as bookcases and desks. Techs in the 1970s designed and built all CD furniture from scratch, from unfinished raw wood to completed desk, bookcase, or bed stand.22 Later, in the 1980s, “solid” wood products began to be replaced on the commercial market with furniture constructed from particleboard, which was less expensive, but frequently heavier and less durable. Since the techs’ job was to produce CDs that blended in with other contemporary furniture, the lab shifted its construction to particleboard as well. For the OTS craftsmen this change was accompanied by a noticeable fall-off in the quality of furniture and increased operational difficulties. A case officer who issued a particleboard CD bookcase learned that after one or two moves, the tolerances and alignment of latches necessary for the CD to function properly did not hold up nearly as well as those in solid wood. The techs found adjustments almost impossible, so the only solution was to build a new piece.
Although wood was most frequently used, by no means was it the only host material employed for concealments. The lab could construct CDs in toolboxes, toasters, power supplies, large step-down transformers (2000-watt models that were available overseas), bases of small refrigerators, small air conditioners, and vehicles. The shop was equipped to work in plastics, a material that went through phases of popularity in the consumer marketplace. However, plastic generally was so light that if used as a CD for any weighty item, an explanation was required as to why this apparently lightweight plastic set of drawers seemed so heavy and solid.
The OTS concealment shop was the ultimate “form, fit, and function” business that