Spycraft - Melton [280]
18 Royden, “Tolkachev, A Worthy Successor to Penkovsky,” 10.
19 The location in which the car was parked, direction it was facing, and other simple variables could be used as the signal.
20 Personal meetings in a denied area are inherently dangerous for the agent and avoided if at all possible. Though the agent may be unknown to counterintelligence, the case officer is always subject to being surveilled and may unknowingly lead surveillance to the meeting. Dead drops are a form of “impersonal communication” in which the agent and handler are separated by time, but not space. Personal meetings do, however, provide the handler with the important advantage of assessing the agent’s mental state and verifying that operational instructions are understood.
21 Information has more value when the adversary does not realize that it has been “lost.” As such, secretly copying documents is almost always preferred to taking the original document.
22 The KGB and other intelligence services recommended Minox cameras for their agents. U.S. Navy Warrant Officer John Walker, a mole for the KGB, was trained in the use of a Minox Model-C camera for “doc copy” during a trip to Vienna in the late 1960s. His technical instructions are still valid: use B/W Plus-X Pan film (ASA 125), shutter speed at 1/100th, distance to document eighteen inches, and even illumination with a 75-100 watt bulb placed at a 45-degree angle to the document.
23 In 1938, the original “Riga” Minox camera could be concealed in a man’s closed fist. Postwar Minox models (II and III) were just as small, but often necessitated the use of a separate light meter which also had to be concealed. In 1958 Minox incorporated an internal light meter for the first time into the slightly larger Model-B. Though still a “pocketable” camera, the Minox “B” and later models would continue to add features and size. In 1981 Minox introduced its smallest and lightest camera series, the “EC,” but its fixed-focus lens (three feet to infinity) was unusable for document photography. Regardless of the Minox camera being used, they were not designed for covert use and the act of “doc copy” would be obvious to anyone observing the user.
24 Tolkachev was instructed to be home from 6:00 PM till 8:00 PM on the evening of the date that corresponded to the number of the month; 1 January, 2 February, 3 March, 4 April, etc., and “cover” (stand by to answer) his phone. The call would be disguised as a “wrong number” wherein the caller would ask for one of three names. Each name was linked to a prearranged dead drop site: OLGA, ANNA, or NINA. If the caller asker for VALERIY it would trigger a personal meeting at a prearranged location exactly one hour following the call. Each month, on a date that equaled the number of the month plus fifteen—21 June, 22 July, 23 August—Tolkachev was further instructed to be at a prearranged site at a specific time and wait for five minutes. If his regular handler did not meet him, he was provided with a “parole” (a recognition signal and password) to authenticate the identity of the person sent to meet him.
25 An additional advantage of using the unmodified commercially available Pentax ME camera was that it was not a piece of “tradecraft” equipment and there was a plausible explanation for him to have it in his apartment. Conversely, possession of a noncommercial subminiature “doc copy” camera was proof of espionage.
26 Tolkachev was also provided with parked-car signals (PCS) which would confirm receipt of a transmission by the direction in which his car was parked. The CIA also parked cars on routes