Spycraft - Melton [88]
It was tedious work. The position of each conduit and cable needed to be identified in a logical way. Working from a checklist, Ken collected samples, made identifying notations and then moved on to the next grouping. A small “bookkeeping” mistake of misidentifying a single cable could invalidate the sampling. Working methodically, he was conscious that each additional minute in the hole increased the chances of discovery, while haste could lead to unacceptable mistakes.
Infrared film combined with a Kodak Wratten 87C filter covering the flash allowed undetectable photography of documents or objects under low-light and dark conditions.
Ken had a second mission, as well. While waiting for sample collection, he “cased” the chamber, photographing the conduit and cable layout using a 35mm camera outfitted with an infrared flash unit.24 This documentation would provide a current and complete record of the underground chamber, including details that could assist in any final design changes of the collar for permanent installation.
Finally satisfied that he had collected and recorded adequate samples of the data, Ken inventoried his tools, repacked the equipment, climbed up the ladder, and poked his head out. With no one in sight, he emerged from the manhole, quickly slid the heavy cover back into place, and retreated toward the narrow treeline where he removed the waders and stuffed them back into the rucksack.
Ken was some distance from his family but the preplanned route that returned him to the picnic area was more direct than the one that brought him to the target. After walking into the park with no evidence of surveillance, he found another secluded spot, changed out of the street disguise, and returned to his wife and children looking the same as when he left a little more than five hours before.
Sharon, although relieved to see Ken, understood the operation was not yet a success. If surveillance had paid attention to her and the kids and noticed Ken’s absence, that would raise questions. American men did not normally leave their families alone in a park for hours on end.
Wasting no time, they gathered up the children along with the picnic gear and headed back to the VW bus. Neither Ken nor Sharon relaxed on the drive home with the invaluable tape and tapping equipment in their possession. They drove carefully and continued observing cars behind and in front of their van, since no American was immune from accidental or KGB-staged automobile mishaps that could result in questioning or search.
No celebration awaited Ken, although the chief anxiously anticipated a reason to return to his office that evening. While he had received no emergency signal from Sharon, he went to the office, opened the door, flipped on the light, and saw a sheet of paper torn from a government-issued notebook taped to the wall. Scrawled in pencil on the otherwise blank page was “#1.” It was Ken’s simple signal announcing the success of a critical phase in the CIA’s most advanced technical operation in the USSR.
Based on the analysis of Ken’s sampling, CIA identified the primary target cable and authorized installation of a permanent tap. For several years CKTAW successfully recorded communications between Krasnaya Pakhra and the Soviet Ministry of Defense. Then, in the spring of 1985, something went wrong. An officer sent to recover the tapes from the recording device aborted his mission when remote interrogation of the unit returned a “tamper indicated” signal.25 After a few weeks, a second trip to the site did recover the tapes, but the system had ceased functioning and the entire operation was shut down.26
What had gone wrong? For years, the virtually trouble-free American penetration of top secret Soviet data streams had gone undetected before suddenly coming to a halt. CIA counterintelligence officers speculated the reason behind CKTAW’s loss was more sinister than just