In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story - John Stockwell

(104) IN SEARCH OF ENEMIES
ing agents is the name of the game. A case officer who recruits gets
promoted, and good officers are always assessing people for recruitment,
nearly everyone they meet. DDO studies have shown that 10
percent of the case officers make 90 percent of all recruitments,
comparable to the ratio of submarine commanders in World War II
who sank ships. Most case officers never recruit an agent in their
careers and must accept the lesser role of maintaining operations
others have created. Recruited airport officials, taxi drivers, and
police officers are considered part of the "plumbing" of a CIA station
-with little access to intelligence themselves, they facilitate the case
officer's other activities.
When the phone rang an hour later, we were having our second
beer, the two Ndjili officials and I. I would probably never see them
again, but talking to them, "establishing rapport" as we said in the
CIA, gave me confidence. After a four-year absence from Africa I
had not lost my touch.
Our beer-fueled rapport made it easy for the two officials to back
down. "Mon ami," the Kasaian said. "Why didn't you tell us these
boxes have special radio equipment for the president to use in Angola?"
Our embassy limousine pulled onto the crowded highway, Monsieur
Albert braking and swerving defensively around other vehicles
but plunging directly into the potholes. If Kinshasa had been spruced
up and the roads repaired for the Ali-Foreman :fight the year before,
you couldn't tell it now. Bracing the rice paper notebook on my knee
I jotted down biographical details about the customs officials. Someone
from the station might follow up.
The station administrative officer helped us unload our boxes in
front of the embassy. I thanked Albert and was almost through the
door when he called out, "M'sieu' John, I think you're missing a
box."
He was right. There were only fifteen.
"Welcome to Kinshasa," I muttered, continuing up the stairs.
I was not a stranger here, and I had worked with four of the
regular officers in the Kinshasa station in previous assignments. The
deputy chief of station, Jimmy Bartlett, had been under business
cover when I was in the Ivory Coast. I had been his inside man, his
only direct contact with the CIA. Another case officer, Roger
Mueller, was a chess buddy from my previous headquarters tour. He