In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story - John Stockwell

Savimbi
"It is hard to be exact," he said. "We are not organized that way."
Together he and I extrapolated four thousand UNIT A troops
more or less ready for combat, plus six thousand trainees. These were
the figures I reported to headquarters.
Here was the most significant finding of my trip: We had understood
that UNIT A was the weakest militarily of the three liberation
movements; in fact, Savimbi's army was several times larger than the
FNLA's, better led, and supported by a political organization of
some depth. This would be heartening news at headquarters, an
unexpected asset in our war against the MPLA.
On the other hand, the UNIT A forces, like the FNLA, had no
logistical system, the poorest of internal communications, and no
organization or leadership below the level of major.
Savimbi deposited me at the airport, shook my hand gravely, and
left. There were no parting speeches, his mind was already on the
preparations for the battle of Lobito.
We were back in Kinshasa by late afternoon. I went directly to the
embassy, read the cable traffic, and then went into St. Martin's office.
He greeted me indifferently, and then, as though in afterthought,
handed me a cable, assuming a defiant stance, ready for a fight.
"Here, you better read this," he said.
"Oh, that?" I didn't take it from his hand. "Yeah, I already saw
that on your reading board outside.'' It was his comment on my
FNLA report, bearing the Eyes Only Plotka (Potts's pseudonym)
slug, for Potts's exclusive attention. Without disputing the facts it
cast a shadow on some points in my report. It was an effort to
demonstrate his seniority, as basic as a dog sniffing another's urine
and covering it with his own.
I had so far avoided an argument with St. Martin and meant to
keep it that way.
"You are entitled to your own comment," I said about his cable.
"Listen, Colonel Castro is over at the Intercontinental ... " Castro
had telephoned the embassy, requesting a meeting and in St. Martin's
own city I was obliged to tell him of any agent meetings or covert
activity.
The next morning I cleared through the station with little delay,
only taking time to send out a brief message giving my estimated time
of arrival in Washington.