In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story - John Stockwell

Disaster [221]
Corps Reserves and had for years managed an air proprietary company
in Africa, was sent to Paris. I was satisfied with his selection,
although I wondered if he would be a match for Denard in working
out the terms of the contract. At the outset of the program the
French intelligence crowd had taken General Walters for s250,ooo,
and our station in Paris had consistently been outmaneuvered by the
French. I expected Denard would manag~ to obtain very favorable
terms for himself and his men.
Even my cynical projections did not steel me for the demands that
came by cable from the Paris station on November 24. Denard
agreed to field twenty men for five months for s350,ooo cash and
would deliver them to Kinshasa ten to thirty days after the entire
s350,ooo was deposited to his Luxembourg bank account! He expected
us to give him the entire sum before he began his recruiting
efforts.
I read the Paris cable in the morning but made little comment at
staff meeting. No doubt Denard would eventually get the full s350,­
ooo. The agency never bargains hard in dealing with agents and Potts
was desperate to place the mercenaries in action. It never entered my
mind that we would agree to pay the mercenaries in advance. Other
things involved me during the day and only late that evening did I
find on my desk a cable written by the support office, authorizing
immediate payment of the s350,ooo. Potts wasn't in. I took it across
the hall to Carl Bantam's office and confronted him with it.
"Carl," I said. "Possibly you don't understand about mercenaries.
Their code is money and their only loyalty is to money. There aren't
half a dozen in the world who can be paid in advance and still fulfill
their contracts when it's hot and dirty and the rockets start landing
on the battlefield. With mercenaries you pay as they perform, not
before."
He argued that this situation was different because the French had
recommended Denard.
"So? We know Denard as well as they do." I said. "But that is
beside the point. This is business and it doesn't make sense. It's
unthinkable for the CIA to pay him in advance."
I held my ground and personally tore up the cable. Instead, we
sent out a reply suggesting that we should make a lesser deposit
against Denard's recruiting expenses and pay the remainder in increments
as the operation developed.