Research Subject #1
October 15, 2008
Offices at Langley:
If you are stationed there for a period of time then you would have your own office. It would be small, because the space is at a premium. There would be a window, a two person sofa, coffee table, chair and desk. There would be a book shelf. Art on the wall might include something picked up while overseas or a picture of yourself with the President or a foreign dignitary (signed).
If you are really just there for a short period before going back overseas you would be put in a cubicle in a bullpen situation. This is true even of senior overseas officers, even Station Chiefs. It would be very utilitarian with your secure phone, US government issue stapler, an empty desk and a computer. The feeling is very modular.
Where the DO hang out:
They all work in the same building but they don’t really mix with everyone else.
Cafeteria: People in the DO are highly social so they are always looking for company. They always sit together. You can always find someone you know even if you’ve been away for a few years. Analysts and security officers are the ones you see hanging out alone.
The library: Some people hang out in the library but these are mostly the “hall walkers” people who don’t really have a job, usually because they’ve gotten into trouble.
Blind Man’s Stand: A snack shop people will congregate around. It got it’s name because for years it was run by 2 blind proprietors, the reasoning being the identity of workers at the CIA was so sensitive that they didn’t want anyone inside who could see who they were an compromise them. It’s located right next to the credit union.
Front steps of the old building: Where people used to smoke.
Courtyard where the Krypto sculpture is.
Other interesting spaces at Langley:
The big building that houses the incinerators used to burn all the sensitive paper.
There’s a river or creek that runs alongside the building
The shuttle buses that come and go taking workers to other buildings outside Langley.
What would happen if a defector shows up at the front gate:
There are no interrogation rooms. Someone who shows up like Taktaroff would never be allowed inside. The big fear is that the person would see faces of people who work inside and that would compromise them.
They would be taken to a safe house in the area and questioned there. In other places around the world they often have what’s called a ‘walk-in room’ to just this sort of situation.
Subject #1 mentioned the story of the Soviet defector Yurchenko who was taken to the Farm where a special prison was eventually built for him. He was kept there and questioned for three years. He finally returned to Russia.
There is another story involving Aldridge Ames. He was sent to the airport to pick up an arriving defector. In the car he realized that the information the defector had and was going to spill was that Ames was a traitor. Ames managed the situation by convincing the guy that he shouldn’t tell anyone.
Being fingered as a traitor:
She had a friend this happened to. He was brought back to the country under false pretenses. He was stopped in his hotel coming down an elevator, whisked away by security and interrogated.
She was also accused at one point of betraying secrets. It’s frustrating to try to prove you are innocent. The feeling involve shock, disbelief that you are being accused and then a feeling that you can obviously talk your way out of the situation.
Personality of Directorate of Operations officers:
They are highly manipulative by training but they also tend to have natural gifts in this area. They are game players who mess with minds. You don’t know when you are being played even by friends and colleagues.
The world of the Directorate of Operations is a Hall of Mirrors. In a movie you usually end up knowing what’s true and how the story ends. In real life you never know. In real life there is no closure and that’s what’s hard.
Research Subject #2
October 15, 2008
Attire for a woman in the Directorate of Operation:
As an officer in the Directorate of Operations you didn’t have to dress so conservatively. Officers did tend to dress well, tending toward business attire. The look was never flashy or sexy and not too casual. The higher up the ranks you went the better you tended to dress because you never knew what kind of important meeting you might be pulled into.
She tended to choose dresses or nice pantsuits and favored heels and boots.
In general women in the DO dressed better than average. She was stationed in NYC and so tried to stay fashionable.
Women do wear jewelry but not overloaded. People who had been stationed overseas would sometimes have diamonds if they had been in South Africa or perhaps gotten a good deal on jade pieces or rubies or sapphires. She had rings from Thailand that she liked to wear.
Men in the DO also tend to dress nicely, almost always with a shirt and tie.
Attire for others at Langley:
What you will tend to see walking down the halls of Langley are a variety of not-stylish people. These are analysts, researchers, security people who, unlike Officers in the DO, never have to go out and meet people.
They tend to be much more casual than DO officers and wear the sort of fashion you might see on an average Virginian or West Virginian who shops at WalMart.
Many of the women, not in the DO, are overweight and favor the kind of wash and wear gabardine pants that don’t really flatter their fuller figures.
There is a real fashion difference between Officers in the Directorate of Operations and the other workers at Langley.
Layout at Langley:
The campus is made up of 2 buildings. The OLD BUILDING is the one everyone enters through and has the lobby that is familiar from pictures.
The Old Building and the NEW BUILDING is connected by the cafeteria, which has recently been upgraded and is now more like a food court. This area is all glassed in.
The Directorate of Operations is housed separately. They are mostly in the New Building. The Central Europe and Eastern Europe divisions are in the New Building. The office of the Inspector General and the EEO Office is there as well. The East Asia division is still in the old building, in the same location it’s had for years and the Latin America division is there too.
The newer building feels newer and has more windows.
The Seventh Floor of the Old building is where the Director of the CIA has his office, and other bigwigs are there too. It is the top floor of the Old Building. There is lots of competition to get an officer near the center of power. The IG, for example, tried to get their office there even though the rest of the staff was in the new building.
The places Directorate of Operations Officers would mix on a day to day bases with other divisions are in the “centers.” The counter-terrorist center or the Security center for example are made up of a mix of people. It would also include people from the outside, military officers, contractors, FBI, military attaches.
There are truck entrances at both buildings.
The Bubble is an auditorium where important meetings sometimes take place. You have to go outside and walk across the campus to get there.
Hanging Out:
People don’t really hang out and socialize, everyone is far too driven and busy. If you go to the cafeteria at lunch it’s usually practically empty.
Each area has it’s own coffee machine. Each office has a coffee pot. The secretary will make the coffee. People might hang out and take a moment to chat while getting coffee.
Office space:
If you are stationed overseas mostly then you won’t really have an office. They might give you a cubicle or let you squat in someone else’s office who is away on a TDY (a temporary assignment).
If you are higher ranking and more permanent then you would get a decent office. Nice wooden furniture, instead of the metal modular stuff in the cubicles, and a corner office or one with windows is also coveted.
Most overseas people have cubicles because they just aren’t there long.
Secretaries all have cubicles. If you are high up you would have a secretary.
Parking:
There are several open lots that surround the campus. The West Parking Lot is where the underlings park. There is also the South Lot and the North Lot. If you are high up you would have reserved parking closer to the building.
There is a newer protected parking structure near the buildings. You do have to go outside to get to it. This is where the Director of operations and other big wigs park.
There was a bit of a scandal in the covered parking lot. A security guard was on patrol late when he caught the Director of Operations (married) getting oral sex in his car from a secretary (or analyst). They tried to hush it up but the more they tried the bigger the scandal became.
The Blue Bus:
This is the bus that takes workers outside to other buildings they might need to get to.
Security:
At every entrance there is a machine. You have to stick your badge in and punch in your id number. The number can be changed immediately if there is a problem.
There is a guard stationed at every entrance but some are busier than others. The front lobby of the Old Building for instance is very busy. The ground floor exits aren’t that busy.
There are periodic searches of purses, bags etc… to make sure you aren’t bringing things in you aren’t supposed to or taking things out.
You are not allowed to bring a cell phone or a camera into the building. The only way is if they have been provided for a mission and then you must have the pass that says the cell phone or camera has been issued to you for this purpose.
Once you are inside the building you can go anywhere you want with no problem.
Security is in a different building. If there is a problem with someone in the building they would be removed from the premises as quickly as possible and their badge would be taken away.
What would happen if a defector shows up at the front gate:
A defector would not be allowed in the building. They wouldn’t want them to see any case officer inside. They would be taken to a safe house for questioning.
Even defectors who have proven are generally not let into the building. On a very rare occasion someone who has been thoroughly proven might be let in to give a presentation.
What would happen if a defector fingered an officer as a traitor:
The tendency would be to not necessarily believe a defector at first. There would be a stronger tendency to believe the officer.
If the defector provided good proof then counterintelligence and security would be called in and they would start a process of questioning and polygraphing.
The head of security is a former FBI agent. The FBI would be called in at some point.
Once the others come in they will try to crucify you. They will bug your house, bug your car and go through your garbage. You are no longer safe in your home or your car.
