CIA BUILDINGS OUTSIDE LANGLEY
Potential Walk-In Locations
October 22, 2008
A safe house would be the best, first place location to take a walk-in. You have absolute control of the situation and the space and certain things, such as audio-visual equipment are already built in or set up. The safe house can be like a prison cell environment for the walk-in that they cannot get out of.
The CIA uses several buildings outside Langley, some in Reston, VA. Some are low-rise, more sprawling complexes with campus-like settings and others are Washington D.C. high rises (meaning around 8 stories).
The building could be a stand-alone, used entirely by the CIA, or it could be a portion of a high rise being used under commercial cover. There would be the name of a fake business on the door. It would be the top floor. The CIA likes to control what’s above and below and all around it so the floor underneath would be rented as well and remain empty or be used as storage for extra furniture and other stuff.
None of these buildings that are known house the kind of labs and tech-style facilities. These are all at Langley. Lots of this stuff is contracted out though so it’s possible there are offices where more high-tech work is being done. Mostly they look like offices.
Every building will have security. Some buildings have more and some have less. All floors and elevators are access controlled. The lobby and the underground parking would also be secure.
One possible location is the building the CIA uses for recruiting. This building is a basic office, nothing high tech or interesting, with less security. This would make it a less likely choice.
The polygraph building is not at Langley. This is a very antiseptic building. Very doctor’s office-like. This is not a place someone from operations would go to however. Polygraphist only let you see the small part of the building they need you to see. It is unpleasant.
If it’s short notice, the Operations Officer needs to take them someplace quick and there are no safe houses that they use available it’s imaginable that they might take them to a building used for training. It could be one of the low-slung buildings or it could be in a high rise.
With a training facility there’s the latitude to stock the space with useful/interesting things. They might have a room set up to train recruits in the art of interrogation. There might be a room with camera and bugs. Recruits could be undergoing explosives training so there would be switches and circuitry. There might be a photo lab with chemicals (they still do weird stuff with photos) or a disguise lab. The security office has an indoor shooting range. Operations recruits learn how to shoot at the Farm but it wouldn’t be a terrible stretch to put one in a space like this.
The feel of the space would very. If it were a newer building it would be sort of antiseptic, typical mid-range office. If it is an older building then it would have lots of old wood, wood desks and a very early 60s bachelor feel to it.
In order to make the event secure the building or space would be cleared out before the Officer arrives with the walk-in. Security and those people needed to be there for the interrogation would stay. They would not want the walk-in to know where he’s being taken. Otherwise he could come back later, sit out front and snap pictures of everyone going in and out. He would be blindfolded, brought into an underground parking garage, hooded and brought up in a secure elevator.
In order to escape from a building like this the best bet would be to look at it from a smoke and mirrors perspective. Don’t immediately go for the direct approach. Figure out how to manipulate to create the space you need to escape and always stay one step ahead of those you are escaping from.
