http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080501/ap_en_re/book_review_spycraft_2
Spytechs From Communism to Al-Qaeda
For CIA tech chief details espionage successes, failures
By CARL HARTMAN
For AP
"Spycraft : The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs
From Communism to Al-Qaeda"
(Dutton, 549 pages)
by Robert Wallace,
H. Keith Melton,
Henry R. Schlesinger :
International spying could be called a cat and mouse game =97 a
frightened mouse scurrying to outwit a powerful feline. The folks at
the Central Intelligence Agency have worked hard with actual dead rats
and a live cat, using them in highly specialized CIA ways.
"Spycraft," subtitled "The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs From
Communism to Al-Qaeda," describes many of those ways, some for the
first time.
A foreword by George I. Tenet, who headed the agency from 1997 to
2004, complains that the human drama often obscures the im****tant work
of the techies.
"Regrettably, there have been instances where secrecy was invoked to
deny knowledge of information that has long since lost sensitivity but
is vital for public understanding and consideration," he writes.
"'Spycraft' is a history of the CIA's fusion of technical innovation
with classic tradecraft, and, equally, a call to young men and women
with similar talents to enlist in the battle against America's new
enemies."
The authors are Robert Wallace, former director of the CIA's Office of
Technical Services, historian H. Keith Melton, and Henry R.
Schlesinger, contributing editor of Popular Science magazine.
An Asian head of state 40 years ago used to let cats wander freely
through strategic meetings. So, to listen in, CIA techs created
"Acoustic kitty." They anesthetized a full grown gray and white
female, put a mike in her ear canal, an antenna wire along her spine
and wove a transmitter with power supply into her chest fur. Her
equipment worked, but her American handler couldn't control her
movements well in a foreign country. The idea was dropped.
Rats =97 they had to be dead =97 were considered good for secret messages;
outsiders were unlikely to pick them up.
"Some were freeze-dried and vacuum-packed in tin cans," the book says.
"Material intended for the agent was wrapped in aluminum foil and
inserted inside the created cavity, and the animal stitched back
together. ... Before the carcass was deployed, it might be doused in
Tabasco sauce as a deterrent to hungry cats roaming the streets."
The authors tell of personal drama, too. One episode goes back to the
defeat in 2001 of Taliban forces in Afghanistan where they protected
Osama bin Laden =97 forces now staging a dangerous resurgence.
A six-man CIA bomb disposal team arrived in Kandahar from Wa****ngton
with 5,000 pounds of equipment and a duffel bag containing $1 million
in cash. They were lodged in the governor's palace, days after the
allies had driven out Mullah Omar, Osama bin Laden's protector. Four
hours after their arrival, team leader "Mark" got word from a local
informant that the earthen roof of the palace was booby trapped.
It was the last day of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.
Celebrations in the palace were to start at sundown, another four
hours away. Counterterrorism officer "Frank," one of the team, climbed
to the roof, despite danger from snipers and the booby trap itself. He
used thermal-imaging equipment to find where four holes had been dug
in the earth covering the roof, with a narrow trench connecting them.
But the new Afghan commander of the palace declined to halt
preparation for the festivities.
"Mark" then climbed to the roof for deeper exploration. He found
detonators, ammunition and a wire connecting them just under the
earthen surface. The wire led out of the palace.
"Mark left the roof just as the sun was setting," the book says. "The
end of Ramadan was announced. ... He could not suppress a smile at the
thought that somewhere among the city's celebrants was a terrorist,
his finger repeatedly pu****ng a button in vain, wondering why in the
name of Allah his best efforts had come to naught."
An Afghan de-mining team later removed over 2,200 pounds of
explosives, including 55 tank rounds and more than 100 anti-tank
mines.
More :
=46rom two men who know better than anyone how espionage really works,
an unprecedented history=97heavily illustrated with neverbefore- seen
images=97of the CIA=92s most secretive operations and the gadgets that
made them possible.
It is a world where the intrigue of reality exceeds that of fiction.
What is an invisible photo used for? What does it take to build a
quiet helicopter? How does one embed a listening device in a cat? If
these sound like challenges for Q, James Bond=92s fictional gadget-
master, think again. They=92re all real-life devices created by the
CIA=92s Office of Technical Service=97an ultrasecretive department that
combines the marvels of state-of-the-art technology with the time-
proven traditions of classic espionage. And now, in the first book
ever written about this office, the former director of OTS teams up
with an internationally renowned intelligence historian to take
readers into the laboratory of espionage.
Spycraft tells amazing life and death stories about this littleknown
group, much of it never before revealed. Against the backdrop of some
of America=92s most critical periods in recent history=97including the
Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the war on terror=97the authors
show the real technical and human story of how the CIA carries out its
missions.
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