How to Steal Government Secrets
Spex, Milt
How to Steal Government Secrets by Milt Spex Last year wasn’t a very good one for keeping U.S. government secrets. In May two men were convicted in Alexandria, Virginia of stealing classified...
...Yeah, I guess you’re right...
...On a later business trip, Tom’s route crosses that of his group leader...
...And so it goes...
...Caretakers can make trouble for users, and as a result a mutual distrust grows out of their contrasting attitudes towards rules and regulations...
...The file cabinets are locked, but the key is in a potted plant nearby...
...And extra procedures, or more inspections, would only increase the tribal frictions, and the sloppiness and cynicism that excessive regulation calls f o r t h . Ironically, the biggest reform the government could make, in the name of national security, is to do precisely what liberals have been asking for years, in the name of openness in government-to drastically reduce the incentives to conceal unimportant and m a r g i n a l l y s e n s i t i v e m a t e r i a l . President Carter has properly decided to accelerate the process of destroying or “declassifying” documents-but this isn’t nearly enough...
...He even classified as secret mathematical reports that made no reference to military applications...
...Had it occurred a year or two later, I probably would have had the combination written in my wallet and would have looked as foolish as the other officers...
...They can do a lot of damage...
...How to Steal Secrets If you were a foreign spy, and you wanted to steal secrets, how would you go about it...
...A classic case was the Navy’s attempt to build the world’s largest (600-foot) radio telescope...
...These are the little gimmicks that salve his conscience, but they also help you to recognize the most sensitive information...
...The key is that a security system, as Nixon’s plumbers realized, is similar to a water distribution system...
...It might even encourage a few of us to do something that is now an egregious breach of etiquette among users of secrets-namely, speak up when someone else is violating the rules, or has become careless...
...Sometimes they try to build their own little empires in secret...
...If they weren’t sure how deep they had to bury their missiles, they are now...
...Use y o u r own methods, if you want...
...Tom resolves that the next time he will take contraband notes, coded, of course, in some kind of shorthand that will baffle any spy, or caretaker...
...And those enemies are out there-if not the 1,900 Russian agents that FBI Director William Webster, in a recent speech, estimated were operating in the U.S., then a sizable fraction of that number...
...By telling the Russians our precise capabilities, the manual presumably also told them what they needed to do to avoid those capabilities...
...Let me through,” I called from the back of the crowd...
...Such projects make me wonder whether security is worth the cost in terms of the incompetence it shelters...
...Okay...
...When a user is first indoctrinated, the image of a Russian spy is firmly planted in his mind...
...But wait...
...I plan to remain so, which is why I’m writing this under a pseudonym...
...His background is spotless...
...Nobody seems to notice or care...
...Meanwhile, another threatening image comes to take its place: the image of the caretaker tribe...
...Next Monday Tom reaches him and words a question indirectly so that it doesn’t divulge classified information: “You know that talk you gave at the conference in Washington last April...
...Communications are brief, formal, and lacking that extra quality of straight scoop that people share within their own tribe...
...T h a t might encourage us to follow the rules w i t h o u t c u t t i n g our accustomed corners, and help us realize that both the users and the caretakers are on the same team, that the enemy really is that potential spy...
...To those outside the U.S...
...If we have to play the s e c u r i t y game, we should keep ourselves in shape...
...Hence, we don’t know where it leaks...
...The users see rules as a necessary nuisance that impedes their work...
...Fortunate timing made me the hero of that little emergency...
...The caretakers see the rules as gospel, the whole basis for theirjobs...
...The Defense Department aborted the project in 1962-$63 million laterafter the Bureau of Yards and Docks had mismanaged it, by using secrecy to exclude the scientists and structural engineers who could have either pointed out its flaws early on or saved it...
...The anomaly only disappears when you realize that maybe others have done it-only, unlike Kampiles, they weren’t so foolish as to get caught...
...I can open it...
...Tom starts out as a loyal and trustworthy kid who graduates from college and goes to work on a classified project at an aerospace firm...
...That failure doesn’t .seem absurd within the security community itselfa community of which I, as a defense contractor, am a member in good standing...
...When a group is hurrying to finish a classified report before a contractual deadline, you will likely find classified reports stacked on desk tops or shelves, in briefcases, wastebaskets, or places with simple locks that can easily be picked...
...A year-and-a-half later, supporters of the project find some money, and Tom’s group is back in business...
...Not at all...
...On your first visit, the odds are that the security clerk won’t be able to find your clearance...
...And suppose their common enemy is not a spy but the security official whose job it is to catch them breaking petty rules...
...The documents had come from the car of former Ambassador Graham Martin, which had been stolen a few months earlier and abandoned...
...Relations across the tribal boundary are cordial but cool...
...Others were more reassuring, belittling the value of the documents...
...Tom has removed the most important figures and tables from another report and put them in a file drawer labeled “personal” in a folder marked “health insurance...
...1 had barely unpacked my seabag when an officer assigned me the job of operating the cryptographic machine that codes messages for radio broadcast and decodes incoming traffic...
...He knows it takes a year or two for an Eagle Scout to mature...
...The problem, as liberals see i t , has always been preventing this system from running amok and keeping ever increasing amounts of harmless but useful information locked up until well into the twenty-first century...
...the information is vital to Tom’s p r o j e c t . The conference is classified “secret,” a fact the organizer stresses in his opening address: “You don’t need to take many notes...
...These people don’t wear name tags, but they are there-somewhere, and can be identified by their attitudes and work habits...
...In half a minute I opened the door and found the burn bag smoldering...
...Check the covers of his old textbooks, too...
...But often it does not...
...The rules allow contraFtors to keep classified material long after a project expires, but arrangements must be made ahead of time...
...Those of us on the inside tend to know from experience that the very complexity and arrogance of the system are what make it vulnerable to penetration by our enemies...
...We shouldn’t...
...However, the government establishes classifications and we are forced to comply...
...Don’t talk to me...
...Some intelligence officials called the theft of the satellite manual a “disaster,” saying it had caused “irreparable harm” to U.S...
...They had forgotten the combination...
...The dialogue doesn’t make sense only if you assume that the enemy is a foreign agent, and the game is to deny him information...
...In January children in North Carolina were found using, as scratch paper, classified documents relating to U.S...
...In fact, each of them probably had it written on a scrap of paper in his billfold, but no one was particularly eager to incriminate himself by looking into his wallet while the captain stood watching...
...By now, Tom badly needs the information...
...We’ll mail them to you after the conference...
...The proceedings will be printed and mailed to all of you in about a month...
...We have hired a group of inspectors who will attempt to obtain this information by all nonviolent means, including trickery, persuasion, bribery, and theft...
...In one of the more sensitive reports, all the numbers are reversed...
...firing does not seem too severe (and indeed, one or two dismissals might set an appropriate example...
...On the surface, this interchange doesn’t make sense...
...Two days later, I heard a voice from an upper deck exclaim, “The radar’s on fire...
...Other c o n t r a c t o r s , competitors, present their progress in the same meeting...
...Now it refers to the stamp on the document or sheet of paper, which means that caretakers will be looking for it...
...That sounds sensible enough, and Tom complies...
...It seems that two of the speakers are late in turning in their written contributions...
...We parttime users are less fortunate...
...During the lapse a new security officer destroyed all the classified reports, notes, and working papers...
...Rush projects, in particular, would afford some prime opportunities for espionage...
...Next he taught me to o p e r a t e the machine, a bulky c o n t r i v a n c e with a typewriter keyboard...
...In time, it wouldn’t be too difficult to do what William Kampiles did-find a highly sensitive document in an unprotected storage drawer, stuff it in the inside pocket of your sportscoat, and-walk out the door at the end of the day...
...The security officer at the meeting (a caretaker) has no technical background and does not know which data is secret...
...One government client had me classify a report “SO that Jim won’t hear about it...
...This split between the “users” of classified materials and the “caretakers” of those materials is the organizing principle of the kinship structure...
...More work is needed, but the contract expires, and funds for renewal are lost in a budget cut...
...Conscientious government people deplore excessive classification...
...officials only heightened the speculation...
...To check for leaks in the water system, we pressurize it and look to see where the water comes out...
...interests...
...This looks cheap compared to the beautiful materials the competitors have...
...Is this data t h a t any American, whatever his position on disarmament, would want to see in Soviet hands on the eve of a SALT I 1 agreement...
...If you do take notes, you are not permitted to leave the building with them...
...1, and most people I know in the system, would be able to accept it all philosophically if we felt it contributed to national security...
...It’s classified and we don’t have any place in town to lock it up...
...But now comes the final hard knock in Tom’s security schooling...
...The penalties for overclassification should be stiff...
...Tom will never know for sure...
...Competent employees want their work exposed so they can establish a reputation and hear helpful criticism...
...actions in Vietnam...
...Given the prevailing culture of our security system, the amazing thing isn’t that Kampiles could do what he did, but that so few others have done it...
...The Weakest Link What can be done to change the security system and prevent these disasters...
...Notes and working papers are supposed to be destroyed after a contract expires...
...Six months later, Tom’s group finishes a long project...
...Worst of all, you cannot discuss classified topics on a telephone unless it is equipped with a “vocoder” (This device electronically chops voices into pieces and encodes each piece by techniques of cryptography...
...Would you make a full frontal attack on the security room using exotic James Bondian devices to get around the myriad burglar alarms, locked doors, safes, and secret codes...
...It would strengthen existing safeguards without adding a single new regulation-and it would allow us to eliminate some needless rules and harrassments...
...The security officer briefs him on his reponsibilities, and Tom resolves to obey them to the letter...
...embassy in Moscow had uncovered a secret tunnel within the embassy compound that had been used by the Russians for electronic eavesdropping...
...Those who are prone to overclassification are those who are insecure and afraid of exposure...
...A few times 1 have had to work after hours without access to a safe that I was authorized to use...
...The answer might be to test it-randomly, with our own forces...
...One particularly inept official 1 knew had a pathological fear of distributing reports and always specified the highest classification he could possibly justify...
...So I dream of the day when the government issues the following communique to the security bureaucracy: “You must prevent unauthorized disclosure of classified information in your possession...
...S u p p o s e t h e speakers s h a r e a professional bond...
...After three months the proceedings finally arrive, but Tom by now is very far behind in his work, and his boss is irritated...
...His files contain many unmarked contraband copies of classified reports...
...Yes, certainly...
...Keep It from Jim We contractors prefer unclassified work so we can talk freely and drum up new business...
...Tom is not an extreme example by any means, but rather a composite of the ways I’ve seen people change as they spend more time in the security subculture...
...In both the object is to prevent leaks...
...And if you have a good cover story when you snoop, you needn’t worry too much about getting caught, Just keep cool, and remember everybody wants to believe you’re a nice guy doing a conscientious job...
...I also have a pet proposal which goes a little further...
...He may be in awe of official secrets (much as I was on that ship 27 years ago), and he tries to protect them diligently...
...He telephones one of the speakers, who is away on a trip...
...A couple of years pass with only minor irritations, and the security system seems almost workable...
...That’s right-Jim, not Ivan...
...He rationalizes that this is sufficient precaution, because these few pages don’t make sense apart from the rest...
...The new officer had inquired before destruction, but somehow he asked the wrong people, who misunderstood the questions, and Tom was never consulted...
...They interview the applicant’s neighbors and generally nose around in users’ pasts...
...Today Tom is a group ieader with what might be called a “mature” attitude toward security...
...The “users”comprise several loosely allied tribes: military officers, c o n t r a c t o r s , civilian e n g i n e e r s , scientists working for military labs, government officials who control research funds, and so on...
...But the mail is late, and Tom is forced to improvise with sketches on the chalk board...
...Tom has forwarded some secret visual aids to the Washington office-diagrams and photographs of the equipment his team has built...
...More documents flood into the security system each day, and all too many of them do so only because some official wants to enhance his status, avoid criticism, or simply because nobody bothers to question him...
...After all, we’ve developed what is probably the world’s most complex and elaborate scheme for protecting secrets...
...You won’t report me if I tell you something secret, will you...
...Tom recovers information at a snail’s pace...
...The ensuing confusion delays you an hour or two...
...Next time you-r admission is routine, but eventually the clearance expires when you least expect it, the one time you take it for granted...
...Although that was the only time a civil servant ever confessed to me that he was using security for an ulterior motive, nevertheless I am convinced it happens all the time...
...Those who work constantly with classified material have ways to mitigate the nuisance factor...
...Then Tom goes to Washington for a presentation to his government client...
...They have offices or laboratories with special locks...
...That this system would fail to protect one of the few secrets that actually was vital to the national security seems absurd...
...Tom has also removed classified numbers from another report and written them on an IBM card, which he stores at the end of a computer program in the file for computer cards...
...Since it is unwise to carry classified material when traveling, you must try to plan ahead and forward it by mail, hoping it arrives on time...
...In June it was announced that the U.S...
...The “caretakers” are a distinct, and often hostile, tribe made up of those who guard secure areas, look for security violations, inspect files and safes, handle visitor clearances, and keep records of documents issued and returned...
...Then Tom notices something: two contractors present secret data on slides that are not marked “secret...
...This shows where a white card covered the classification stamp when it was copied...
...Look especially for photocopies with a faint rectangular trace at the top and bottom of each page...
...This time, however, it was burning prematurely because someone had tossed a cigarette butt into it...
...On these occasions, I had to arrange a rendezvous with a security officer whose plans for the evening or weekend rarely meshed with mine...
...Write your name and address clearly on the notes and turn them in at the Security desk...
...If you visit a government facility or contractor, you obtain a temporary clearance, which may last for a day or for a year...
...The weak link in the security chain is the institutional component of the system...
...The result might be a security system whose members have a renewed faith that the secrets they are protecting really are secrets...
...Sure, but 1’11 have to look you up on the attendance list and call you back...
...A couple of phone calls shake them loose, but another week slips by before they arrive...
...But as the years pass, the image of the spy seems ever more remote, a sleeping bear out of sight and almost out of mind...
...it is reinforced every working day...
...Now the dialogue takes on a whole new meaning, which, when translatea, comes out like this: “I haven’t seen your clearance, but I know you’re okay...
...Good, t h e n let me tell you about...
...What would he say in response to the initial question-“No, I’m not cleared...
...You would make the most of the human element in the system, use its institutional weaknesses, play off the tribes against each other...
...Hey, Tom,” the leader says, “Why don’t you bring along the interim report for ARPA...
...The leader does not press the matter...
...It didn’t take longto realize that the fire was coming from the adjoining code room where the vent led...
...Late in the year, William Kampiles, a former watchman at CIA headquarters, was convicted of passing to Russian agents a technical manual for the KH-I 1 spy satellite, the most sophisticated and secret military surveillance satellite operated by the U.S...
...As I’ve tried to suggest, the answer is not tighter rules or fancier equipment...
...Good, then let me tell you about...
...Of course not, go ahead...
...Getting the proceedings is another matter-after two months, they still haven’t arrived...
...The hidden meaning of such conversations reflects the tribal structure of the security subculture...
...Postal inspectors for years have used a similar system to keep their employees honest-and as a result, any mailman who sees an envelope stuffed with dollars immediately warns himself that he’s being set up by an inspector...
...You should be alert for missing pages and pieces that Tom has cut out and stored elsewhere...
...If the threat of theft by the Russkis is too remote, maybe we need t o c r e a t e a t h r e a t that’s more believable...
...You’d look in his address book, under some name like Kilroy, or in the back of his desk calendar, perhaps on the page for Christmas Day...
...This is a bag of classified waste paper that is burned intentionally in a suitable place whenever it is full...
...Some of these rooms are inside steel vaults, so these people can lock their doors and leave classified papers and hardware strewn about while they go to lunch or the rest room...
...Why I Saved the Day I first entered the world of secrets in 1952, as a green ensign reporting for duty aboard a destroyer...
...Suppose the second party really were a spy...
...Although gross incompetence is rare, it does gravitate into the least visible niches, and the security system provides a lot of those...
...We can’t do that...
...Tribal Bonding The following dialogue occurs frequently in the security subculture with only slight variation: “Are you cleared for secret...
...But two weeks after the conference has ended, Tom still hasn’t received his notes...
...This threat has a far more immediate reality...
...He is what people in the business call an “Eagle Scout...
...We’ll have some free time to discuss it in Pittsburgh...
...Should they succeed at your organization, the person at fault will be punished-by revocation of his security clearance if he is negligent, by criminal prosecution if he knowingly assists in espionage...
...Subconsciously, two members of the same tribe (or allied tribes) have communicated to affirm their mutual bond to the exclusion of security officials, who belong to a different tribe...
...Martin, it turned out, had been driving around for months with boxes of secret papers in his trunk...
...If you find a combination that doesn’t work, you might reverse the numbers or the digits within the numbers...
...he is falling behind schedule...
...But look at what is known: the manual described the features of our best present means of verifying the size of Russia’s nuclear a r s e n a l . (The satellite’s cameras are so, sensitive that they can tell the difference between civilian dress and military uniforms...
...The alternative is a system where Russian agents are free to use imagination, incentives, and individual enterprise, while all our side has going for it is social conscience and official doctrine...
...Mainly, I’ve learned that working with classified material is a bloody nuisance...
...After decades of watching our nation’s military and intelligence institutions arrogantly pursue bizarre, misguided, and offensive projects, we may be tempted to laugh at these recent failures to perform the mundane chore of keeping secrets...
...It once referred to important protected information...
...Could it be that these two contractors carried unmarked secret slides in a briefcase on the airplane...
...A crowd gathered around, and I saw smoke pouring from a vent above the radar console...
...military security system, the Kampiles fiasco seems inexplicable...
...Throughout the year rumors circulated that the Russians had successfully introduced an agent, or “mole,” into the CIA itself...
...The unconvincing denials of U.S...
...In May two men were convicted in Alexandria, Virginia of stealing classified cables and funneling them to North Vietnamese agents...
...Let’s follow this subtle psychological metamorphosis as it occurs in the career of Tom, a fictitious yaung engineer...
...In the 27 years since the burn bag incident, I’ve learned a lot about security and classified information...
...The skipper arrived and told the officers nearest the door to open it, but they could not...
...Sure . ” “The aircraft is towing a device we can’t discuss now...
...A Milt Spex is u pseudoqw7...
...Of course Tom still has a conscience...
...During Tom’s metamorphosis the very meaning of the word “classified” has changed...
...We repeatedly have to pack up and lock up, or else find a “sitter” with the proper clearance...
...for example, what should be “47.3” watts” reads “3.74 watts...
...He wanted to use the security system to shield himself against someone who might compete with him or criticize his performance...
...Other caretakers are officials who grant clearances to users...
...The government engineers (users) know, but they have no interest in such details...
...Each harrassment is minor, but the long term effect is demoralizing...
...they are both, say, in military electronics...
...And that is why it’s important to understand what anyone who has worked with secrets has figured out: how a system that spends billions of taxpayer dollars, consumes the energies of thousands of loyal Americans, and uses the ultimate in sophisticated gadgetry, is also a system that makes it easy for an untrained security guard to score the intelligence coup of the decade-for the other side...
...YOU might get a low-level job in a government building, and s t a r t looking for people like Tom, who have come to consider security rules as impediments to getting their work done...
...Could you tell me its maximum speed while towing...
...My new assignment violated security regulations because 1 was not yet cleared for “secret...
...Once you’ve found Tom, you would look, perhaps, for the combination to his safe...
...He taught me the combination that unlocked the code room and admonished me to memorize it immediately and never write it anywhere...
...But due to the unpopularity of the job, regulations were ignored and the most j u n i o r o f f i c e r s were given the assignment...
...glance at the Kampiles case alone should tell us that...
...You cannot take work home or read reports on an airplane...
...Tom obtains copies of the main reports from the government, but the delay and loss of notes makes an inauspicious beginning...
...But we have never tested our security system under pressure...
...Tom’s first assignment is to attend a military conference to learn about a new weapons system...
Vol. 10 • February 1979 • No. 11
