http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20110215-above-tearline-meeting-informants-hostile-countries>
Vice President of Intelligence Fred Burton describes how U.S. operatives are
kept safe during meetings with informants, and what happens when things go
wrong.
*Editor’s Note:* *Transcripts are generated using speech-recognition
technology. Therefore, STRATFOR cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.*
In this week’s “Above the Tearline,” we’re going to discuss how agents or
informants are met in hostile countries such as Pakistan, Yemen and Russia
in response to many questions that have been posed by STRATFOR members.
Informants are met in hostile countries by an officer in a face-to-face
meeting most of the time. And if you think about that, it sounds relatively
simple, but it’s not. There are a lot of things that take place behind the
scenes. Depending upon the city that you’re operating in, your meeting
locations can be something as simple as a coffee shop, or a restaurant, or
it could be an actual U.S. government safe-house, or a hotel. Large Western
hotels are perfect stops for these kinds of meets.
In most cases a two-man security team is deployed (it can be larger), and
their job is to do a recon of the location to make sure that the
intelligence officer is not being set up by a double agent, or that the
informant that’s coming to the meeting is not dragging surveillance to the
location, and to make sure that that meeting location is not compromised by
host government intelligence or terrorists who may be planning an attack.
The security team is a laser focus looking for — for the most part —
demeanor. For example they’re looking for individuals that appear out of
place, or individuals that are talking on a cell phone when the informant
shows up or the actual intelligence officer arrives at the meeting site.
They’re looking for operational acts such as video or photography that’s
taking place. It’s really a very unique skill set and the individuals that
are performing this duty are highly trained and probably some of the most
skilled operators we have in our tool kit. The actual intelligence officer
that’s going to the meet is going to run what is called a surveillance
detection route, or an SDR, to ensure that he is not being followed.
The difficulty with this kind of meeting in a hostile country is that when
things go wrong, they really go wrong. Things tend to spiral out of control
— you either have some sort of violent action take place, or the people
involved with the meeting are arrested by the local authorities. Unlike in
the movies, or in shows like “Mission: Impossible,” when these individuals
are arrested they typically have diplomatic immunity and the individuals are
very quietly whisked out of the country, while the intelligence heads of the
U.S. and the local government come to meetings and all agree that this kind
of action won’t take place again.
--
roger w
From Proverbs:
Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a
servant who becomes king ...
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