WANT TO BE A SPY, KID?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100010008-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 18, 2010
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: July 21, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Edward A.,Adams.visits,cloak-and-daggervi,lle
STAT
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q,name? Adams. Ed Adams.
Despite the clipped intro-
it duction, I'm no James Bond.
No British accent, no exotic cars.
Still, I am attracted to the lifestyle
007 leads. He trades in intrigue and
subtle signals, set against a backdrop
of exotic locales. Danger lurks around
every corner, and the impossible is the
expected. Not a bad existence.
For Americans, the closest thing to
Her Majesty's Secret Service is the
Central Intelligence Agency, which,'
despite damaging revelations in
recent years, remains shrouded in
secrecy. r~'?. e,
For seven months, I studied the CIA
and it studied me. I had wondered
what went on inside the secured
agency compound in Langley, Va. -
what sort of work is done, what sort of
people do it. To find out, I applied to
the CIA for employment. What follows
is a diary of that process.
November: Intelligence-gathering
as a way to pass time
-1 1
I was a senior at Miami University in
Oxford, 0., looking for something to
do after graduation in May. I had
majored in political philosophy, but
demand for that job description has
been slight since 400 B.C. The world
doesn't need another Plato.
With one-third of the students
majoring in business, on-campus
interviews at Miami run heavily
toward banks and corporations. But
among the Procter & Gambles and
AT&Ts, I found something that piqued
my interest: the CIA.
The CIA recruits on 200 college
campuses each year. This year, the
agency will receive an estimated
250,000 applications.
When agency representatives come
calling, they sometimes encounter
student demonstrations. At Miami,
however, no such resistance has sur-
faced. More than one-third of the stu-
dents belong to fraternities or sorori-
ties, and hold conservative political
views that make their daddies proud.
When it's morning in Ronald Reagan's
America, the sun shines with particu-
lar benevolence on Miami's student
body. v - ?
I signed up for a Nov. 28 interview
with the CIA, during which I'd have a
half-hour to present my credentials
and ask questions.
Why, I asked myself, was I qualified
to work at protecting our nation's
security? I wasn't exactly clear. My
skills at political analysis were fairly
useless; my guess was that the agency
had already studied the theory of
Communism, and found it wanting.
I had written for newspapers and
magazines, since I was 14, and had
done several journalism internships.
Judging by headlines about the terror-
ist manual the CIA had written to aid
Nicaraguan' contras, the agency
needed a. good PR man. '
But me - quiet,` unassuming - a
The agency's glossy, four-color bro-
chures-informed me that in the CIA,
"your career is America's strength."
There were pictures of the White
House and the Kremlin, D.C. monu-
ments and the agency's headquarters
building. If I joined, I would be able to
"build a career of uncommon dimen-
sions."
The material emphasized that most
of what the agency does is not cloak-
and-dagger work; 90% of its resources
go toward collecting information, not
overthrowing governments.
At the appointed time, I reported to
the on-campus interview looking my
conservative best: navy blazer,
gray slacks and rep tie. Patti
Schmittle, personnel represen-
tative from the CIA's Cincinnati
field office, produced a chart of
the agency's hierarchy, pointing
out those arms that might inter-
est me.
There was a division that writes bio-
graphies of world leaders, and an arm that
monitors foreign newspapers and television
broadcasts.
"And, of course, there's Operations," she said
innocently.
"Operations" is the agency's euphemism for
the division that employs spies - "agents" in
ClAspeak.
Schmittle noted that to enter Operations, I
would have to be admitted to the Career Train-
ing Program, which has requirements of its
own: U.S. citizenship, a college degree, ability
to write well and knowledge of or the aptitude
to learn a foreign language. It helps to have a
graduate degree, military service or extended
residence abroad. Average age for CTP appli-
cants is 26, she told me.
Schmittle scheduled me for an aptitude test,
gave me the agency's application form and
wished me well.
Late December - February:
Getting personal
In the post-holiday crush, I
L
wrestled with the agency's
20-page application. I disco-
vered there'! not much of a
21-year-old's life that can't be
covered in 20 pages.
It asked for general per-
spnal data, the positions I was
applying for and my educa-
tional history. It wanted to
know about my military ser-
vice (none), foreign-language
abilities (nada) and relatives
who are not U.S. citizens (zip).
The medical form had ques-
tions about the usual illnesses
and vices:
Do you use alcohol?
Socially.
Do you smoke?
Half a pack a day.
Have you ever tried illegal
drugs ("marijuana, hashish,
cocaine, LSD, amphetamines,
heroin or drugs of a similar
nature") and, if so, when?
I tried pot my freshman
year in college, but gave it up
after several months of fried -
lungs and no buzz
I was asked to describe my person-
ality. "Who are you?" the CIA wanted
to know. I said I have drive, ambition,
confidence in my own judgment and a
sense of humor.
"I've come to understand why insti-
tutions create rules, how the applica-
tion of those rules sometimes results
in something different than was
intended and how to correct the situa-
tion," I wrote.
Classic BS.
The aptitude test was an all-day
affair. Administered at the University
of Cincinnati, the test purported to
determine my personality type by
asking the same question, with slight
variations:
Did I like to go to parties? Did I like
to host parties? Did I like loud music?
If I could read a book or go out, which
would I choose?
I tried to be consistently social.
If the agency liked what it saw on
the application and test, I'd be wing-
ing my way to Washington, D.C., at
CIA expense, for an interview. A free
trip to our nation's capital sounded
like a good deal.
February: Moving means you're
arrogant...
Unexpectedly, I was asked to meet
with a representative of the
WW
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Career Training Program in
a Cincinnati hotel suite.
When I arrived at the
hotel, I called the proper
room. The voice that
answered told me to "enter
the elevator in exactly two
minutes, go to the top floor,
turn left, go to the end of the
hall and my room is on the right."
The man who opened the door identified
himself as Joseph Emmott, a case officer for
30 years. He wanted to probe my fitness for
covert operations. 1
"Do you have any moral or ethical prob-
lems with covert work?" he asked.
"I don't believe so," I said.
"Well, sometimes case officers have
qualms with what they're asked to do. You'll
have to keep your job with the agency secret
from everyone but your parents and, if you
should marry, your wife. You won't be able
to talk to anyone except your immediate
superiors about the specific tasks you carry
out. Will that be a problem?" he asked.
"I don't think It will," I replied.
Suddenly, he took a harsher approach.
"Why is It you're not one of the people pro-
testing our operations? Why are you in here
interviewing instead?"
"Well," I began, searching for an
appropriate response, "I'm a
reporter, and I know that the press
only tells that part of the story
that it can uncover. I suppose
that reports about the Nicara-
guan terrorist manual, for
instance, ire incomplete.
I'm not willing to protest
something I don't
completely under-
stand.
"Besides," I added
for good measure, "I
don't think that pro-
tests are very effec-
tive in changing CIA
policy." I was now
on record as being
opposed to any dem-
onstrations against
the agency - ludi-
crous, but the sort of
absurdity I felt the
CIA would appreci-
ate.
Emmott looked
over a report on my
Miami interview,
written by Schmit-
tle.
"It says here
you're confident,
assertive. You think
that's accurate?" he
be asked. I said thought so.
"Let's see ... what do you think
they could mean by those words?" lid
asked. =
"Arrogant. Ruthless, perhaps," -1
responded, laughing.
"You think you're ruthless?" be
asked, leaning forward so that his face
was about six inches from mine.-
"No," I said, "but others might:"
Emmott left it at that. "I think
you're cut out for the covert section.
You don't want to sit behind a desk for
most of your career," he said.
I had scored well on the aptitude
test, he said. I was the sort of person
they were looking for in covert. I won-
dered if I wanted to be that sort of
person.
13
April:... Sitting still means. mask
for brains
My interviews in Washington
proved one point Emmott had-made: I
didn't, indeed, want to sit behind a
desk most of my career. ,'
That's what I would do in the
agency's Foreign Broadcast Informa-
tion Service. Translated articles and
transcripts of broadcasts are wired
from CIA bureaus around the world to
the D.C. office, where employees
clean up the translations and decide
whether to include the dispatches in
the daily briefing book, which can
measure an inch thick.
The people I spoke to kept search-
Ing for words, as if their gray matter
had turned to mush. I figured mine
would, too, If I had to read transla-
tions of Albanian news reports for two
or three years.
Over in the Office of Central
Research, the troops were equally
fatigued. I had lunch with a man who
had spent most of his career writing
biographies of leaders in countries on
the southern tip of Africa.
He told me he had graduated from
Georgetown University with a degree
in medieval history, had a wife and
two small children to support.
"I answered an ad on a bulletin
board and wound up here," he said.
How long ago was that? I asked.
"About 12 years ago," he said.
I took a test to measure my ability,
to crank out the mini-bios. From a
folder containing about 100 pages of:
documents - cables from embassies,
New York Times articles, economic:
reports from the State Department,,,
etc. - I was supposed to compose a!
3
two-page biography on a former,
prime minister of Zaire for use by the
secretary of state. I fell asleep twice
during the two-hour ordeal. 1
Clearly, this was not my niche.
Jane: Troth and consequences . ti
Another week of interviews in D.C.,
this time with the covert section,
began with a trip to one of the handful
of CIA Installations scattered around
the Virginia suburbs. The seven-story
glass-and-concrete building was
neighbor to branch offices of GTE and
TRW Inc. Except for the street num-
ber, the building was unmarked.
I was greeted by another Career
Training Program interviewer, who
called himself Eric Lund. He looked
like the Hollywood stereotype of a
case officer: blue pin-stripe suit, but-
ton-down collar, gray receding hair-
line and a mustache, which he said he
had grown many years earlier to look
older. '
He explained that the program
begins with two months of classroom
instruction, followed by a six-month
idternship in various divisions, within
the CIA. Then come twoo'months' of
exercises at "The Farm,",the agency's
military camp..
"You'll learn escape 'and evasion,
how to use foreign weapons, how to
set up a drop zone so that you could
get supplies to Afghan rebels, for
instance," Lund told me. Two weeks
of parachute training are optional, he
added.
After The Farm come four months
of role-playing. Instructors imperson-
ate prospective agents, and trainees
practice recruiting and handling
spies.
"The simulations can la$t anywhere
from a few minutes to up to a week,"
Lund said.
Before being assigned overseas,
trainees get intensive language
instruction, he said. For the easy lan-
guages like French and Spanish, that
means six months; for the most diffi-
cult languages, such as Korean and
Arabic, training can last up to two
years. I
Trainees finally are assigned to
embassies, Lund said, as Defense or
State Department officials.
"Your supervisor will know you're
with CIA, but your co-workers will
have to be kept in the dark. It's like
holding down two jobs," he said.
As he described a typical day, I
Wilk
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 began to feel a case of mononucleosis
coming on. At 10 a.m., I have an inter-
view at a cafe with a Romanian diplo-
mat, for my embassy Job. Back at the
embassy, I handle some of the visa
and legal problems U.S. citizens
abroad encounter.
At 1 p.m., there's lunch with a
finance ministry official, during
which I dig for material the CIA can
use. Back to the embassy for more
work. At 4, I have a tennis appoint-
pent with a highly placed govern-
ment official from the country in
which I'm stationed.,
At 7:30, after my co-workers have
long since left the office, I dash to
cocktails at a friend's house, where I'll
be "trolling," as Lund put it - looking
for 'sources and contacts the CIA
might exploit.
Then at 9, I'm hosting a catered
dinner ("which the agency will pay
for") for six friends, one of whom I'm
cultivating as a source. At 11:30,
there's a meeting at a "safe house" to
find out what an agent has to report.
After writing up the report, I'm asleep
atIa.m.
"The job is heavy on social skills,"
Lund said. "You'll have to attract peo-
ple, make friends and, eventually,
exploit and manipulate them."
Once again, I was cautioned that I
would have to keep my employment
with the agency secret. I
"You'll have to make sure that the
people you tell will be willing to lie
for you," Lund said. "If your aunt asks
what you're doing, your mother can't
say, 'Well, I'm not supposed to tell you
this, but he's working for the CIA.' We
consider these to be lies without moral
consequence."
If I passed the psychological and
polygraph tests later in the week, I'd
get a job offer in about a month, he
said. Annual starting salary would be
$22,372.
The next day, I was subjected to a
hatterv of tests that constituted my
psychological assessment. The day
concluded with an interview with a
psychologist called Dr. Mooney, a
rotund man whose voice sounded like
it was being processed through a
blender.
He had a few questions about my
answers on the tests. In one section, I
had had to complete sentences with
the first thing that had come to my
mind. I had taken these instructions at
face value.
"The sentence read, 'What is your
most secret anxiety?' You responded,
'Anthony Perkins,"' Mooney said.
"Well, I suppose I wrote that
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because I think of the shower scene in
'Psycho' whenever I check into a hotel
room," I offered. '
"So it's Anthony Perkins as Norman
Bates that frightens you, not Perkins
himself?" Mooney asked.
"Right," I responded.
I asked Mooney what he saw in my
test results that would recommend me
for a job in covert operations.
"You're obviously smart, verbally
facile and you have a high energy
level. But if I were your CIA station
chief, I'd keep a dammed close eye on
you," he said. I asked why.
"Because I'd never know what
you're going to do next. You have a
very Independent mode of operation.
For some case officers, that's good. If
we put them out there and they don't
hear from us for 10 years, it's fine," he
said.
The third day, I took the polygraph
test, administered by a man who iden-
tified himself simply as George. I sat
in a straight-backed chair while two
rubber belts were hooked around my
chest, two sensors were attached to
my fingers and a pressure cuff was
fastened around my arm.
George told me the questions in
advance, explaining that the initial
ones would have obvious answers. I
was to answer yes or no, and try to
relax. ?
Is your name Edward Adams?
Yes.
Is today Monday?
No.
Were you born Sept. 28,1963?
Yes.
I had some irregular breathing dur-
ing these questions, so George ran the
series again. He said I did better. the
second time.
The remainder of the questions
were asked to verify items I had filled
out on the 20-page application in
December. After he had asked each
question twice, George turned off the
machine, deflated the pressure cuff
and said, "The test is over. We have a
lot to talk about." I
In the two hours that followed,
George and his supervisor (who
refused to identify himself) grilled me
on my answers to three questions on
which I had shown "a significant reac-
tion," in George's words:
After age 18, have you ever had a
physical relationship with another
man?
Other than those experiences you've
told us about, have you ever used ille-
galdrugs?
Have you ever committed an
unlawful act?
I had answered an honest "no" to all
three. .., . . .
"I'm here to help you get a positive
reading from the machine," George
said. "But you have to tell me what
your concerns are about the questions.
What were you thinking about when I
asked the homosexuality question?"
. I told him I was thinking how ner-
vous I was and how to control my
breathing, as I had done earlier.
11"That won't wash," he said,
`adding,"Obviously, the agency doesn't
-want to hire someone who will go
down to 14th Street and have casual
sex with men every nicht," His refer-
ence was to the red-light district in
Washington. "But we recognize that everyone
experiments. College is the sort of
place you try new things. But If you
want a job here, you have to tell me
what your concerns were with the
question." George would repeat that
line so many times, it.would become
"I was also thinking that I have
friends who are homosexuals," I said.
"Where did you meet these people?"
he asked.
At college.
How many contacts have you had
with them?
They lived in my dorm, and I took
classes with them. Countless contacts,
I suppose
Well, give me a number.
Five hundred, 600, I suppose.
4nd did you go to bars with these
friends? Did you talk privately in their
rooms? 4. .
Sure.
Did you talk about homosexuality?
What did you say?
1 asked what attracted them to it ft
was something I couldn't understand.
They asked me what attracted me to
heterosexuality. They said it was
something that baffled them.
What do you think about homosexu-
ality?
I think it's not forme-
Have your friends ever P poifi-
tioned you? ''?' ~'
Na I think they thought of me as it
friend. They knew I wasn't Interested.;
You mean to tell me that you ha'I &
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known these friends for four years,
and they never propositioned you? If*
heterosexual man goes to barswitk'aa
woman and talks to her in''pdrabe
over a period of time, he's goigg.161
make a pass at her. ^3'??
Perhaps, but these friefl4 Ia $
never made one at me.
"Onlylas idiot would believe,Qw ,
George shouted. "If you, waat,'t job4
you have to be straigbtorwagt witk,
ig '
me. You're not facing a litt'
being dish."
The cosvlrsation turnbd4o,1n * *,
usage. foc 4 -s' "
"Hbw "often have you had'iNob c
with' people using drugs?' I-b *
asked.
Countless timme4. 1-z;-
What sort of drugs, besides pot?;
Speed,. Quaaludes, LSD, ceoaife-i
heroin. < ^~~ rr
Heroin? George's eyes bugg'ed'out
Yes, beroin.
And you never used any yourseJf2
No, I.didn't. Your machine nornet'
indicate this, but I have a morality; or
a set of standards or whatewr;-that
rejects drugs as an option ~~: ~-~:
After hours of this back-and-forth,'
it seemed pointless to continue: I
signed a form that stated I w3W tq'
terminate the testing procedure WltN
out passing the polygraph, I cohld' not'
be employed by the CIA.'
As he escorted me out of the'buil ,
ing, George dropped the prosegntori,l,
demeanor and became fp 414-
f riendly ?.:h
"Have you ever thought abo t iaw
as a career?" he asked. "You hpedled
yourself quite well in there." , . ,
Yes, I said, I plan to attend -Colarno
bia Law School W the fail. t)e
"Well, if it means any(hfngg'';'P
respect you quite a bit," Geolte ?ald'
as he waved goodbye.
Respected me as what? I wondered.,
As the thieving, homosexual drug-Wer.
his machine said I was?
With that, I was no longs; 'a , CIA'
applicant. As I walked out the dgocs
the headquarters, over the ages y,3
inlaid seal, I flicked cigarette. anti od
the marble eagle's head and rtgll;
that I'll never be James Bond.
" ".
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