THE SHHH! SHREDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100200085-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 85
• Publication Date: October 19, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100200085-5
The'
Shhhf
,Shreds
By Lloyd Grove
"How will I be able to recognize
you?" says the voice on the -phone
- ?
from ,Classified Associates. "Will you.
wear a badge on your lapel? Maybe a-
flower over your left earn, ;
At the appointed hour, a man
steps furtively into:the Hot Shoppes
restaurant 'on Wisconsin Avenue in.
Bethesda: He carries a trench coat, a
briefcase and a threadbare hat, and
wears. imitation .tortoiseshell. sun-..,,...
glasses - He is-a:tall, hefty man-
sweat-stained shirt, -a silyeraired
man with-as anyone can;see-?once
he takes off the shades. searching
blue eyes.
"I am sorrry," he.'says; Meeester
Ackerman-he has beendeeetained
elsewhere. My name:is Alfredo Be.....)
chara from C olombia -- he proffers a
soiled -business card=~'but- that ? is--
only only my secret cover.. In theees
beeesness, I must change'my iden-
tity every 30 minutes_..-..__. The reporter has come "expecting
to meet with Army.Maj., William'
Ackerman,?37,-a defense analyst for.
the Army's Concepts Analysis Agen
cy and, during his'off-hours,'a'part-..;
ner in Classified' Associates; a Gai-
WASHINGTON POST
19 October 1984
thersburg firm. The company's sole
product-shredded secret docu-
ments-went on sale the other day
at the Pentagon Book Store. for
$3.95 a box.
But where is Major Ackerman? In
his place has come this character,
grinning an odd, unsettling grin.
"Are we bugged?" the man asks
anxiously as he slips into a booth by
the window and plops his briefcase
on'the-table "You are sure we are'
not bugged? Then you are wired,
Jes? You are not wired?-
He snaps, the briefcase, I open.to_
reveal a transparent plastic. contain-..
or. It is: packed with tantalizing
shreds of typgscript.
} '"SECRET;" warns' the label un-
der the logo of Classified Associ-
ates, a fierce-looking eagle inside a
circle of stars and stripes.
"These documents contained
SECRET information regarding
areas of vital national security
This box has been mmled to prevent
reassembly of its contents! To do so
could present a security threat to-
the United States oerica-"
The label bears the scrawl of a
"verifying official"arid-a purplish ink
stamp; Nov. 10 1983:
"Ah, ?jes, 10 November," the man
says, breathing rapidly. "That .was
He grins goofily and holds up a
second box. "Theees one is 30 No-
vember. That was 'Invasion of Can-
ada.' Theees is very. secret stuff.
You are sure we are. not bugged?"
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100200085-5