Read Online Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story by Jack Devine, Vernon Loeb - Free Book Online
Authors: Jack Devine, Vernon Loeb
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to look at where the weapons were being kept and logged in, I was always impressed with the thoroughness of the mujahideen’s efforts. There was a great deal of management oversight. One of the things our case officers did in Pakistan was regularly go through the gun markets in the North West Frontier and elsewhere to determine how many of our weapons found their way into the market, and I was consistently surprised that almost nothing, and certainly no Stingers, showed up there.
In 1986, great anticipation greeted the arrival of the Stingers in theater. Even though we had seen the tests and knew how deadly these missiles were, firing them required certain skill and precision. A PhD wasn’t necessary, but a certain facility with technology was helpful. Could this ragtag group of mujahideen fighters be trained to handle a sophisticated weapon? I never had any doubt that they could.
THREE
“Your Friend Called from the Airport”
Chile, 1971–74
As I look back on it now, Santiago was an indescribably exotic first foreign assignment. It was September 1973, and rumors of a military coup against President Salvador Allende had been swirling for months. There had already been one attempt. Street protests by Allende opponents made Santiago chaotic. Strikes and economic disarray made basic necessities difficult to find. Occasional bomb explosions rocked the capital. The whole country seemed exhausted, waiting.
I was at Da Carla, a noisy Italian restaurant in downtown Santiago, for lunch on September 9, when a colleague joined my table and whispered in my ear: “Call home immediately; it’s urgent.” I ducked out as discreetly as I could, to get back to the station to call from a secure line. I thought I knew what my wife would tell me. Amid all the chaos, Pat, who had never been outside the United States and Bermuda before we came to Chile, was raising five young children. She could have been calling me about any number of urgent matters. But my instincts were right. “Your friend called from the airport,” she told me. “He’s leaving the country. He told me to tell you, ‘The military has decided to move. It’s going to happen on September eleventh. The navy will lead it off.’”
It was the first indication received by any member of the CIA station in Santiago that the coup had been set in motion. A second source later called the station; we agreed to meet at his house just after dark. He confirmed the earlier report and added one key detail, the time the coup would begin: 7:00 a.m. With two sources, I sent CIA headquarters in Langley a top secret cable—a CRITIC, which overrides all other traffic worldwide and goes to the highest levels of government. Markings on the document, declassified in redacted form in 2000, indicate that it was distributed to President Nixon and other top U.S. policy makers the following day. 1 The source’s name has been blacked out—and I am not at liberty to divulge it now—but his message bears an unadorned sense of urgency: “ A COUP ATTEMPT WILL BE INITIATED ON 11 SEPTEMBER. ALL THREE BRANCHES OF THE ARMED FORCES AND THE CARABINEROS ARE INVOLVED IN THIS ACTION. A DECLARATION WILL BE READ ON RADIO AGRICULTURA AT 7 A.M. ON SEPT. 11 … THE CARABINEROS HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR SEIZING PRESIDENT SALVADOR ALLENDE .” 2
This is how the U.S. government learned of the coup. That may be hard for many Americans to believe, given a central conclusion reached in 1975 by the Senate Intelligence Committee, headed by Frank Church: “There is no doubt that the U.S. government sought a military coup in Chile” in 1970. 3 But I can say with conviction, flat out: the CIA did not plot with the military to overthrow Allende in 1973. It’s important to get this straight for the sake of history: the CIA should not be blamed for things it did not do.
As mentioned in Chapter 1, the Agency has been involved in misguided covert actions, driven by presidential authorization, most of
In 1986, great anticipation greeted the arrival of the Stingers in theater. Even though we had seen the tests and knew how deadly these missiles were, firing them required certain skill and precision. A PhD wasn’t necessary, but a certain facility with technology was helpful. Could this ragtag group of mujahideen fighters be trained to handle a sophisticated weapon? I never had any doubt that they could.
THREE
“Your Friend Called from the Airport”
Chile, 1971–74
As I look back on it now, Santiago was an indescribably exotic first foreign assignment. It was September 1973, and rumors of a military coup against President Salvador Allende had been swirling for months. There had already been one attempt. Street protests by Allende opponents made Santiago chaotic. Strikes and economic disarray made basic necessities difficult to find. Occasional bomb explosions rocked the capital. The whole country seemed exhausted, waiting.
I was at Da Carla, a noisy Italian restaurant in downtown Santiago, for lunch on September 9, when a colleague joined my table and whispered in my ear: “Call home immediately; it’s urgent.” I ducked out as discreetly as I could, to get back to the station to call from a secure line. I thought I knew what my wife would tell me. Amid all the chaos, Pat, who had never been outside the United States and Bermuda before we came to Chile, was raising five young children. She could have been calling me about any number of urgent matters. But my instincts were right. “Your friend called from the airport,” she told me. “He’s leaving the country. He told me to tell you, ‘The military has decided to move. It’s going to happen on September eleventh. The navy will lead it off.’”
It was the first indication received by any member of the CIA station in Santiago that the coup had been set in motion. A second source later called the station; we agreed to meet at his house just after dark. He confirmed the earlier report and added one key detail, the time the coup would begin: 7:00 a.m. With two sources, I sent CIA headquarters in Langley a top secret cable—a CRITIC, which overrides all other traffic worldwide and goes to the highest levels of government. Markings on the document, declassified in redacted form in 2000, indicate that it was distributed to President Nixon and other top U.S. policy makers the following day. 1 The source’s name has been blacked out—and I am not at liberty to divulge it now—but his message bears an unadorned sense of urgency: “ A COUP ATTEMPT WILL BE INITIATED ON 11 SEPTEMBER. ALL THREE BRANCHES OF THE ARMED FORCES AND THE CARABINEROS ARE INVOLVED IN THIS ACTION. A DECLARATION WILL BE READ ON RADIO AGRICULTURA AT 7 A.M. ON SEPT. 11 … THE CARABINEROS HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR SEIZING PRESIDENT SALVADOR ALLENDE .” 2
This is how the U.S. government learned of the coup. That may be hard for many Americans to believe, given a central conclusion reached in 1975 by the Senate Intelligence Committee, headed by Frank Church: “There is no doubt that the U.S. government sought a military coup in Chile” in 1970. 3 But I can say with conviction, flat out: the CIA did not plot with the military to overthrow Allende in 1973. It’s important to get this straight for the sake of history: the CIA should not be blamed for things it did not do.
As mentioned in Chapter 1, the Agency has been involved in misguided covert actions, driven by presidential authorization, most of
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