The cult of the secret agent. In fact as in fiction the spy, the operative is the indispensable person of our time. The Cold War is on ice, but the new concerns with Islamic fundamentalism exposes the same dynamic of activity that poses a threat to the open society from without and within. A trip back to Watergate…
…The CIA philosophy of agent recruitment, as expounded by Peter Ward, the protagonist in E. Howard Hunt’s spy thriller, On Hazardous Day, sounded quite down to earth when compared to the Soviet rhetoric of the time for the KGB as articulated by spy Rudolf Abel who who extolled the virtues of high moral qualities, the Communist puritan ethic of humble obscurity and patriotism.
—In Dick, which featured starlets Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams, the elements of scandal unfold as teeny-bopper burlesque. Arlene and Betsy, two 15-year-old Washington girls, stumble onto G. Gordon Liddy mid-burglary when sneaking out of a Watergate apartment after bedtime to get a contest submissionto the magazine Tiger Beat postmarked by midnight. The girls then recognize Liddy on a White House class trip and find a “CREEP list” (“I guess that all the people on that list must be creeps”) stuck to the bottom of his shoe. They end up in the Oval Office because Nixon pawns off dog-walking duties on them and win his lightheaded trust after delivering cookies inadvertently laced with marijuana. —click image for source…
“Give me the mercenary agent over the idealist any time,” he quotes one of his old instructors as saying. “The idealist is basically unreliable.” Peter, it is true, is talking about recruiting foreign agents. It is O.K. for American agents to be a bit idealistic, as long as they have the right ideals and keep them under control. Peter himself, ever ready to risk his life for his country, or at least his country club, is dedicated enough: he can live a day or two on C rations when he has to, but he definitely prefers lobster. His creator appears to share his taste: it will be recalled that just before the Watergate break-in attempt Hunt ordered a lobster dinner for his entire team of patriotic burglars. The check came to $236.
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