Exclusive Interview with Bob Wallace, Author of "Spycraft"

Bob Wallace: The challenge of co-authoring a book with three people depends heavily on the personalities involved. While we were not well acquainted before starting the project, we found ourselves quite compatible in terms of our support and efforts. I conducted most of the interviews and research from the CIA side, usually involving retired colleagues who were able to share their stories. Keith Melton, with his engineering background, provided the technical details, while Hank Schlesinger brought his strong writing skills to the table. 

Bob Wallace: Hank worked at night, and I worked during the day. He would write at night, and I’d review and edit his work during the day. This round-the-clock operation was particularly useful when meeting deadlines. We went through 8 to 10 drafts of each chapter to refine the content 

Bob Wallace: Yes, and it was quite a challenge. Initially, the CIA wanted to review each chapter as we completed it. However, as we revised chapters based on new information, they requested to review the entire manuscript once it was finished. When we submitted it in the fall of 2005, they rejected almost all of it, claiming it was too classified to publish. It took 18 months of negotiations before we received approval.

Bob Wallace: Out of about fifty operational stories, 49.5 made it into the final version. The half story that was omitted was understandable once the CIA explained their concerns. It's essential to manage classified information carefully, considering its potential impact even decades later.

Bob Wallace: My pleasure, Julien. It's been great discussing the intricacies of spycraft and the importance of meticulous craftsmanship.

Bob Wallace: When OSS was created in January of 1942, it was headed by Stanley Lovell, a chemist from New England hired by William Donovan, the head of OSS. One of the things Lovell immediately faced was how to build equipment very quickly. The war was ongoing, so there was an immediate need for capability. There wasn’t any time to build government laboratories or government production capabilities, so they turned out of necessity to the private sector .

Bob Wallace: They, uh, OSS had, uh, something of a philosophy on technology and that was a kind of a three-level perspective on it. The first was if something is available in the commercial sector and it works for espionage operations, we're gonna use it. We're not going to try to invent something that doesn't need to be invented. An example of that would be how they acquired equipment to intercept communications over wires—telephone or telegraph. That capability already existed. They're not going to invent that again. The second principle was we're going to send our engineers to the field. We're not going to put them in laboratories safe in America. We're going to send them out to the front lines and work with people in the field so we will know exactly what kinds of equipment and capabilities the field operators need and can use. Then the third principle was, as we had talked earlier, we're not gonna build a separate government laboratory to do this work. We're going to turn to the private sector to help us.

Bob Wallace: One project involved creating a small tracking device. We specified dimensions like 2 inches long, 1/2 inch wide, and 1/4 inch thick. After months of work, the engineers said it wouldn't function within those dimensions. They suggested a minor adjustment—adding 1/16th of an inch to the thickness. Though it seemed trivial, this change allowed us to build the device successfully. It’s a reminder that even small changes can have significant impacts.

Bob Wallace: Yes, almost all of the technology that is used by intelligence agencies worldwide is at a fairly mature state when it is picked up by the intelligence communities. They really don't fund a lot of leading-edge research. The devices or capabilities need to be functional before the intelligence organizations normally develop them. So in the United States, there are several research organizations like DARPA, which does advance the development. And while the intelligence communities will stay in touch with DARPA to see what kind of advanced research might lead to a capability, that's really done separately from most of the intelligence technology work.

Bob Wallace: In fact, if you don't see the adversary using one technique and suddenly you don't see them using that technique, that probably means that they have switched to some other technique, not that the operation has ended.

Bob Wallace: I don't know whether it's quite in that number or not, but you certainly are always trying to modify or change what you are doing before the adversary does serious damage to you. Now, this is after I had left the service, but I have read a number of reports about the CIA using longer than it should have some internet covert communications capabilities to handle agents in China. As a result, some agents were lost because the Chinese security service had identified these particular internet channels as covert communications being used by the United States. So this would be a more recent example, assuming that it is accurate, that is true of a technique being used too often, too long.

Bob Wallace: You're absolutely correct that sometimes we like to do things easy and find Destin. Operations should never be undertaken because they are quite easy. If they're easy for me to do, then they become easy for the opposition to counter.

Bob Wallace: Well, 50 years after I started working in the business, when I began, we could say, well, you know, a photograph doesn't lie. And official reports, if I receive an official report, it is an official report. Today, I have to be suspicious of both because photographs and videos can be so easily manipulated and altered. Voices too. So I have to be cautious of those. Official documents now can be manipulated and appear to be official but yet be forgeries. So I'm increasingly cautious about everything I read and everything I see, whether that comes from the BBC or the United States government. It's important to be cautious.

Bob Wallace: I am very appreciative of the opportunity to talk about Spycraft, and I hope those who hear this broadcast will have the opportunity to read and enjoy the book. That would be wonderful. Thank you .