138 AMERICAN SPYOver lunch at an outdoor ocean-view restaurant, Sasha and I discussed
our backgrounds and how we’d come to know our mutual friend. He cor-
roborated much of what Dave had already told me about his current job.
I am not permitted to go into detail, but because of the circumstances, I
was able to pitch Sasha to provide secret information to me in the future.
Without hesitation, Sasha said he’d be very interested. Because of the
manner in which I had engineered our first meeting, Sasha had no reason
to be suspicious and we could get right down to business.
I explained the way our arrangement would work, and Sasha never ques-
tioned my background or asked questions about how his information would
be used. Like most of his fellow Russian professionals, Sasha was having
trouble making ends meet on his meager salary. He was happy to work pri-
vately for me. We agreed to meet in another month in a third country when
he was scheduled to travel outside of Russia again on business.
I formally recruited Sasha early on in the relationship. Over the course of
the coming year, I met several more times with him during his business trips
outside of Russia. As a Russian who had grown up in the repressive Soviet
system, he innately understood why it was in everyone’s best interests to keep
our arrangement secret. I provided Sasha with long lists of headquarters-
provided questions for him to answer. He wrote up dozens of detailed, well-
organized reports in direct response to over 95 percent of the requirements.
If he could not answer a question, he said so. CIA headquarters analysts and
other intelligence consumers were extremely pleased with Sasha’s access and
with the accuracy of his reporting. The CIA deemed Sasha and his informa-
tion extremely reliable and of high value to the US government.This inexpensive operation was highly successful, yielding significant “bang
for the buck” to the US government. The operation remained secret from
start to finish. My Russian agent delivered volumes of invaluable secret
intelligence directly responsive to CIA requirements. America’s national
security was enhanced thanks to one well-placed Russian spy.