John Stockwell

"Kissinger was, as always, preoccupied with other matters of state and his rather complicated social life."

"The KGB is by far the world's largest, the Israeli probably the best, and the Iranian and the South Korean the deadliest."

"The CIA maintains prepackaged stocks of foreign weapons for instant shipment anywhere in the world."

"A strongly antiagency ambassador can make problems for the CIA chief of station."

"The men who control the CIA are of an older, conservative generation which has kept the agency fifteen or twenty years behind the progress of the nation at large."

"Case officers are subject to the same embarassments any tourist suffers-snarled schedules, lost passports, lost money and luggage, and getting off the plane at the wrong destination"

"Customs and immigrations officials are trained to detect the unusual. In some countries they are especially alert to CIA officers"

"I once watched an angry Zairian official very nearly strip and search the person of a CIA GS 17 who had forgotten to speak politely"

"Case officers most fear the US ambassador and his staff, then restrictive headquarters cables, then curious gossipy neighbours in the local community, as potential threats to the operation. Next would come the local police, then the press. Last of all is the KGB."