Three Minutes to Doomsday
Page 32
“You’re now in charge of the family,” my father told me when he left us that tearful night in Cienfuegos when I was only seven years old. That’s what I’ve always tried to do, exercise proper stewardship over my duties—not the least of which was to defend this nation that I love so much from “enemies both foreign and domestic.” Not until I was an adult, though, did I read Nietzsche’s warning about the abyss that so many of us in law enforcement look into daily—the abyss that holds monsters known and unknown and is always staring back. I ignored that warning to my terrible detriment and to the detriment of my family.
* * *
ON THE DAY I began my sick leave, I drove to the office in the morning to turn in my Bureau car. Before I could depart—Luciana was waiting outside to drive me back to bed—the special agent in charge of Tampa called me into his office to say that as a result of the Ramsay arrest FBIHQ was recognizing me for my hard work. He handed me an envelope that I placed in my coat pocket next to my FBI credentials—I was too tired to open it.
Weeks into my recovery, as I slowly made my way to the bathroom with the help of my wife, I noticed a bank receipt on the dresser.
“What’s that?” I asked Luciana.
“I deposited that check,” she said, “the one you got from headquarters your last day at the office.”
“How much was it for?” I asked, barely remembering the moment.
“Five hundred dollars, but after deducting for taxes, Social Security, and insurance, it came to $327.36.”
“Five hundred dollars doesn’t go far these days, I guess,” I said, but I couldn’t even muster a smile.
“No, it won’t go far,” Luciana agreed, “but you’ll be home for Stephanie’s birthday this year, and one more thing—you’re alive, Joe.”
Just then I started to cry, bawl like a baby—for the first time in my life I felt so helpless. Settling me back in bed, with Stephanie helping as best she could at my side, Luciana repeated words in Portuguese that we often said to Stephanie whenever she fell and hurt herself:
“Chore nao. A vida e boa.”
Don’t cry. Life is good.
Indeed it is.
My Cuban passport photo, taken a few months before I arrived in Miami in 1962. Even at this young age, I was grateful for everything America represented and did for my family. I dedicated myself to repaying this great country that had taken us in as refugees.
Courtesy of the author
A letter from President Nixon, commending me for my help in stopping a robbery. Though the injuries I sustained dashed my dreams of a college football career, eventually other doors opened to me.
Courtesy of the author
A photo from around the same time as the Ramsay case—my SWAT team duties also competed for my limited time
Courtesy of the author
Shaking hands with Vice President Bush in Puerto Rico. He’d come to thank our SWAT team for the takedown of the Machetero terrorist group.
Courtesy of the author
Lynn Tremaine, my first partner in unraveling the mystery that was traitor Rod Ramsay. Although she was relatively new to the job, Lynn showed great instincts for gaining Ramsay’s trust.
Courtesy of the author
The photo I kept on my desk of my daughter Stephanie and me
Courtesy of the author
From left to right: Rich Licht, Susan Langford, me, and Terry Moody. Rich, Susan, and especially Terry offered critical help in bringing Ramsay to justice.
Courtesy of the author
Terry Moody and me. Her brilliant tradecraft and striking good looks made her the ideal partner as we sought to get Ramsay to lower his guard and spill his secrets.
Courtesy of the author
From left to right: Marc Reeser, Ihor O. E. Kotlarchuk, me, and Jane Hein—more proof that it takes a team, especially in the business of counterespionage
Courtesy of the author
A close up of Zoltan Szabo while he was still in the US Army. Szabo was the first to betray his country, followed by Conrad, then Ramsay—three generations of traitors.
Courtesy of the author
Roderick James Ramsay’s passport photo
Courtesy of the author
National Security Action Memorandum 160, signed by President Kennedy, introduced PALs to all US nuclear weapons under NATO command. In the wrong hands, these “permissive action links” could be devastating to America’s nuclear strategy, and it was Ramsay’s hands they fell into.
Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Ramsay standing by his cab at the Orlando International Airport, taken from FBI surveillance footage
Courtesy of the author
A photo of the “secret apartment” in Bad Kreuznach, Josef Schneider Plaza #4. It was here that Ramsay and his confederate Clyde Lee Conrad sorted through their voluminous and unprecedented haul of stolen secrets and prepared them for transmittal to the Soviet Bloc.
Courtesy of the author
A cowbell used as a recognition signal by the co-conspirators
Courtesy of the author
The “hello” number for Hungarian Intelligence was written on a piece of water-soluble paper. The discovery of its significance was the first important sign that my suspicions regarding Ramsay were correct.
Courtesy of the author
The arrest photo of Jeffrey Stephen Rondeau
Courtesy of the author
The arrest photo of Jeffery Eugene Gregory
Courtesy of the author
The arrest photo of Kelley Therese Church, née Warren
Courtesy of the author
Sandor and Imre Kercsik, Hungarian-born Swedish physicians, who served as couriers for the spy ring
Courtesy of the author
Clyde Lee Conrad sitting just a few feet away from me at his trial in Koblenz
Courtesy of the author
Greg Kehoe, the prosecutor whose fierce determination to bring Ramsay to trial cowed a stuck-in-the-mud Washington bureaucracy and redeemed the two years I’d spent exhaustively coaxing from Ramsay chilling disclosures of wrongdoing
Courtesy of Gregory W. Kehoe, Esq.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Early in my writing career, fellow author, friend, and mentor Toni Sciarra Poynter warned me that often the most difficult task in writing a book is the acknowledgments. She wasn’t kidding—there are so many people to thank. In all of our endeavors, we’re assisted by others who provide guidance, assurance, encouragement, or insight. This is true in writing a book, and it was no less true in conducting an espionage investigation that spanned a decade.
Ten years is a long time for any investigation, and the number of people who along the way helped or assisted me can’t be accurately measured—but what can be measured is my profound gratitude for their efforts.
First and foremost, I want to say that this country owes an immense debt to the US Army Intelligence Security Command (INSCOM) and in particular the Foreign Counterintelligence Activity (FCA). It is they who, acting on a tip from the CIA, looked at over 250,000 service members stationed in Germany and narrowed their focus to one individual passing highly classified documents to the Soviet Bloc. To me, the sheer enormity of this task is still breathtaking and yet they, alone, did it. It was their hard work that identified two American traitors: Clyde Lee Conrad and Zoltan Szabo.
With superb guidance from Lieutenant General Ed Soyster and Colonel Stuart A. Herrington, this team of dedicated individuals accomplished the near impossible—without equal in US history. Along the way I got to meet or work with Norman Runk, Al Eways, Al Puromaki, Bob Gaiter, and Mike McAdoo. But of all of these highly professional INSCOM-FCA special agents, I want to single out Gary Pepper, with whom I got to work closely for years. He is the finest investigator I’ve ever teamed with; I certainly learned much from him and I was inspired by his unparalleled tenacity.
I want to thank all of the dedicated men and women of the FBI, past and present, who
work so hard to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States from enemies both foreign and domestic,” as they swear to do the day they take their oath. I know what they sacrifice every day, and I’m eternally grateful.
In particular, I want to thank the Tampa Division of the FBI for the work that they do and for the assistance they provided us in this massively complex investigation. While there are fifty-nine major field Offices in the FBI, the Tampa Division is one of only a handful that has prosecuted an espionage subject. They’ve done it five times.
Julian “Jay” Koerner, Lynn Tremaine, Marc Reeser, Rich Licht, Susan Langford, Jane Hein, and especially Terry H. Moody deserve special thanks for their sacrifice, guidance, hard work, and dedication—this is also their story.
I must also acknowledge Ihor O. E. Kotlarchuk, who assisted me on so many cases over the years and helped me navigate the national security labyrinth at the Department of Justice. For his help and friendship I’m very grateful.
Likewise, I must also thank former First Assistant US Attorney Greg Kehoe, who brought this matter before the courts, for his dynamic leadership, unwavering resolve, and intellect. To say that Kehoe is a giant when it comes to jurisprudence only begins to recognize his gifts.
To Donna Bucella, who served as the US attorney for the Middle District of Florida, a hearty thanks for clearing away so many obstacles on so many cases. And many thanks also to my friend Assistant US Attorney Walter “Terry” Furr, who for five years aggressively pursued this case with me.
For twenty-five years I didn’t want to talk about this case; I preferred to keep it squarely behind me. Over a period of years, though, Steve Ross, my friend and literary agent at Abrams Artists Agency in New York, was able to coax out of me, with great delicacy, some details regarding it. Ultimately, he convinced me to go forward with a book, saying, “This is a story the American public must know.”
Steve is not just a peerless literary agent, he is a fantastic human being. Through his trust and gentle guidance, this project came alive. It is he and his wonderful group at Abrams Artists Agency Book Division that I must thank for getting this story told.
Thanks, too, to David Doerrer at Abrams, for helping advocate for this story with publishers around the world, and to Paul Weitzman for getting the proposal into the hands of George Clooney and his partners at Smokehouse Pictures.
Deserving of special thanks is Howard Means, a great writer in his own right, who, to assist me, took time from his busy writing schedule (he was then working on his latest book, 67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence). I’m very grateful that he agreed to help me mold my thoughts into a coherent narrative. I’ve learned much from him about the art of writing.
Creating a proposal is one thing; telling the tale from start to finish and getting it published another. Here is where Rick Horgan, vice president and executive editor at Scribner, and his staff came in. It is he who looked at the proposal and saw its potential. He asked all the right questions, and once the manuscript was completed he tackled it personally. In his capacity to bring out the best in authors Rick has few equals. I couldn’t have asked for a better publisher than Scribner or a more talented editor to guide me through the process. My thanks also go out to Scribner team members Colin Harrison, Sally Howe, Jaya Miceli, Pete Garceau, Laura Wise, Mia Crowley-Hald, Chris Milea, and Richard Willett, whose contributions were crucial.
I could not write this book without giving thanks to my family. Through their sacrifices and loving example, my parents instilled in me a love of family, hard work, and a profound appreciation for this nation that took us in as refugees. Whatever success I’ve achieved in life is due to their influence; I’m indebted to them for so much. To my family near and far, thank you.
Lastly, but most especially, I must also heartily thank my dear wife, Thryth, for her love, dedication, and patience, as writing all too often distracts me. She is my anchor for the things that matter. With her help, I was able to draw out of myself some of the experiences I was reluctant to talk about for so long. Her kindness and love are never far from me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© MARK WEMPLE
JOE NAVARRO was, for twenty-five years, a Special Agent with the FBI in the area of counterintelligence. He was also a founding member of the FBI’s elite National Security Division Behavioral Analysis Program, which focused on the behavior of spies, terrorists, and criminals. Since retiring from the FBI, he has devoted his time to lecturing and writing on human behavior. He is the author of the international bestseller What Every BODY Is Saying. You can find him at JNForensics.com.
MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT
SimonandSchuster.com
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Joe-Navarro
We hope you enjoyed reading this Simon & Schuster ebook.
* * *
Get a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up and see terms and conditions.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
Already a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. You will continue to receive exclusive offers in your inbox.
INDEX
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
ABC News
Conrad case story broadcast by, 112–13, 116, 122, 143–44, 146, 148, 268
Ramsay’s calls from, 103–4, 110, 113, 119, 157–58, 193, 194, 208–9
Ramsay’s imminent arrest covered by, 309–10
Ramsay’s mother’s calls from, 109, 113, 144
source for Conrad story from, 143–44
Able Archer exercise, 231–32, 245
Aldrin, Buzz, 177
Armstrong, Neil, 177
Austria, 120
impact of Ramsay case on US attachés in, 306
Ramsay espionage case information from, 90, 122, 269
sale of stolen US documents and meeting sites in, 147, 169, 170, 172, 178, 179, 190, 267, 291, 297
Szabo’s residence in, 30, 326
Bad Kreuznach, West Germany
Conrad and Ramsay’s theft of documents from, 106
Conrad’s secret apartment in, 235, 237–38, 239–41, 242–43, 256
Eighth ID HQ in, 32, 90, 105
Pershing II missile security system based in, 249–50, 251–52, 258
Ramsay’s life in, 45, 251–52
terrain walks near, 25, 95, 163–64, 166
Bamford, James, 103–4, 144, 157–58, 175, 193, 268, 309–10, 320–21
barium pills, 128
Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuba, 1
Beatty, Ed, 241–42
Behavioral Analysis Program, FBI, 284–85
Brandt, Willy, 83
Bray, Bill, 80, 105
Brigham Young University (BYU), 5–6
Bush, George H. W., 85, 309
Castro, Fidel, 1, 2, 6, 7, 152
Church, Kelley Therese, 326
CIA, 6, 128, 134, 220, 238, 295
Conrad, Clyde Lee
American stolen documents handled by, 29–30, 32
arrest of, 35, 61, 112, 165
buddies used by, 98–99, 100, 106, 143, 160–61
death in prison, 326
German activities of, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35–36, 40, 47–48, 49, 55, 61, 64–66, 70, 71–72, 82, 94–99, 106, 138–40, 141, 147, 154, 155, 158–61
intelligence service scams of, 238
marriage of, 47
money paid to, 158–60, 169–70, 179, 209
Ramsay as right-hand man for, 160–61
Ramsay’s interview information on, 18–19, 25–26, 27
Szabo’s recruitme
nt of, 29–30
US visit of, 70–73
Conrad spy case
ABC News broadcast about, 103–4, 112–13, 148
computer chip conspiracy and, 143–48, 154, 155
Conrad’s plans for Ramsay’s promotion and, 230, 251
countryside terrain walks with Ramsay and, 25, 95, 163–64, 166
document theft and sales with Conrad by, 165–74, 177–79, 190–91, 231–35, 260–61, 267
Eways’s background on, 29–30, 54–55
FBI Washington Field Office investigation of, 29–30, 31, 35, 71, 73, 84, 90–91, 105–6, 266
FD-302 forms used in, 108
German investigations in, 30, 31, 32, 35, 40, 42, 55, 61, 70, 78, 80, 84, 90–91, 105, 106, 108, 120, 133, 158
knowledge of Ramsay’s details and, 245–46
news media interest in, 103–4, 112–13, 116, 122, 143–44, 146, 148, 207, 268, 286
paper note from, 27, 47–48, 49, 50, 165
Pershing II missile security controls and, 251–52, 253–54, 256
Ramsay’s interview information on, 18–19, 25–26, 27, 44, 46–48, 70–74, 93–99, 138–40, 143–48, 149, 158–75, 190–91, 229–34