A PROBLEM HERE, WHICH WILL CERTAINLY GROW, IS IN THE JUNIOR (VERY JUNIOR) RANK OF LIEUTENANT HON SONG DO, THE ARMY CRYPTOGRAPHER/ANALYST, WHOM A HORDE OF ARMY AND MARINE COLONELS AND NAVY CAPTAINS, WHO AREN'T DOING ANYTHING NEARLY SO IMPORTANT, THINK OF AS... A FIRST LIEUTENANT. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO HAVE THE ARMY PROMOTE HIM? THE SAME IS TRUE, TO A SLIGHTLY LESSER DEGREE, OF LIEUTENANT JOHN MOORE, BUT MOORE, AT LEAST (HE IS ON THE BOOKS AS MY AIDE-DE-CAMP) CAN HIDE BEHIND MY SKIRTS. AS FAR AS ANYONE BUT MACA AND WILLOUGHBY KNOW, HON IS JUST ONE MORE CODE-MACHINE LIEUTENANT WORKING IN THE APTLY NAMED DUNGEON IN MACA'S HEADQUARTERS BASEMENT.
FINALLY, MACA FIRMLY SUGGESTED THAT I DECORATE LIEUTENANT JOE HOWARD AND SERGEANT STEVEN KOFFLER, WHOM WE TOOK OFF BUKA. GOD KNOWS, THEY DESERVE A MEDAL FOR WHAT THEY DID.. THEY MET ME AT THE AIRPLANE, AND THEY LOOK LIKE THOSE PHOTOGRAPHS IN LIFE MAGAZINE OF STARVING RUSSIAN PRISONERS ON THE EASTERN FRONT... BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW TO GO ABOUT THIS. PLEASE ADVISE.
MORE SOON.
BEST REGARDS,
FLEMING PICKERING, BRIGADIER GENERAL, USMCR
T O P S E C R E T
Haughton watched Rickabee's face as he very carefully read the radio-teletype message and then handed it to Banning.
Technically, Haughton thought, not unpleasantly, but simply recognizing the facts, giving that to Banning to read is a security violation. No matter what kind of a security clearance Banning has, that message, both of these mes-sages, are Eyes Only SECNAV, and that means just what it says. If the Secre-tary wants to give them to someone else, that's his business. The fact that the Secretary told me to show both radios to Rickabee doesn't mean that Rickabee has any authority to show them to anyone else, even someone like Banning.
On the other hand, (a) if the Secretary knew about it, he wouldn't say a word. He trusts Rickabee's judgment, (b) Banning isn't just an ordinary Ma-rine Corps major with an ordinary TOP SECRET security clearance. He's cleared for MAGIC, and if an officer is on the MAGIC list, I can't think of any classified material to which he is not authorized access. And (c) after Ban-ning's brilliant-and that's the only word that fits, brilliant-briefing of the President, the Secretary of the Navy, and Senator Fowler on the Guadalcanal situation yesterday, he is one fair-haired boy.
And then, while Rickabee was reading the second radio and Banning was absorbing the first, Haughton had another thought, a wild thought, only periph-erally connected to the first:
There are three people in this little room with MAGIC clearances. In all of the world, counting even the cryptographic officers who make the decryp-tions, and the analysts, there are only forty-two people on that list, as of yes-terday.
What is it they say? "A secret is compromised the instant two people know about it." That's probably true. And MAGIC is one hell of a secret. When you have a small, but growing, capability to read your enemy's most secret en-crypted messages, the value to the war is literally beyond measure.
And to protect that secret as much as possible, you severely limit the num-ber of people authorized access to it. Some people, obviously, have to be on it. The President; Admiral Leahy, the President's Chief of Staff; the Secretary, and his Army counterpart, the Secretary of War; Admiral Nimitz as CINCPAC; General MacArthur as Supreme Commander SWPOA; and the underlings- those who broke, and are breaking, the codes in Hawaii; the analysts; the cryptographic officers who, using a special code, encrypt the decrypted mes-sages for transmission to Washington and Brisbane; the cryptographic officers and analysts here and in Brisbane; and a very few others-MacArthur's G-2 in Brisbane, Nimitz's Intelligence Officer in Pearl Harbor, and Captain David Haughton, Colonel F. L. Rickabee, and Major Edward F. Banning here. We three underlings have to be on the list because we can't do our jobs without knowing about it. And, of course, Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, for the same reason.
When I read-when was that, a month ago, two?-about the security ar-rangements for the MAGIC people in Hawaii, I thought it made sense not to permit them to leave CINCPAC without an armed escort. The Japanese might not know about MAGIC, but they almost certainly knew something highly clas-sified was going on.
On one level, the idea of the Japanese kidnapping Naval officers in Hawaii to see what they knew seemed fantastic. But so did the idea of the Japanese launching an aerial attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December. A lot of unthink-able things happens in war, and even more in Intelligence.
Nimitz was right to provide his MAGIC people with that kind of security. It just made sense. It also made sense to provide Pickering, over his objections, with a Marine bodyguard, an ex-St. Louis police detective. And the brass, of course, were routinely protected. The only people on the MAGIC list who are not protected are Rickabee, Banning, and me.
God, is that why Rickabee is carrying that gun ? '
Does Banning carry one?
"Banning, may I ask you a question?"
Banning looked up from the radio message.
"Certainly, Sir."
"Everybody else around here is armed to the teeth except you," Haughton said, making it a question.
Banning smiled, stood up, turned around, and hoisted the skirt of his tunic. A 1911A1.45 Colt was in a skeleton holster in the small of his back.
"In maintaining the hoary traditions of The Corps, Captain," Banning said, as he sat down again. "We of Management Analysis are always prepared to repel boarders."
Haughton laughed, somewhat nervously.
My God, I'm right! The reason these two don't have an armed bodyguard with them is that they consider themselves competent to protect themselves. But the point is they do think there is a sufficient risk that going armed is neces-sary-even here in Washington.
Does that mean I should get myself a pistol? Christ, I've never been able to hit the broad side of a barn from ten feet with a.45!
Rickabee, who was not known for his genial personality or for his sense of humor, looked up from his radio and glared at both of them.
A moment later, he finished reading his radio and handed it to Banning. Banning handed him the first radio message, and Rickabee handed it to Haugh-ton, who replaced it in the TOP SECRET folder.
Banning started to read the second radio from General Pickering:
=TOP SECRET=
EYES ONLY - CAPTAIN DAVID HAUGHTON, USN
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
ORIGINAL TO BE DESTROYED AFTER ENCRYPTION AND TRANSMITTAL
FOR COLONEL F.L. RICKABEE
USMC OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
SATURDAY 17 OCTOBER 1942
DEAR FRITZ:
AT LUNCH WITH MACA YESTERDAY, HE JUSTIFIED HIS SNUBBING OF DONOVAN'S PEOPLE HERE BY SAYING THAT HE HAS A GUERRILLA OPERATION UP AND RUNNING IN THE PHILIPPINES.
AT COCKTAILS-BEFORE-DINNER EARLIER TONIGHT, I TRIED TO PUMP GENERAL WILLOUGHBY ABOUT THIS, AND GOT A VERY COLD SHOULDER; HE MADE IT PLAIN THAT ANY GUERRILLA ACTIVITY GOING ON THERE IS INSIGNIFICANT. AFTER DINNER, I GOT WITH LT COL PHILIP DEPRESS-HE IS THE OFFICER COURIER YOU BROUGHT TO WALTER REED HOSPITAL TO SEE ME WHEN HE HAD A LETTER FROM MACA FOR ME. HE'S A HELL OF A SOLDIER WHO SOMEHOW GOT OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES BEFORE THEY FELL.