5.
11 years ago.

This is what happens when you are a Junior Analyst I.

Physical Training
This was the easy part.

There were a few guys in my group who were high school athletes—a basketball player
and a couple of offensive linemen from pretty good football teams. Football is a tough
sport, but it’s not on the same planet as figure skating.

All over the country little girls in pink dresses get up at 4 in the morning and spend many
hours every day training to go as fast as they can and then throw themselves into the air
and land on a surface like greased concrete. Figure skating is like NASCAR: the crashes
are the only thing that matters. The difference is, the little girls don’t get seat belts or
helmets. We also have to smile when it’s over.

Physical discipline is a habit. Enduring pain is a habit. The football players asked to be
transferred out of my group.

I kicked ass at the physical training.


Skills
Turned out that I liked guns. I didn’t think I would, but I did.

If you have a girlfriend who doesn’t want to ruin the cut of her jacket or the outline of her
purse, I highly recommend the old Glock36 slimline. All the stopping power, no unsightly
pantylines.


Tradecraft
Codes, drops, surveillance, security, informants and how to run them. Reduced to its essence,
tradecraft is all about lying—with words, or computer programs, or body language, or bank
statements.

Lying and catching other people’s lies.

Waiting.

This was the hard part for me. It took me years to learn how to wait. Years and years.

In a funny way, I’m only just now figuring it out. And I learned from you.

*

Step 2: puncture the oxygen line into the power cell and cover the hole with a piece of
masking tape.

6 -> N1*N2*N3*N4

5.
11 years ago.

This is what happens when you are a Junior Analyst I.

Physical Training
This was the easy part.

There were a few guys in my group who were high school athletes—a basketball player
and a couple of offensive linemen from pretty good football teams. Football is a tough
sport, but it’s not on the same planet as figure skating.

All over the country little girls in pink dresses get up at 4 in the morning and spend many
hours every day training to go as fast as they can and then throw themselves into the air
and land on a surface like greased concrete. Figure skating is like NASCAR: the crashes
are the only thing that matters. The difference is, the little girls don’t get seat belts or
helmets. We also have to smile when it’s over.

Physical discipline is a habit. Enduring pain is a habit. The football players asked to be
transferred out of my group.

I kicked ass at the physical training.


Skills
Turned out that I liked guns. I didn’t think I would, but I did.

If you have a girlfriend who doesn’t want to ruin the cut of her jacket or the outline of her
purse, I highly recommend the old Glock36 slimline. All the stopping power, no unsightly
pantylines.


Tradecraft
Codes, drops, surveillance, security, informants and how to run them. Reduced to its essence,
tradecraft is all about lying—with words, or computer programs, or body language, or bank
statements.

Lying and catching other people’s lies.

Waiting.

This was the hard part for me. It took me years to learn how to wait. Years and years.

In a funny way, I’m only just now figuring it out. And I learned from you.

*

Step 2: puncture the oxygen line into the power cell and cover the hole with a piece of
masking tape.

6 -> N1*N2*N3*N4