Chapter 4

STEVE - February 1960

Bright and early on Tuesday morning, I had a quick breakfast in the officer's mess, and then made my way to Massachusetts Avenue near Logan Circle using the city transit system. I got off and it was just a short walk to the address where I was to report, a nondescript building opposite a small park. I went up the steps and through a double door into a small room where a stern faced receptionist sat behind a desk.

I announced myself as "Ensign McCall, reporting for duty. I'm supposed to see Mr. Forsch."

She answered, "Please have a seat and wait here" as she picked up the phone on her desk and dialed an extension. "Murray, I have Ensign McCall here for Mr. Forsch."

After about twenty minutes, a short, bald civilian came into the room and said, "Ensign McCall"?

I replied, "Reporting for duty."

The man said "Hi. You're Steve, aren't you?"

I replied, "Yes," and he continued, "I'm Murray Feldman, Mr. Forsch's deputy. Come with me and we'll go to his office."

He led the way back outside the building to a large, black Chevy sedan at the curb and we both got in the back seat of the car.

Murray told the driver, "Rodger, please take us back to the office." We drove about four blocks, pulling into a parking garage that was underneath a building. We got out of the car, and Murray turned to me and said, "let's get you started here".

He led the way to an elevator in the garage. When we entered he placed a key in a locking mechanism below the floor button keypad. This caused a panel to slide open below the keypad with a single button showing which he pushed. He then removed the key and the panel closed.

I expected the elevator to move upward, since the floor buttons were labeled 1 through 11. I was surprised when it descended instead of rising.

When the elevator stopped and the door opened, we walked into a room with a single door in front and a few chairs placed along one wall. On another wall, there were a couple of landscape paintings on either side of a large mirror. I suspected that this was a two-way mirror.

Murray said, "Take a seat and I will be back in just a couple of minutes." He pulled out a badge and held it with the face towards the mirror. In a moment, there was an audible click, and he pushed the door open and went through.

After a few minutes, the door opened and Murray came back, holding a red badge that said "Visitor" in large letters.

"Put this on and we'll get things started," he said.

I clipped the badge to my shirt collar and followed Murray back through the door. I found I was in a hallway with a security guard at a desk, next to the entry door.

The security guard asked me to sign in as soon as we entered the hallway. I looked around somewhat confused and the guard said, "What you need to do is sign this log book and enter your name, the time and date, and your badge number."

I entered the information in the appropriate columns in the log and then Murray and I headed down the hallway, which was somewhat sterile, with no pictures, signs, or ornaments of any kind. The walls were painted a glossy off white.

When we reached the end of the hallway and turned right, Murray stopped at an unmarked door and we went in.

He turned and said, "I am going to leave you here while you get indoctrinated and get some paperwork in order".

He led me to a man sitting at a large, dark desk.

He shook the man's hand, and then turned and said, "This is Tony Simms. He is our security officer, and he will indoctrinate you, so we can issue your badge. Tony, this is Steve McCall". Murray turned to Tony and said "Give me a call when you're done with Steve, and I'll come get him". He then left the room.

Tony turned and walked towards the only other door in the room saying, "Hello, Steve. Come along, let's get started." He opened the door and we both went in to a room with a large conference table that had several folders placed on it. Against one wall was a walk in safe, similar to what I had seen in banks. The door to the safe was closed.

Tony went to a seat at the table in front of the folders and pointed to a chair across from him and asked me to sit down.

We both sat down and Tony said, "I know you don't know much about this assignment yet. I'll try to explain the lay of the land to you. OK?"

I spent the next two hours in that room. What I found out after talking to Tony and reading some material from one of the folders was a real eye opener. Eventually things became a lot clearer.

As I had been told earlier, I was being assigned to a very secret agency on the basis of my exceptional academic record and computer skills. The agency's mission was to build, design and program complex computer systems for various government agencies.

Needless to say, this required the appropriate security clearances, which I had also been told (in general terms), had been granted.

Tony said, "Specifically, you have a Top Secret clearance, with several different endorsements. The endorsements allow for access to specific projects, and you will be placed in a project on a 'need to know basis' once your training is completed."

I asked "What training programs do they had in mind?"

Tony replied, "I don't know. It will be up to the Operations people to explain that. You should know, if you don't already, that Murray is the Deputy Agency Director, in charge of several projects. You are being assigned to his group."

After I read more background information about the agency, I signed several oaths explaining that I could be prosecuted for revealing information. After witnessing my signature on the documents, Tony produced a Polaroid camera, had me stand in front of a blue background, and he took a picture.

He took the print, trimmed and laminated it onto a green piece of paper with my name and several colored bands at the bottom.

When the badge had cooled, he punched a hole in the top and attached a clip. He then asked for my visitors badge and told me to use the new badge from then on. Finally, he picked up his phone, dialed an extension, and said "Murray? Steve is finished here - can you come and get him"?

In a few minutes, Murray appeared and said to me, "It's getting close to lunch time - let's go to the cafeteria now and we will meet with Mr. Forsch after lunch." I was surprised at how hungry I was - breakfast had been a long time ago!

With that he motioned to me to follow him. We left the indoctrination room and traveled down a maze of corridors with Murray leading the way.

"This is the Administration office," he said, pointing to a door on the right. One thing I noticed was that the building was absolutely quiet. The only sounds, besides Murray's observations, were the clicking of our heels on the tile floor.