Chapter 20 - Our CIA Connection

According to Boy: The story of Valerie Plame Wilson taught me something—do not "out" a CIA operative. Therefore, we have provided an alias for the spy we had come to know. Her name for this chapter is Jessica Silver. Jessica was the sister of a good friend of ours; who, for the sake of this chapter, we will refer to as Rodney Silver.

I was about twenty-five at this time. Jessica looked to be about the same age. She did not want to talk about her work. However, after a few glasses of wine, she talked quite a bit.

It was her brother that I knew. And I knew him quite well. He was a radical, but involved not in the Weather Underground sense. Rodney was active in the anti-war movement, primarily with a group of activists associated with the Catholic Church. Rodney would march, show up at protests, and he admitted that he was involved in some lightweight illegal activities. But he would never make or place a bomb. I would not doubt that he intellectually promoted the more sinister acts, but I can’t see him ever actually participating.

Jessica gave me no indication that she was as radical as her brother. In fact, she seemed almost apolitical. I often thought about it, and found the whole matter incongruous. I wondered how Rodney could be so very revolutionary, while his sister appeared to be traditional.

One possibility that I came up with was that Rodney was a plant in the movement. In almost every other respect, Rodney was conservative. Why would he be so cavalier about breaking the law with regard to illegal protest and trespassing, while he would not even jaywalk. It did not make sense to me.

When the Bill Ayres group allegedly blew up the Greenwich Village townhouse right by the NYU campus, Rodney seemed disinterested. "Surely," I wondered, "Rodney must have been at least somewhat concerned about the bomb factory explosion; if those were his buddies." But he was not.


I also wondered how Jessica could get security clearance, if it was known that her brother was such a radical. I know these things are checked out very carefully.

Rodney could drink a gallon of cheap wine without spilling a word about his connections. Jessica, on the other hand, became quite lucid after a few drinks.

I could never help but think that Rodney was actually the CIA operative, and Jessica a glorified secretary. I have since Googled Rodney’s real name on several occasions, without turning up a thing. He was extremely bright. I think I should be able to find something on him. It makes me wonder if I ever knew his real name; or, perhaps, he later ran into the business end of 007’s Walther.

I can only speculate.

Rodney, if you are still out there, and you happen to read this, give me a call.