Secrecy and such.

Working in a Top Secret area is quite a experience.  First you had to have your badge.  I had heard that even the badge was rated Confidential..  I do know that you NEVER wanted to lose or let anything happen to your badge.   You had to find a secure area in your locker to keep it.  It could not be taken off post and it was not a good idea to wear it when you were not working, One time  I was on my way down town and realized that " Damn IT" I still have my badge on.  I got off the bus and took a cab back to post to put it up.  I can not ever remember anyone ever losing a badge,  I am sure it might have happened but I never heard of it.  Every book in ops had the pages numbered and you had to sign of almost every thing you used.  Some times they would check the working material to be sure there were no pages missing.   I never heard of any any security breaches. I did hear that a guy got drunk and talked to  a Bar maid down town about some indexing system we used.  She freaked out and turned him in.  He could have talked for a week and she would not have known anything as the process was complex.   Secrecy was like a fog, always  around, it really did not bother you very much but you were always aware of it.  Everything  worked of the Need to Know principle.   You might have a good friend that worked down the hall and you would not know what he did.  You might have a good idea but he would never tell you any details.   Sometimes you knew from all the buzz and the officers running around that something big had went down, but 99% of the time no one said and you did not ask.  Like I said before there were a lot of people on the post who had no idea what we did in operations.    I dont think it was the threat of what would happen to you if you leaked info, rather than it was your honor and your duty to keep quiet.  It is very hard to explain.  I remember one time when I had to take a lie detector test. It was a routine thing that came around every now and then.  It scared the hell out of me.  Not because of anything I had done, I knew I was OK, but just the guys that gave it.  You can read about what we did as it is all pretty common knowledge now.  One time my father, who was a very intelligent person, researched who were and what we did.  He sent me a letter with all the info in it.  He had gleaned it from his job as a Training  Supervisor for the Navy.  I had to burn the letter and told him dont do that any more.  He meant well but he did not understand the mind set of the ASA at that time.   I can see where that type of work can be very addicting.  My problem(among others) was that I am not really a office type person.  I enjoy outside work, construction, maintenance etc.  Something when we just talking someone would say "Man I hope I do not ever get captured  because I dont know anything,  I am sure they(the bad guys) will not believe that!!"    Funny story about the badges.  When people really got mad or upset they would sometimes say " One day I am just going to burn this damn badge and be done with it"  Remember we burned all trash, paper etc and the end of every shift.  The incinerator was a good sized one that was gas fired to help with the burning.  Burning papers is not a easy job.  It is very hard to burn a ream of paper or a stack of books.  They have to be pulled apart and crumpled up a bit for them to burn quickly.  As at Fort Devans the incinerator had to be swept clean after every firing and anything unusual noted in a log book or given to the Officer in charge.  Our badges had two metal eyelets and a chain. Story has it that one day they found a badge chain with 2 eyelets on it in the incinerator.  Panic time. Someone had did it!!! They had burned their badge.  Wow.   Everything  went to a super secure mode until ALL the badges could be accounted for.  They found it was a Hoax  as someone just put 2 eyelets on a chain and put it in a burn bag.   I do know that a guy put a picture of a monkey on his badge just for a joke.  He got his self in a BIG bind over it as well as the MP guard who let him in.  Stupid move as he got the MP in trouble who had nothing to do with it.  I mean you see the guy every day for a year or so , do you have to check his picture EVERY time?  The answer is yes.