Showdown at the U. S. Embassy (Delivering Intelligence Briefings‪)‬

Editor's Note: We have featured many strange and interesting stories in our Foreign Service Life section but this one may be among the most unusual and disturbing ones we have published. We wonder if there are any other similar instances of inter-agency intrigue at Embassies abroad? -Ed. In 1972, admittedly a much simpler time for Americans abroad, the US Army decided not to send me back to Vietnam for a second tour, but instead to post me to South Korea for duty with a Defense Intelligence Agency Special Security Detachment supporting 8 Army headquarters in Seoul. As a fairly senior Captain, I worked in a very small five-member detachment. I was in charge of all "code word" material received by the command. One of my several duties included preparing a weekly briefing that combined Special Activities Office material with Sensitive Compartmented Intelligence concerning events in North Korea, the USSR, and China that could be of interest to the commander and his five principal staff members. I carried the written weekly briefing, which varied from 20 to 30 pages in length, to these six individuals every Friday morning. Each read the material, signed off on what he or she had read, and I returned to my office usually prior to 0900.