He retreats from a small reception room at the Doubletree Hotel, where a friendly assembly of former counterintelligence officers are welcoming one another for a weekend convention in Nashville. They scoop handfuls of peanuts from giant Planters tins, sip soft drinks, shake hands and slap backs. When the old tales turn salty, voices hush abruptly, out of respect for the wives who came along. The National Counter Intelligence Corps Association, an organization of officers whose mission had been to protect the military from sabotage, espionage, sedition and infiltration, is gathering this weekend at a downtown convention hotel. Yesterday was set aside for bus tours of the Parthenon and the Hermitage.
Today is for the business meeting.
James C. Cate, of Hixson, Tenn., is the association's president and the convention organizer. The former counterintelligence officer and retired salesman makes sure that the veterans are properly situated in their rooms, that those who want a commemorative ball cap get one, that the information packets are all distributed. He greets a man who's in a wheelchair and hustles past a convention poster shaded with images of men in trench coats and fedoras, something no one is wearing at the Doubletree. For now, the spy catchers are in windbreakers, plaid shirts and khakis. Some are in orthopedic shoes.