oe v8 area omens | ‘12, 3. 14, Contaet arid Communications Datiy ‘oin tact is waintained between ‘tie Case Officer and the agents “Gaployed in the roject,-- These contaete—are- -sadé ‘in-@ clandestine- ‘manner with varying - patterns. established for car pickups, foot contacts, and emergency meetings, ‘Pre-arranged signals are employed‘ in setting and accompliahing the meetings .. When héavy or bulicy- material ia to be passed, meetings are held at night, Entrance tothe basehouses by other than the basehousekeepers is made only on the basis of atrict necessity; such as need for equipment -repaip, installation for new Line coverages, or line coverage cut. off. As to sgent recontact arrangements, there ig little possibility that project LIFEAT could continue | to operate in its present form in the event Mexico would - become a "denied area” police state, It is possible, however. that certain of the presently employed agenta could be donverted to straight FI funetions or support agent rolea, Recontact oan. be effeated by mentioning that the person recontacting the agent ia a friend of “Ingeniero Stanley" (title used by David M. WILSTED with LIFFAT indiyenous agents) and mentioning the LIFEAT work the agent previously engaged in with "Ingeniero Stanley", (This recontact method has been laid on with the LIFEAT indigenous agents.) Emergenoy communication’ procedures -have beerr-developed which apply to-the present - operational enviormment, and are reviewed periodically by both WILSTED and the responsibiie Case Officer and are updated as necessary, Telephone contact eoncerning the project and with the sgents is kept to a minimum, Pre-arranged open code is ysed for phone conversations between Case Officers and agenta, These systems of contact and communication appear suitable for the project and function adequately from the security and utility standpoints. Locations and times of meetings are reviewed periodically and are changed frequently to decrease the possibility of arousing the suspicions of the residents of areas in which meetinga are held. Control and Motivation Control and motivation are primarily based on two factors: ideology and financial gain, A secondary factor is the fear of reprisal from the local police should discovery occur. Security During the past projéct year there were no incidents which were beyond the capability of the personnel immediately involved to isolate and remedy immediately. In contrast to previous years, there.was no instance of telephone work crews approaching a basehouse to check or remove the tap lines running to that basehouse, Some of the made in the telephone
[__| have-beén removed by the[_ | woricnen, but these; aré of: a0 danger to thé ‘operation unless a@ full “investigation ta made of one of these unusual connections, During the past project year no such ‘investigation has been undertaken, and no ‘suspicion of the LIFEAT linesen has been revealed to date ° ‘ The greatest dangers faced by LIFEAT in the past year centered on two developments: 1) the continued efforts of the telephone company toward moderni- zation of the Mexico City telephone system and 2) the investigation launched by the Secretaria ¢@ Comunicaciones y Obras Publicas (SCOP) to determine if the telephone company has not been providing max Leas possible service to Mexico City residents by holding from use certain "spare pairs™ of every cable and aistribution box, In the first development (which has been in process for thé past féw years 4 and was so noted in past project. renewals) the most noteable incidents which - effect LIFEAT security are the installation of new underground cables re- placing the old overhead telephone wires (thereby reducing access to target lines and tap routing lines) and the institution of a more efficient system to keep track of dally assignments of (thereby . FPeducing..the mobility -of -the two LIFEAT™ LIFEAT has managed to somewhat neg, However, there is no way that the tap routing line can be completely concealed when it is run from the terminal of the telephone cable to the basehcuse itself, With fewer legitimate overhead wires to mask the presence of the tap lead-in lines, there lead-in linea become more readily noted in casual inapection by telephone company crews, The limiting of the mobility of the LIFEAT has not yet interferred seriously with LIFEAT security or effictency, | | A number of ideas have been tried to bypass this problem but as yet no satisfactory solution has been found. LIFEAT personnel are continuing their attempts to negate this problem, tos, ‘ As to the SCOP investigation, which is presently being pursued with more vigor than is usually found in Mexican bureaucracy, the problem here is also two-fold, Firat is the problem that the SCOP crews have cuthosity to enter any (and eventually all) telephone distribution box and cheek back on each connection in these boxes to see if they are actually in use, On one occasion. they have rung back on a “spare pair” which was in use by LIFEAT to route a tap to a basehouse, Although no security problem ensued it {a an example of the dally danger faced by LIPEAT in this case,
15. 16, 7. : Another + préblen, and ‘in ‘the long 1 run a " preater: - aangée to LIFEAT, 13 the. dietinet - possibility that ‘SCOP wiil- force the ‘telephone company’ tae ‘use the: “spare: ‘pairs" for. ‘providing: service to: new subscribers: Tiles would eliminate - LIFEAT use of these’: ‘pairs to’ route” tap lines to ite basehouses, in effect leaving LIFEAT with no way to get the tap from the | ito the basehouse, Even the possibility of SCOP insistence on only ‘a reduction in the number of "spare pairs* * held from use by the telephone company could affect LIFEAT adversely, since this would reduce the options LIFEAT has in routing its tap lines, However, until the investigation is completed, and no firm estimate of a target date is presently known, the real danger of LIFEAT can only be speculated upon. LIFEUD-1 is alerted to obtain the recommendations of SCOP when given to the telephone company and all efforts will be made b: LIFEAT personnel to | either negate or take. advantage of any recommendations which are placed inte practice, It should be noted at this point that the LIFEAT operation could "blew* at any time through any ofa large number of security dangers LIFEAT . faces in its daily operation as a effort, LIFEAT personnel. are... ~-.. trained and expérienced in taking whatever action is necessary to negate or lessen the damage as necessary, but it is true that there can occur 4 situation which will "blow" the operation despite the beat éfforts, Training Initial training of new personnel and continuing refresher training for the experienced personnel are handled primarily by the "outside" case officer, David M. WILSTED, Minor repair and maintenance of equipment as well as emergency security procedures are stressed and-continually reviewed with the agents, ° Equipment and Support With the funds requested for this purpose in last approved project renewal, L'°FEAT audio and dial tape recorders were replaced during the past year, Except for the usual problems discovered in equipment which has been shipped for any distance, this new equipment has worked well since initial use in the operation, It ts believed that there will be no need to purchase additional large amounts of ‘special equipment for some years in the future, | provided that there is. no radical shift necessary in the tap techniques presently employed in the operation. Timetable LIFEAT has been in continuous operation since its inception in January 1951, and as a vital Station operational support asset,"4t. 1s planned to continue it. indefinitely. . aa gis aoe Alo ke A of.