Chapter 49: The Farm At Camp Peary

The route going to the Farm seemed like a lifetime journey. The long road conspired with my thoughts to go on even though I knew from the start that this endeavor may or may not be of great help to me or Oliver me. The excitement deep within me showed upon my movements inside the vehicle driven by Mr. Buckwell who gave us the brochure of Camp Peary.

Camp Peary is an approximately 9,000-acre military reservation in York County near Williamsburg, Virginia. Officially referred to as Armed Forces Experimental Training Activity (AFETA) under the auspices of the Department of Defense, Camp Peary is widely believed to host the covert CIA training facility known as "The Farm," a training facility for the Central Intelligence Agency, although this has never been formally acknowledged by the U.S. government. The portion of the original World War II Seabee base which is north of Interstate 64 has remained closed to the public since 1951. However, the roads and many structures of Magruder and Bigler's Mill are apparently still there and many are occupied. An airport with a 5,000-foot (1,500 m) runway was added to the facility near the site of Bigler's Mill. It was the agency's "premier course", and volunteers played the role of interrogation subjects in order to be guaranteed seats in future classes. Interrogators-in-training practiced techniques such as sleep deprivation, deliberately tainted food, and mock executions.

For the past three weeks, Oliver and I were taught "The Dark Arts of Espionage," typical training for an intelligence agent includes but is not limited to covert surveillance, use of hand combat, con-artistry, manipulation tactics, personality-type identification, lying, cheating, stealing, trickery, camouflage, evasion, escape, improvised weaponry, improvised self-defense, analytical combat, and espionage. It's part of intelligence training. The Dark Arts are a social science that has been developed through the detailed study of proven experiments. Quite basically, a study of what works has worked in the past and is likely to work on a given mark. The CIA undertook a detailed study of Con Artists and their scams in order to derive these methods which we developed with our own skills.

Not everyone has what it takes to effectively pull this off. It takes confidence and a good amount of acting. It takes an artist who is quick, versatile, and creative. But if studied, practiced, and perfected these methods can and do work.

Oliver and I were specially trained by the best CIA operatives in the camp.

More theoretical knowledge that we learned from them and we trained in actual environments: Observe and Pick - This step requires detailed knowledge of psychology and body language. Body language can tell you exactly what a person is thinking, and what their intentions or needs are. As humans, we all have basic human needs, but as personalities or characters, we have desires and real-life roles to play. It is therefore essential to pinpoint personality and character traits when evaluating a person or scanning a crowd. The easiest way to do this in a crowd setting is of course through observation of body language.

Agents look specifically for these personality types, keeping in mind that people are complex and dynamic beings and these generalized personality types do not always apply but they are still useful for most practical purposes.

The essential game being played is a match-making game. Find out who that person is, and make yourself their match. The match can be complementary or an offset, it varies with the personality type. Everyone has their weakness. Your job is to find it and figure out a way to exploit it.

A few basic personality characteristics, some people may have a combination of these personality traits, others may have none: Desire to please others – These people are looking for someone to please, and are the easiest to manipulate if you know how to approach them correctly. First, it requires a Type A personality, a leader. This person is looking for charisma and confidence. Your opinion matters to them, and the more important you appear, the more important your opinion will be to them. This personality type is passive and would prefer not to make decisions. They are often attracted to others who can make the decisions for them. They do not like giving their opinions of things for fear of being wrong and drawing scorn.

Loneliness – Some people are just lonely and looking for a friend. Some people just want someone they can talk to who they feel supports them. It can be loneliness for either friendship or love or both. Gender and sexual orientation are obvious factors here for the latter case. These people are all looking for someone they can really connect with, someone who understands them and listens to them. Be that friend and you have turned that mark into a useful tool.

Greed – The gambler, the shark, money bags. Money talks and bullshit walks. While all people are in at least some way concerned with money, there are certain people who are obsessed with it and are attracted to those who possess it. Or in this case, act like they are wealthy. It is important to craft a convincing cover story for the source of your fake wealth, which is believable even if your appearance may be modest. Gain their trust and acceptance by first making them think you are rich, then letting them in on the secret to getting rich. "Work for rich people", this statement is entirely true and will immediately lead them to the notion of employment. If you do it casually and carefully, not flaunting or showing off (unless the mark requires that strategy), then you will be well set up to manipulate this person through his desire for money. There is a wide variety of scams for doing this.

Goodness – The "Do-Gooder," can be persuaded to do acts in the name of good or justice. Simply fabricate a tale of some horrible evil enemy, and this personality type will willingly help you seek "justice". This person can then be manipulated into providing you with information or intelligence through the belief that they are doing good or charitable deeds. Helping to catch a criminal or helping to put forward the mission through their help.

Admiration – This personality type is a polar compliment of the desire to please type and seeks the admiration or adoration of others. Often associated with this personality type is the desire to always be right, or to be viewed as intelligent or in some way superior – This personality type is looking to start an argument and has the full intention of winning that argument. The best way to win this type of person over is to start an argument with them, make it exciting and interesting, and allow them to finally convince you of their point of view. Then as their almighty truth sets in, begin to show them the admiration they so crave. If performed correctly this method will instantly win over this personality type. There are cases where this method will not work and others must be tried, as long as the end result is that person feeling as if they have won you over. If you come out in favor of their position from the outset, you risk triggering their skepticism of your intentions. But if you oppose them at first and allow them to win you over to their opinions, it can sometimes mislead them as to your true intentions. In certain cases, it may work to skip the argument and go straight for admiration and support. Use your best judgment.

Your objective at this primary observation stage is to find the easiest-looking target you can, observe them, and determine the best plan of action for the approach and eventual manipulation. Always think ahead when planning out a lie. Don't get caught. It's generally best to be as honest as possible. Lies of omission are easier to hide than outright lies, especially if you seek a continued relationship

To mimic and attract stage comes after you have selected a mark and are ready to begin feeling that person out in more depth and detail. The first step is mimicry from a distance this will always succeed in drawing that person's attention to you. Simply copy their body language, and even their actions. For example, if at a bar, drink when they drink, smoke when they smoke (even if you don't smoke it can be useful to pretend), things like this. Don't make it obvious that you are doing this either, act casually and pretend not to notice that person. It works well to position yourself where you can watch your mark through a reflection of glass or a mirror, so as to not be caught directly looking at the person while mimicking their actions.

If performed successfully you will attract the attention of your mark and form a subconscious connection with that individual. A way of gaining acceptance and appearing to be a member of their milieu, the better to gain their confidence. If it sounds funny, try it. It works!

If the mark doesn't approach you first, it will be your job to make your move. Try to position yourself ahead of time, so that the Mark is between you and the bathroom so you will have to walk past on your way to the restroom. It may start with a casual friendly seemingly disinterested glance in their direction. If the mark is a smoker, try to coordinate a cigarette break. Your objective at this stage of the operation is to show curiosity but not a direct or dedicated interest. Just work on finding a way to start up a conversation and keep it going.

To read and listen to the stage of the game requires a lot of general knowledge such as that which would make you good at trivia. The idea is to figure out what that person likes to talk about and keep them talking about it by asking them related questions and whatnot. Most, but not all people prefer to talk than listen, getting them to talk can sometimes be trickier than keeping them talking. If you show genuine curiosity and a deep interest as well as an understanding of what they are talking about, they will likely keep talking. This helps to put the person at ease and make them feel more comfortable. It's important to pay attention to what they like to talk about and not draw the conversation too far off-topic. Ask questions, accept answers, do not argue (unless this is the type of person that enjoys an argument), and show a genuine interest or intrigue in what the person is saying without being fake.

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