Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The case of Raymond Davis certainly has all the marks of a Le Carre spy thriller. This 36 year old man was riding around in his car in Pakistan last month when he was approached by two men on motorbikes. He claims that they tried to rob him in broad daylight. He pulls out his glock and kills them dead, shooting them in the back according to some accounts.

 His car is searched and multiple guns, survival gear, infrared night vision equipment, a make-up kit, a telescope, long-range radio, a GPS system and a camera containing photographs of sensitive locations and several cell phones are found.

A car from the U.S. Embassy rushes to the scene of the crime driving the wrong way on a one way street and crashes, killing another Pakistani civilian. The car is piloted by CIA operatives who are then spirited out of the country. One of the two dead men's widows commits suicide.

The U.S. Consulate in Lahore claims that he is a civilian employee with diplomatic immunity. The Pakistanis say that he works for the CIA. He was driving around in a car with civilian plates. Custom and protocol dictates that authorities are notified if an employee has diplomatic immunity out of concern for the driver's safety.

According to the WaPo a note, dated Jan. 27, described Davis as "an employee of U.S. Consulate General Lahore and holder of a diplomatic passport." But a second note, on Feb. 3, described him as a member of the "administrative and technical staff" of the U.S. Embassy. That different phrasing could indicate different levels of diplomatic immunity.

Initially Davis was said to work for the State Department. The next story had him working for Blackwater's  successor, Xe as a contractor. Then he was the acting head of the CIA in Pakistan, after number one's cover was blown after the release of documents in a trial over innocents being killed in a drone strike revealed his name. Certain stories had Davis target spotting for the next drone attack. Who the hell knows what to believe? An online report from the funky "International News Network" I just read says that his real name is Redacted and that he is a former marine who served in M-5 who speaks urdu, pushto, and a host of other languages. Who knows? The CIA has basically taken responsibility for him today.

Davis left the Special Forces in 2003, wherein he is said to work for a mythical company called Hyperion LLC, which is said to exist in a telephone book and a website somewhere. Its offices in Florida have been vacant for years. His visa application, with attendant addresses, references and phone numbers, was found to be totally bogus.

The New York Times on Monday reported that Davis was part of a CIA operation tracking Islamist extremists in eastern Pakistan such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, the virulently anti-Indian group blamed for the bloody 2008 siege of Mumbai.

Pakistan wants to try him for murder. Sen. Kerry just flew to Pakistan trying to free him. The ISI, Pakistan's intelligence service is incredibly pissed, believing that if he is not CIA, he is one of hundreds of contract spooks they have been gallivanting around the country without the knowledge of the Pakistani government or intelligence service. The ISI official told the AP that Davis had contacts in the tribal regions and knew both the men he shot. He said the ISI is investigating the possibility that the encounter on the streets of Lahore stemmed from a meeting or from threats to Davis. Davis reportedly fired over ten shots at the men, a fact that leads the Pakis to believe that it was not simply a matter of self defense and not commensurate with any real or alleged threat.

My question is, why would a CIA agent be working for Xe or Blackwater, a company hated and vilified throughout the region? Is this supposedly private company really just a CIA front operation? And could we conduct our international spycraft any more clumsily? If he was the CIA Station Head in Pakistan, I think that he could have used a little better support from the organization.