Page 114 of Cry Havoc

“Ego and hubris.”

“Quite.”

“Keep in mind that these are all initial reports, and as with any initial reports some information is bound to change.”

“Of course.”

Penkovsky opened a file.

“ThePuebloitself was unimpressive. In fact, there were so many deficiencies, I can’t believe they let her put to sea. They didn’t even have a proper incinerator onboard. It appears their captain bought one with personal funds, but it proved inadequate.”

“What does that tell us?”

“Either that they are incompetent, or that Vietnam is eating away most of their military budget.”

“What else?”

“The crew attempted to start fires belowdeck but destroyed very little material. The North Koreans recovered operations and maintenance manuals along with blueprints to aid in repairs. Divers will recover what was thrown overboard. They were in relatively shallow water at the time of the seizure.”

Lavrinenko grunted in disbelief.

“Most importantly, the key cards for programming the cipher machines survived intact. They even still had the keying material from November and December, which by their own protocol should have been destroyed after use.”

“Can we use them to decode captured transmissions from those months?”

“That is currently underway.”

“Good. And the eavesdropping equipment? Is it possible to use it to now take measures to protect our own coded transmissions?”

“That is also in the works,” Penkovsky said, his finger continuing toslide down the file as he briefed his superior. “The ship was full of spare parts for the code machines, including extra circuit boards.” He looked up. “I don’t know of another intelligence triumph in modern history that comes close to this; maybe Enigma.”

“And what of the crew?”

Penkovsky picked up another file.

“Of the eighty-three crew members, one is confirmed dead. He was hit by a shell during the seizure. The precise number of wounded is unclear, between four and ten. One was wounded severely enough to be placed in a hospital. If he survives, he will then join the rest of the crew.”

“And their captain?”

“A Commander Bucher. He was broken in thirty-six hours. When the beatings did not produce the results the interrogators wanted, they brought in the youngest member of the crew and threatened to shoot him. Apparently, Commander Bucher looks at his crew like a family.”

“American weakness.”

“They also showed him a spy from South Korea, suspended by a leather strap, illuminated with spotlights, an eye hanging from a socket, body beaten to a pulp, a broken bone protruding from his arm, foaming from the mouth, obviously tortured until insanity took over. They got Bucher to sign a confession. They’ll get the entire crew to sign eventually.”

“What is the point of the confessions?”

“According to this analysis, the Koreans seem more concerned about confessions than they do with the captured equipment. It appears they want to show their own people how powerful they are. It will be a miracle if any of the crew survives.”

“Are we getting what we need from them?”

“The Koreans?”

“The prisoners. I’d hate for them all to die before we have our questions answered.”

“There were several cryptologic technicians aboard. They have beenvery helpful. We have requested that the DPRK keep them alive, but you never really know. It’s a volatile situation.”

“And the codes?”