A Face In The Crowd

Another Story from the archives of my mind…

From about 1975 until 1990 something, I was just a face in the crowd.

A long long time ago, I was employed by the government to develop information on criminal activity and provide that information to the appropriate government law enforcement agencies as needed.

Yes, there were and still are people among us who live and work at developing information on criminal activity in an attempt to subvert that activity.

When you hear the government talk about human intelligence or social engineering, they are talking about government personnel who work among us as spies and or undercover agents. Those people who live and work in the shadows.

When you are good at being a face in the crowd, listen to all that is said, blend in, follow up on what you see and hear, report what you develop in a timely manner, and no one knows you, you have done your job.

In most cases the criminal element never knows how the government got the information on their criminal activity. Most of the time, the criminals blame people in their organizations who were not responsible for the leaks.

The face in the crowd knows where to go to listen to those who will unknowingly talk about the job, life, family, crime or whatever. Most of us do not remember the old saying from World War II, “Loose lips sink ships” which is so true since none of us believe anyone else besides who we are talking to is listening to what we have to say.

Over the years others and I became so good at being a face in the crowd that we were tagged to be the face in the crowd at every assignment for our entire career. The problem is the government does not realize, and never has realized, that it takes a special person to be the face in the crowd.

The faces in the crowd are not the same as the every day government agent. The system is and has not been set up so that the faces in the crowd get promoted like all the rest. Faces in the crowd can not get recognition like the rest and as a result end up leaving their job as a face in the crowd.

Most regular government special agents do not believe the faces in the crowd special agents are doing a good job because they never see the faces in the crowd. The faces in the crowd work at night, in the day, and in the shadows far away from the regular government special agent.

Of course the regular special agent uses the information obtained by the faces in the crowd to solve their crimes, but never wants to acknowledge their success is partly because of the faces in the crowd.

Being a face in the crowd causes hardships on ones life at home and at the office, but it is a job that has to be done. Living life in the shadows and dealing with the shadows is how the government gets information on criminals in order to stop the criminals before they commit a crime.

So next time you are at a bar or a party letting everyone know all you know about the new government contract, the location of your units, who you hate, who you love, who your cheating on, who your cheating with, think about the faces in the crowd about you.