Oct 24 - Nov 13
The team arrived in Santa Fe three days ahead of a scheduled meeting with Glass Owl at the Harmony Component's manufacturing facility. We used the time to search public records and commercially available resources for topographic maps, utility development plans, blueprint files and other hard intelligence. We also familiarized ourselves with the immediate area and the general layout of Harmony's facility.
Harmony's compound is one of two businesses operating in an under-developed industrial park in the un-developed outskirts of Santa Fe. The surrounding terrain is hilly and rugged, filled with low scrub. The facility includes a one story office building, a much larger two story manufacturing plant, a parking lot and a refuse dump. The two buildings are encircled by a 12 ft chain link fence. The main gate faces the parking lot and is guarded by an armed sentry in a guard house. A second armed sentry walks a patrol around the interior perimeter of the fence. A second gate offers access to the refuse dump located approximately 50 yards behind the main facility. The facility employs 20 people, not counting the security guards who are contracted from Pierce Security.
Control had arranged a meeting with Glass Owl at the Harmony facility, and we had been provided a cover story and two identities-- Henry James and James Elliott, technology executives with Raytheon, evaluating Harmony's manufacturing capability for a potential contract. Agent Hagar assumed the identity of Henry James, and Agent Cardinal was James Elliott.
We arrived at the Harmony facility at the appointed time and used 'Transmitter Lenses' received by the laptop computer we carried to survey the security structure and interior layout. The desk receptionist had us wait perhaps 10 minutes while Glass Owl concluded business with another customer. We met with Glass Owl while the other customer transacted some business by telephone in another office.
Glass Owl was very open and forth-coming about the facility's security, even to the point of demonstrating a security drill, during which one technician failed to perform adequately. After the drill, we were introduced to the other customer, Ms. Ekaterina Brashnova, of the Russian company Autorobotica, LLC. We speculate that she may be the same 'Ekaterina' who we heard converse with Long Bear during Operation Bear Watch. In any event, we recorded visual images and obtained a finger print of Ms. Brashnova for future use. She joined us on the tour of the manufacturing plant which is almost entirely a 'clean' facility requiring special clothing and entrance protocols.
An observation deck above the manufacturing floor allowed Glass Owl to show us the full capabilities of Harmony's manufacturing and testing facility. During the tour, we learned that the technician who had performed sloppily had been working on Autorobotica's product. Glass Owl fired the technician and assured Ms. Brashnova that no further incompetence would be tolerated. After the tour, Ms. Brashnova departed almost immediately.
During the meeting with Glass Owl and the subsequent tour, we were able to create several opportunities to be left un-escorted in the building within the office building. It was during one of these times that we were able to attach the line tap to Glass Owl's office phone. Unfortunately we learned that Glass Owl would be departing the next day for a week at Harmony's home office in Denver, followed by two weeks of vacation. The tap was in place, but we would not be able to record 72 hours worth of conversation.
After the meeting we hashed over several strategies for obtaining the needed mother board as well as it's schematics. Realizing that Harmony was now short handed because of the technician who was fired, we decided to have Agent Hudson apply for the job. The Agency provided us with a strong cover identity to use to apply for the position, as well as an expert in CAD/CAM operations and clean room protocols to consult with by phone. Hudson was fitted with a Radio Tooth and an Audio Bug and we had a mini van equipped with hidden compartments so that Hagar, Cardinal and the Agency's expert could confer with Hudson discretely while he was on the job.
Harmony's Human Resources director, Benjie Smith, turned out to be a Navy vet. Both Hudson and his cover identity, Hank Mc???, are also Navy vets so they hit it off with Smith immediately and Hudson/Mc??? was offered the job almost on the spot.
Hudson worked the job with Hagar and Cardinal backing him from the parking lot for over a week, and determined that Harmony's internal controls were too tight to allow Hudson to smuggle a mother board off the production floor, or to access the schematics stored on the secure server. However, the quality testers discarded failed units and as a tester, Hudson would have a better chance of smuggling out a working unit. Mc??? credentials made him a likely candidate to be promoted to quality tester if one of the current testers was unavailable.
The next day Hagar and Cardinal, using burn identities, involved one of Harmony's quality testers in a traffic accident. He was injured badly enough to remove him from work for a week or more, but his injuries were not life threatening. As we hoped, Hudson/Mc??? was made a temporary quality tester and was able to smuggle a working unit out of the building. He still had no access to the schematics.
We decided that covert entry into the office building to access the secure server directly was the only way we'd be able to get the schematics. After hours, under cover of darkness, we parked our rented car just out of sight of the compound and proceeded on foot across the rugged terrain. Cresting a hill overlooking the facility, we observed a guard at the gate, and one walking patrol around the inside of fence, which was well lit. We also spotted four more sentries standing guard over the refuse dump. Frankly we found this suspicious and believe it bears further investigation, but at the time it was more prudent to skirt wide around the refuse pile.
Hudson and Cardinal proceeded to the fence while Hagar kept watch from the hill top. When the patrol guard was behind the buildings, Hudson and Cardinal climbed the fence and crossed the yard to back of the office building where they gained access to the main air conditioning exhaust vent. Once inside the building, they cut their way out of the vent above the drop ceiling and removed a ceiling tile to access the employee lounge. There is no security between the lounge and the server room, so once the lock to the server room was picked, the job seemed finished. They identified the required files on the server and waited while the files were transferred to their laptop.
Meanwhile, at midnight the four guards at the refuse dump walked back up to the main compound and were admitted by the patrol guard. The four then entered the building. Hagar alerted the other two and informed them that there was no reason to believe they had been detected. Hudson and Cardinal sat tight while the guards ate lunch. One of the dump guards relieved the gate guard who then went inside to eat as well. Only when the other guards had finished their lunch hour did they decide to relieve the patrol guard who went inside for his lunch break.
Hudson and Cardinal sat tight, knowing the guards had no reason to suspect anything was amiss in the server room. Unfortunately the last guard was upset at being excluded by his co-workers, and so he accessed a computer terminal and initiated a security drill at the manufacturing building. The outside guards reacted immediately, surrounded the building and called for police backup.
Expecting that the police might do a thorough search of both buildings, Hudson and Cardinal incapacitated the guard inside and exited through the vent shaft. Hagar went for the car-- the police scanner informed him that the police were only minutes away. Hudson and Cardinal were spotted as they crossed the yard for the fence by the outside guards, now on heightened alert. They managed to clear the fence before the guards opened fire. The team returned fire as Hagar brought the car in to closest switchback to the facility-- still to far for the guards to make out the license. At least two guards went down and Hudson was shot in the shoulder before the team made it to the car.
The team made it back to the main road just moments before the police came into view. They drove north before turning back south and collecting their gear from Santa Fe. The team drove the rest of the night to report to the nearest Agency office in Denver, where a cleaner team was dispatched to tidy up the loose ends.