Former investigative writer for the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal Ronald Kessler is the best-selling author of “The Secrets of the FBI” and “In the President’s Secret Service,” both of which have appeared in the New York Times.
The FBI allegedly bugged former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago house during their unexpected raid earlier this month, according to members of Trump’s crew.
It is quite improbable that anybody in the Trump campaign would be aware of this, even if the FBI had done it.
The FBI employs Tactical Operations (TacOps), a top-secret group of break-in specialists, to place bugging devices and carry out electronic surveillance. TacOps carries out court-approved burglaries in residences, workplaces, and even embassies to install covert microphones and video cameras and to snoop into computers.
Mafia leaders, dishonest members of Congress, spies, white-collar crooks, Russian or Chinese intelligence personnel, and even past US presidents might be the targets.
TacOps sedates guard dogs during covert operations and may manufacture fictitious traffic accidents or utility failures to delay residents and security officers.
The section fabricates phoney fronts for homes and fake shrubs to disguise agents while they bypass locks and alarm systems.
TacOps operatives run the risk of being shot by residents who believe they are intruders if they are detected breaking in.
DailyMail.com can disclose the covert actions used by operatives in an embassy situation to guarantee a successful operation after weeks of preparation.
TacOps operatives will monitor visitors coming and going from the embassy for weeks in advance.
If a dog is present, agents will take a picture of it and give the picture to a veterinarian under contract.
Louis E. Grever, the head of TacOps and the FBI’s executive assistant for the science and technology branch, told me this for my book “The Secrets of the FBI”: “We will give the vet pictures and a description of the dog in question.”
He will consider their size and age before telling us what kind of potion to prepare for them. All of the narcotics and sedatives are kept in a kit that we carry.
The goal is not to kill the dog, as doing so runs the risk of being discovered, according to Grever.
FBI agents will fire another dart into the dog that contains a stimulant at the conclusion of the search to rouse it.
FBI agents will be posted at the residences of anyone who works at the embassy on the night of a break-in.
Agents may issue tickets to employees while they are disguised as police officers to stop them from returning unexpectedly, or they may open a fire hydrant close to the embassy to block traffic.
Technicians in the FBI’s Operational Technology Division will speak with the provider directly if the FBI needs a straightforward wiretap of a landline or cell phone or an intercept of an email account.
The target number is often entered into the phone company’s systems, which then quickly and easily instals a court-ordered wiretap by sending the conversation to any FBI field office through an encrypted internet connection.
TacOps, on the other hand, takes over if a physical entrance is necessary.
Agents on the TacOps teams use what are known as “deep aliases,” which means that if someone ran a check on their ID or SSN, the relevant authorities would be able to verify their fictitious identity.
TacOps operatives make an effort to avoid utilising back doors when entering buildings to plant bugs since they are often booby-trapped.
In order to carry out their operation, TacOps operatives chose to enter via the front entrance of an electronics supply firm in Philadelphia that was a cover for a drug gang’s hangout.
The optimal time for admission, according to the agents, would be between 00:00 and 02:00.
Rubbish haulers started picking up the trash after that and could see agents entering.
The only issue was that there was a pub with outside seats just across the street. The FBI crew would break the locks and turn off the alarm at the front entrance, which would be visible to the customers of the pub.
As a result, TacOps operatives took a municipal bus on a borrowed trip to the electronics distributor.
The bus was parked at the entrance, and they claimed it had broken down.
The FBI agent operating the bus raised the hood, preventing spectators from seeing the agents rush outside to fix the locks and enter the building.
The bus departed after the agents had inside the target structure. The bus came back to pick them up after the agents had completed installing the electronic bugs. However, the bus sped past two intoxicated bar patrons who were waiting at a neighbouring bus stop.
The two irate customers sprinted for the bus and hopped aboard when it stopped in front of the establishment. The agents first believed the two individuals were a part of their operation since they were from separate offices.
Grever, who spent 12 years on the TacOps teams as what he describes a “government-sanctioned burglar” before being appointed the FBI’s executive assistant director, stated, “We get a few streets away, we start peeling off our equipment.”
All of us had radio equipment and guns on, and these two guys are just sort of sitting there asking, “What the hell?” They begin to jingle the bell. Ring a bell! They want to leave. Ring a bell!
“Now, the local office bus driver wasn’t a particularly skilled bus driver. He must have rehearsed operating this vehicle for around twenty minutes. When he turned, he tipped over rubbish bins. He responds, “Hey, don’t mess about with the bell! It’s difficult enough for me to operate the bus!”
The two guys ringing to get off the bus started to be identified by other agents as not being with the FBI after all.
The agents all get together before each task, and it was immediately obvious that these two were unintentional imposters.
One of our men climbed to his feet and, as luck would have it, had a shotgun strapped to his back, according to Grever. “Do we know you?” he asks as he moves closer to them.
They’re really ringing that bell now, Grever said. Ring, ring, ring, ding! We also understand that these men are not with us. We shout out, “Phil, get the bus to halt! There are a few bikers here!”
After turning back, the driver glanced at the customers and concluded they weren’t agents. He swore as he stopped and unlocked the doors.
Grever said, “They go, and we never hear from them.” They had no idea what was happening. They only boarded the incorrect bus by accident.
In a another example, investigators went inside the residence of a significant organised crime member intending to capture a dog, but as soon as they did, a cat escaped.
An agent radioed, “Cat just exited exit, going west into the alley.” described as being 15 pounds and grey in hue.
Roger, we’re on it,’ a member of the team radioed.
Agents scoured the area with night vision goggles in search of the missing cat. Cat’s in custody, an agent radioed after an hour.
The agents put the cat inside the residence. But when the cat hissed, the dog started to bark.
Later that morning, a TacOps agent watching the home informed the TacOps agents, “You guys did everything correctly.” Except just one thing: incorrect cat.
The following day when they returned from a vacation, the homeowners found a strange cat living in their home.
Grever notes that the last thing these folks imagine is that someone broke into their home, let their cat out, placed another cat inside, and then fled empty-handed.
So they justified it to themselves by claiming that their cat had to have escaped via a little door that also enabled the dog to leave the house. They dismissed it as being rather typical, assuming that this second cat must have entered the home via the same method.
Grever stepped over to his desk at FBI headquarters during our interview and came back with a cutting-edge FBI bug, which he handed to me.
The gadget is a circuit board that is the thickness of two stacked quarters and the size of a postage stamp.
He explained, “It’s a transmitter and a stereo recorder.” It keeps recordings for about 24 hours and transmits in encrypted form to a nearby receiver.
The transmit function would frequently not be turned on. Why transmit if it just adds another thing that might reveal the penetration? The size of this is actually larger than some of our bugs.
Grever demonstrated to me how the bug may be hidden within a mobile phone’s rechargeable battery. A cell phone could also be configured by the FBI to record and transmit conversations.
Any type of vehicle, including a bucket truck, a Rolls-Royce, or a U.S. Postal Service truck, may be used by FBI agents to conduct surveillance.
Male and female operatives may even stroll hand in hand to provide them apparent cover.
However, Grever informed me that “contrary to the James Bond films, our female spies aren’t authorised nor requested to utilise sex to manage or control a target.”
Nothing physical, just flirting and a grin when the moment is appropriate.
In order to place listening devices, the FBI sometimes makes up incentives to get inhabitants to leave a mafia or terrorist target’s residence.
We provide opportunities for people to travel and engage in exotic activities, Grever said.
“You’re the lottery winner!” A trip and a free dinner are yours! We selected your business card from a bucket, so congratulations. That wasn’t by chance. We were attempting to provide a chance there.
The FBI may run trash trucks through the streets and bash the garbage cans about to mask sounds or draw attention away.
They could crank up a wood chipper or use a jackhammer to break up a delivery of concrete that has been put on the sidewalk.
They may clean the sidewalks with high-pressure water jets, which would make those walking by flee. Agents could ask the neighbourhood police to park their vehicles nearby with their lights blazing.
The TacOps Support Center has a complete wardrobe of roughly 50 different uniforms hanging on racks.
A graphics specialist creates false ID, badges, and vehicle wraps with fake signage in addition to creating personalised outfits. Agents will assume the identities of utility employees, firemen, or elevator inspectors.
They might even take pictures while posing as visitors wearing shorts. They can be folks in ragged clothing who are homeless. Agents use oversized clothing so they can conceal their entry-breaking gadgets within. And with weapons drawn, they enter.