PROCUREMENT AND THE CHINESE PUZZLE

[Music] [Music] they will try to solve one of these things some people will tell you puzzles are interesting as a challenge for our brainpower where as a test of one's patience I'm inclined to believe that they fascinate most of us for another reason how they work is somebody else's secret [Music] [Music] [Music] here is another kind of puzzle this one has people in it and these people they have the secret about a project they call scoundrel let's have a closer look at them Frank Farrell engineer works for an AE C laboratory that specializes in weapons probably then scoundrel is a nuclear weapon bill cannon he's one of the classification officers at Frank Pharaoh's installation and a very capable man I might add Harry Duffield he works in procurement at the same installation as for myself let's put it this way if it weren't for people like me this whole classification business would be unnecessary now I didn't say I was there was that nasty word spy let's just say I am a member of the International intelligence community but let's get down to business classification business there's one thing about classifications that everybody knows no matter which side of the fence he is on it only has temporary value it's like this if you work at a secret long enough and hard enough you'll find out what it is in this field of classification we have a saying that is unfortunately true with classification we buy time with that margin of time whether it's in terms of months or years can be terribly important let me tell you as an engineer I'm all for classification to my way of thinking classification covers a wide area and I'm willing to go along with whatever the experts decide besides we've got these deep Tail guides there shouldn't be any problem but I will say this though that we have to watch out for the tendency of some people to make a big deal out of these administrative decisions it gets complicated we know that classification is compromised many times by people who are loyal trustworthy otherwise responsible how does it happen one major factor we live in an open society it's a matter of pride with us Americans we encourage publication we know that research production invention all get a tremendous boost from competition as a people we don't believe in secrets yet we find ourselves seriously concerned with classification for the sake of national security in the instances where people violate classification there are frequently certain common factors deadlines pressures and patients everyday misunderstandings oh and there's another very common failing overestimating our ability to judge on classification and under estimating other people's ability to find this out oh honey is Harry there it's Frank yep hi there old buddy boy how are you you know that order we sent to yesterday yeah 3:09 - that's the one look here we are winning great sweat to get that stuff oh no there's no need to go through all that routine I no doubt that bill cannon told you that but look here he's not talking about the same thing I am look but it relax me you got your guy at handy okay turn to page 23 item 273 now that doesn't say anything about it well what's compromising about a few castings beryllium that's right you working for cumin you know how much that stuff goes through every day well who is gonna are you willing to tell that to the director that you want to hold up this project just for the sake of some damn bureaucratic rule you know what I think yeah I understand I understand all that I still say it's against the regulations Frank I you know not as well as I do listen you Frank so oh all right already I'll process it so goodbye big shot quantities for items costing Karelian outer diameter 8 inches wall thickness tolerance 110 thousand a routine purchase purpose unknown but fragments like this a part of a puzzle if you collect enough bits of information they begin to add up that's one thing Frank Farrell doesn't seem to realize how much sheer detail is available about his business for one needs is the interest at the time here's a good source a set of telephone directories for various AEC laboratories testimony before various committees of Congress going back several years trade journals scholarly journals patents the Commerce daily Corporation proves fools in the report even in-house newsletters and remember all of this is public available handed over on a silver platter with this information plus whatever special investigation one can accomplish a small item could mean a great deal Frank Farrell will probably continue to cut corners in procurement what does Frank would say who is to notice we have positive evidence of the efforts other powers are making to learn about nuclear energy work in the United States naturally special attention is devoted to getting information on procurement where could you get a better insight and to work currently in progress project managers and engineers have long been accustomed to using systems like perc the plan and sort out production schedules classification should be just as much a part of the planning process as any of the other factors in a pert if you don't allow enough time to arrange for cleared vendors on sensitive items your future will be dark with problems for example but we keep getting back to the same basic obstacle there's no other company that can forge a piece like this it's a very special job I still can't understand why we didn't know about this months ago when we consulted about classified procurement for scoundrel but the configuration of the weapon is entirely different now they've substituted an entire new internal design on us why didn't you keep us up to date [Music] [Music] as you can see the engineer the classification man the installation and the AEC are all collectively in a fine they called me the deadline for testing scoundrel without that bulging because of poor planning they can't get the forging without sacrificing classification the problem had to be taken to higher level because you don't sacrifice this classification lightly and then after all the discussions and the consultations and the meeting they had to come to a decision the forging was purchased on the open market and this procurement data became known to many people from real cannons point of view too many people let's see forging assembly magnesium length 14 inches to be fabricated in two parts when people work with classified materials day after day they tend to lose some degree of awareness of classification and when the work you do is connected so closely with your professional interests with your competence it becomes difficult to keep classification in mind ideas especially good ideas are born of an insight that's very personal but we're a weapons design and manufacturer are concerned there are no private concepts from the very genesis of an idea through all of its variations and evolutions it's automatically classified it was born classified and if during the process of development in the Officer shop this fact gets to be forgotten the situation is ready-made for trouble [Music] but Killa meant that feel oh how you Frank yeah yeah remember shut up just sick here it is scoundrel three seven five seven set of five purchase orders no classification markings on Detroit Oh Jim here it is well we only kept a copy well it was for bid is on that job you know we sent a copy to draw on to each of the floor bidders you don't want that huh well your office Center will be able to rest of the paper weeks so were you worrying about [Music] let's add up the score we have information on the beryllium casting the specialized forging and the radar windows we know what engineer Farrell's job is and we know the specialties of these vendors and other public information so we can deduce the details of size weight and the radar frequency of this weapon I would conclude right now that scoundrel is a new at smaller nuclear reentry vehicle with a yield of about 100 kilotons yes I think that would be a fairly safe assumption [Music] what do you think [Music]