Wave to the nice people at the CIA ...

That's me, at left, recruiting informants at a cocktail party. Alas: This post isn't about my informant-recruiting efforts. I just like that picture of me recruiting informants at a cocktail party juxtaposed with the "Loose Talk Can Cost Lives" poster from the War Office.

This post is actually about waving to the nice people from the CIA when you pass the Federal Center in Golden. Tell your children: Wave to the nice CIA people!

This is the first in a bunch of articles I am going to post about the CIA in Colorado. Christi sp? from CIA public affairs -- she is at 703-482-8069 if you would like to chat with her -- said there isn't anyone from the CIA in the metro area. But I think there is a CIA liaison in every FBI Field Office, bare minimum. Let me know your thoughts! Love from Jeanie

CIA move no simple matter – If the agency opts for Colorado digs, even wildlife part of planning
The Denver Federal Center has thousands of workers, lots of critters and not much readily available space.

Denver Post, The (CO) – May 12, 2005

Bruce Finley
Denver Post Staff Writer

Lakewood – If CIA officials were to move more than a few hundred workers to the Denver Federal Center here, they'd likely need to build a new facility.

And that could depend on a wildlife management plan federal landlords at the site are developing as part of a master plan, General Services Administration spokeswoman Cara Hoevet said.

Some 6,000 government geologists, water managers, food and drug inspectors, and others share the Federal Center with coyotes, geese, rattlesnakes and the occasional bear.

U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Colo., said late last week that the square mile of grass and riparian land surrounded by Lakewood's urban development is where CIA chiefs plan to relocate offices. More than 90 buildings stand at the Federal Center, including old ones slated for demolition. There is space for about 240 new employees.

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., a former intelligence committee member, "is going to meet with the CIA people and get a briefing," said Angela de Rocha, Allard's spokeswoman. Allard "thinks this is a good idea. We're just waiting to hear the details. There are all kinds of considerations that would have to be taken. Once we have the details, we'll have a better fix on this."

Gov. Bill Owens spoke with local CIA officials and last year met in Washington with the chief of the CIA's national resources division, Owens spokesman Dan Hopkins said Wednesday.

"We know nothing definite at all," Hopkins said.

Beauprez said he knows "absolutely nothing" more. "A friend of mine who would know" in Washington told him about the CIA plans, Beauprez said. "I feel safer if I've got a cop living next door to me, and I'd just as soon the CIA was very much in my neighborhood. These are good people, good jobs, further tribute to the importance of the Denver area and Colorado in our homeland defense."

If the CIA did move its domestic operations division to the state, it wouldn't significantly add to security risks, officials said, because Colorado already has military facilities, a nerve gas storage depot, stadiums and malls.

At the Federal Center, reactions ranged from "awesome" to "scary," and even the guy who said "scary" was enthusiastic, said Dave Ozman, spokesman for the U.S. Geological Survey, a main tenant.

"Several people mentioned the employment opportunities this would provide to folks in the Denver area," Ozman said.

CIA officials remain tight-lipped. "The only acknowledged CIA facility is CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.," a spokeswoman said.

Former high-level CIA and White House security official Bryan Cunningham, now a consultant in Denver, said having CIA operations in Colorado would be good for the state and the CIA.

At the center, a wildlife management plan that the landlords are developing would balance work priorities with needs of rabbits, foxes, coyotes, rattlesnakes, squirrels, Canada geese and other animals.

Security guards once had to herd bears out of the area, said Steve Schaad, regional chief of federal protective services for the Department of Homeland Security.

If CIA chiefs move employees here, Schaad said, ``we would work with the CIA and make an assessment and put together a plan to provide security."