IT wasn’t just the rain that George Smiley missed in =20 Johannesburg. It was also the knowledge that the spying =20 trade would never be the same again. =20
With his hands wrapped around a balloon glass of 10-=20 year-old KWV, and his body enveloped in the soft =20 cushions of a large leather armchair, he remembered the =20 days when the firm had no doubts about the tough work =20 it had to do. =20
Of course, there had always been bitter rivalry with =20 the fellows in Military Intelligence — thugs that they =20 often were — and the bumblers in the security police. =20 But when it came time to deliver, it had been the small =20 core of professionals in the National Intelligence =20 Services who had opened the door to the ANC in exile, =20 secretly started talks and encouraged the government to =20 keep the negotiations on track. They had made sure all =20 the necessary elements were in place, and most =20 important they had kept it quiet. =20
When there was a mess, it was swept quickly out of =20 sight. It was need-to-know only. It was the kind of =20 operation which allowed one to sip one’s nightly tot of =20 warm KWV with a glow of satisfaction.=20
Now the mess was on the evening news for all and sundry =20 to see. One senior member of the firm found dead in his =20 car, and attempts to make it look like suicide were =20 only half-hearted; another accused of taking pot shots =20 at his wife and kids. It wasn’t true, of course, but =20 the problem was not whether the reporters got it right =20 when they wrote about spymasters, but that they should =20 get it at all. Suddenly everyone needed to know.=20
On top of this, Smiley could get more information on =20 KwaZulu-Natal, where there was a minor war brewing, =20 from the newspapers than from his set of agents, more =20 practised at filing expense forms than intelligence =20 reports. Not to mention the taxi war, where nobody knew =20 what on earth was going on. It took more than a sip of =20 brandy to live with this.=20
The problem was that in the new South Africa they had =20 had to bring all sorts of odd characters from all sorts =20 of odd intelligence agencies into the firm. As if there =20 were not already enough agents who were second-rate or =20 horribly bloodthirsty or both, they had to accept all =20 kinds of brash people from ANC intelligence, PAC =20 intelligence, homeland intelligence … =20
And then there was this notion of transparency. If =20 there was one thing an old hand like Smiley disliked, =20 it was governments who weren’t satisfied with a brief =20 report at the end of an investigation. Not too many =20 questions; not too much probing; no politicians, just a =20 well-written, to-the-point report.=20
But now it was all politics, and the professionals were =20 making way for those who were there to represent one or =20 other side in this thing called a government of =20 national unity. It was a devastating combination: =20 incompetence, brashness, accountability, politics.=20
Smiley could not help wondering: did one need all of =20 this? Three thousand agents, huge buildings, lots of =20 money, public debate. After all, it was a small core of =20 professionals who cut through the nonsense and =20 delivered when it was needed. It was always a few real =20 pros who did the work.=20
Maybe just a few good hands tucked away in the =20 president’s office, where the politicians could not =20 mess too much with them, would come up with more useful =20 information and know how to process and use it.=20
Or maybe it was time to retire?=20