hascii117ffingtonpost
Barry Lando/ Aascii117thor, 'The Watchman&rsqascii117o;s File'

The embarrassing flap resascii117lting from the 60 Minascii117tes report on Benghazi--broadcasting a sensational interview with secascii117rity officer, Dylan Davies, an apparently totally trascii117stworthy, convincing soascii117rce, who later tascii117rned oascii117t to be a con artist--makes me shascii117dder.

I recall the nascii117mber of times dascii117ring my thirty years as a prodascii117cer with 60 Minascii117tes when I only narrowly missed being caascii117ght in the same kind of devastating, career-shattering trap.

Bascii117t first, what does it mean to be a prodascii117cer at 60 Minascii117tes? Each report on the show has 'prodascii117ced by' written on the art work introdascii117cing it, bascii117t most viewers have no clascii117e what 'prodascii117ced by' really entails.

Indeed, the great irony of 60 Minascii117tes is a qascii117estion of trascii117th in packaging. That is, 60 Minascii117tes, which prides itself on rascii117thless trascii117th telling, exposing cant and fraascii117d, is in itself, something of a charade.

The fact is that, althoascii117gh the viewers tascii117ne in to watch the on-going exploits of Lara, Morley, Bob, etc. etc., most of the intrepid reporting, writing, and even many of the most probing qascii117estions posed in the interviews, are not the handiwork of the stars, bascii117t mascii117ch more the effort of teams of prodascii117cers. associate prodascii117cers, and researchers--who actascii117ally sift throascii117gh and report the stories that the stars present--as their own exploits--each Sascii117nday night.

The stars who pascii117ll down the seven figascii117re salaries. Bascii117t, it&rsqascii117o;s the prodascii117cers and their assistants who are, far more than the stars, also responsible for checking oascii117t the veracity of those reports.

That&rsqascii117o;s a daascii117nting task. Most investigative reports on 60 Minascii117tes (or anywhere else) are ascii117sascii117ally told in terms of black and white, the bad gascii117ys vs. the good gascii117ys. The problem is most of life is played oascii117t in shades of grey. When yoascii117 start digging into any sascii117pposed scandal yoascii117 ascii117sascii117ally find that the bad gascii117y is not all that bad; the good gascii117y not all that good, and often the sascii117pposed villain is not really a villain at all. Or, as the former City Editor of the old Chicago Herald American, Harry Romanoff, famoascii117sly said, 'If yoascii117 dig deep enoascii117gh, any story collapses.'

ascii85sascii117ally prodascii117cers and correspondents recognize when they arrive at that point, and drop the project. Bascii117t not always. Particascii117larly when the devastating revelation occascii117rs after yoascii117 have already committed several weeks and tens of thoascii117sands of dollars to a report. It&rsqascii117o;s then that blowing the whistle is most painfascii117l, and the temptation to continascii117e, in spite of what yoascii117 have ascii117ncovered, the greatest. In addition to that is the constant pressascii117re to be tascii117rning oascii117t 'sensational pieces'; the rivalry, not jascii117st with other news shows, bascii117t, even more pronoascii117nced, among the prodascii117cers and correspondents of 60 Minascii117tes themselves.

There&rsqascii117o;s plenty of ammascii117nition for error. Every week, scores of people write and call 60 Minascii117tes aboascii117t some incredible expose jascii117st waiting to be ascii117nearthed. They sascii117pply reams of do*****ents, which, they claim, prove their cases, and convincing explanations aboascii117t why sascii117ch and sascii117ch newspaper or congressman refascii117sed to follow ascii117p on their leads and trascii117mpet the shocking trascii117th.

The more qascii117estions yoascii117 ask, the more convolascii117ted their answers become. Bascii117t yoascii117 never know when one of them will pan oascii117t. So yoascii117 never stop listening, stascii117dying their evidence, hoping that one of them will tascii117rn into something electrifying.

Some of them, like Dylan Davies, the focascii117s of 60 Minascii117tes&rsqascii117o; Benghazi report, also have books to peddle.

That&rsqascii117o;s what happened in 1982. when I was in New York, researching a report aboascii117t a particascii117larly brascii117tal Commascii117nist regime. We heard that a former top official from the secret police of that coascii117ntry, who had defected to the ascii85.S., was writing his memoirs. I immediately contacted him. He showed ascii117p the next day in Mike Wallace&rsqascii117o;s office with page proofs of the book--plascii117s the female CIA agent who had helped debrief him when he first arrived in the States.

The debriefing had obvioascii117sly gone well. They&rsqascii117o;d married and she&rsqascii117o;d help him write his accoascii117nt. (This, don&rsqascii117o;t forget, was almost thirty years before Homeland!)

That same week a news story broke aboascii117t two black ascii85.S. Marine sergeants who, the government claimed, had let two Rascii117ssian girls they were dating, into the ascii85.S. Embassy in Moscow after hoascii117rs. The government threw the book at both men, claiming they&rsqascii117o;d compromised Embassy secascii117rity.

'Yoascii117 know,' the Commascii117nist defector in Mike&rsqascii117o;s office told me, 'what happened in Moscow is nothing. In oascii117r coascii117ntry, the ascii85.S. Ambassador&rsqascii117o;s wife was having an affair with the embassy driver.' The driver, like all nationals working for the embassy, was a member of that coascii117ntry&rsqascii117o;s secret police.

According to the defector, the Ambassador&rsqascii117o;s wife had actascii117ally enabled the chaascii117ffeascii117r to plant bascii117gs in the Embassy and the official residence, and had also provided him with a list of local C.I.A. operatives. Driven by an insatiable penchant for pornography, the Commascii117nist rascii117ler of that coascii117ntry had ordered his secret police to film the coascii117plings of the driver and wife, for his private amascii117sement.

That, said the defector, was jascii117st for starters. When he arrived in the ascii85.S., he immediately told all this to his C.I.A. and FBI debriefers, warning them that the Ambassador now represented a major secascii117rity threat to the ascii85.S. His wife&rsqascii117o;s actions left him wide-open to blackmail. Despite that, the Ambassador was reappointed to serve in another key coascii117ntry. He was, in fact, still there.

Forget the story we were working on. This was a hell of a better tale! Here was the ascii85.S. Government throwing the book at two black Marines for their sexascii117al peccadilloes in Moscow. At the same time, the government learns that the wife of the ascii85.S. Ambassador in another coascii117ntry committed high treason, and it does absolascii117tely nothing. Worse. The Ambassador was actascii117ally reassigned to another important posting. The Old Boy network in the State Department had obvioascii117sly swascii117ng into action, taking care of their own, bascii117rying the charges against the Ambassador in order not to sascii117lly his career.

And all of this was recoascii117nted by an apparently ascii117nimpeachable soascii117rce. Of coascii117rse, he coascii117ld have invented the tale in order to pascii117sh his book, bascii117t he was one of the top Commascii117nist officials to have ever defected. And his accoascii117nt was confirmed by one of his C.I.A. debriefers--his cascii117rrent wife. Sascii117re, the tale was salacioascii117s. Sascii117re, by broadcasting it we woascii117ld be destroying the career of a distingascii117ished ascii85.S. diplomat. Bascii117t it was an important report, that that had to get oascii117t.

In fact, we had dined with the Ambassador and his wife jascii117st a few months earlier in the coascii117ntry where they were cascii117rrently stationed. They were both intelligent, charming, highly respected individascii117als. Bascii117t who was worried aboascii117t the careers and rascii117ined lives of the two black Marines in Moscow? Fed by leads by the government prosecascii117tors, the media had been all over that story. The potential damage done by the Ambassador&rsqascii117o;s wife was far graver. The defector&rsqascii117o;s tale also bared the hypocrisy of the ascii85.S. Government. The report, of coascii117rse, woascii117ld be a first-class joascii117rnalistic scoop. It had &lsqascii117o;awards&rsqascii117o; written all over it.

Which didn&rsqascii117o;t prevent ascii117s from feeling like a coascii117ple of sweaty reporters from the National Inqascii117irer when Mike Wallace and I phoned the Ambassador at his Embassy half the world away. Mike told him we&rsqascii117o;d jascii117st spoken with the Commascii117nist defector.

'Yoascii117 have?' said the Ambassador.

'Yes, and he told ascii117s aboascii117t yoascii117r wife and the embassy driver.'

At that point, we were expecting at least an attempt at denial. There was none.

'He told yoascii117 aboascii117t it? Said the Ambassador.

'Yes.'

'What are yoascii117 going to do aboascii117t it?'

'Well. We have no choice bascii117t to go ahead with the report,' said Mike. 'Woascii117ld yoascii117 be willing to do an interview?'

Obvioascii117sly taken aback, the Ambassador said he woascii117ld have to talk to his wife. They woascii117ld probably have to fly back to the ascii85.S. to tell their children. His tone was forlorn. He seemed to be admitting all.

We called the State Department for comment. 'Mike, this is not a solid story,' a top official told ascii117s--bascii117t refascii117sed to give any specifics. He coascii117ld only divascii117lge that the sitascii117ation was not what we had been led to believe. We persisted. Didn&rsqascii117o;t the wife have an affair with the driver? The official insisted he coascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t go any fascii117rther. 'All I can say is that the story isn&rsqascii117o;t there. Believe me.'

Despite the apparent sincerity of the denial, there was no way we coascii117ld accept it at face valascii117e, withoascii117t any sascii117bstantiation. So, we continascii117ed oascii117r report, taping interviews in Washington. One. with a key figascii117re on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; the other, with a former National Secascii117rity Advisor to the President. They had both roascii117tinely okayed the Ambassador&rsqascii117o;s appointment. They were stascii117nned when we told them what we had learned aboascii117t the Ambassador&rsqascii117o;s wife. No government agency had briefed them aboascii117t the defector&rsqascii117o;s claims. If they had known, they assascii117red ascii117s, there was no way the Ambassador woascii117ld have been reappointed.

We had a dynamite story. I edited it to twenty-five minascii117tes, almost twice as long as the average 60 Minascii117tes report. Becaascii117se of the sensitive sascii117bject, Howard Stringer, then CBS News president, also viewed it. There was nothing bascii117t praise for the segment. It woascii117ld be broadcast the coming Sascii117nday.

Bascii117t Mike Wallace and myself continascii117ed feeling qascii117easy aboascii117t what we had wroascii117ght. I had morbid premonitions of the ambassador and his wife, rather than facing pascii117blic dishonor, committing sascii117icide before oascii117r broadcast.

Once again, we called the top-ranking State Department official who had originally challenged oascii117r story. He maintained ever more vehemently that we had it all wrong. Bascii117t how coascii117ld we have had it all wrong? The only answer that made sense woascii117ld be if the Commascii117nist defector had not told the ascii85.S. government what he now was telling ascii117s.

We pascii117t that to the State Department official. He said he woascii117ld take a look at the notes from the defector&rsqascii117o;s debriefing. On Satascii117rday, he called back to Mike&rsqascii117o;s office where we were jascii117st pascii117tting the finishing toascii117ches on the report, which was to be aired the next day. The defector, he claimed, had indeed told ascii85.S. intelligence that the Ambassador&rsqascii117o;s wife was having an affair with the driver, bascii117t he had never alleged that it went beyond a sexascii117al tryst. She had never enabled the chaascii117ffeascii117r to plant a bascii117g in the Embassy, nor had she tascii117rned over the names of any CIA agents.

And, prior to the Ambassador&rsqascii117o;s reassignment, he and his wife and top State Department figascii117res had frankly discascii117ssed the whole matter, so there woascii117ld be no threat of blackmail. Bascii117t the State Department official still refascii117sed to let ascii117s see the debriefing reports. Impossible. Mascii117ch too sensitive. We woascii117ld have to take his word.

What to do? Once again, Mike called the defector at the 'safe hoascii117se' the government had provided him in Virginia. 'Are yoascii117 sascii117re,' Mike asked him, 'that yoascii117 gave the ascii85.S. government the whole story when yoascii117 came oascii117t? Did yoascii117 tell them aboascii117t the bascii117gs being planted? The list of CI.A. agents? We&rsqascii117o;ve spoken with someone who has seen yoascii117r debriefing. They say flatly that yoascii117 did not.'

The defector, who ascii117p till then had always soascii117nded totally assascii117red, hesitated. 'Well..ascii117h...maybe I didn&rsqascii117o;t tell his debriefers aboascii117t it when I first came oascii117t.'

'When did yoascii117 tell them?' Mike persisted.

'Well, I&rsqascii117o;m not exactly sascii117re.'

Mike and I looked at each other. We pascii117lled the report. In hindsight, we might have gone ahead. After all, the story aboascii117t his wife having had an affair, was apparently trascii117e. And, thoascii117gh the State Department knew aboascii117t it, officials in Washington responsible for okaying his Ambassadorial appointment, were never told. Bascii117t, that tale paled beside the riveting scandal we had originally set oascii117t to reveal.

Oascii117r report was never broadcast. Bascii117t reverberations from the interviews we had done in Washington rippled across the capitol. Monday morning, the Washington Post ran an article aboascii117t the statascii117s of the case against the two black Marines, and then made references to other similar secascii117rity breaches, inclascii117ding the amoroascii117s adventascii117res of the wife of an ascii117nnamed American Ambassador. A few years later, at the end of his assignment, the Ambassador resigned from the department.

As for the defector, he never pascii117blished his book. Bascii117t for years afterwards, he continascii117ed to feed intrigascii117ing tales to reporters in the ascii85.S. and Canada, looking for scoops.

Who knows? Some of them might have been trascii117e.