Lee Thomas is an agent with the GIA.
That is not a spelling mistake. It is a different agency completely, the letters standing for the Government Intermediary Agency. It does not officially exists so that it is able to do the things that it does. As Thomas mentions, "one of those outfits people whisper about". He explains that most of the time, the work of the GIA was to act as go-between for other agencies to work together but quite often they just go it alone.
Thomas's reason for being a member of this organization is explained best by him with:
"I grew up reading Ian Fleming and others. I watched the movies and television shows and then I dreamed about being a spy. Some friends and I had even come up with our own organization similar to the one in the "Man From Uncle", a sixties television show. By the time I got to high school I had done some training on my own and came to the attention of a teacher at my school, who according to his service record (which I accessed years later), officially had not done some very unusual and interesting things for the OSS in WWII. He called an old colleague and passed my name along. I really think it was when I elevated his car until all of the tires were an inch above the ground that I really caught his eye. He was in the car with the motor started and the transmission in reverse before he realized something was amiss. Why do something like that to him? He could be a jerk and no one really liked him so he was the target of pranks. Knowing what I know now about the stresses of combat I think he had suffered some with post traumatic stress since World War II."
As he got older, his stunts got crazier and craftier and more challenging to himself. The people now watching him were more and more impressed and eventually approached him in the middle of the night by sneaking into his locked room to let him know they knew how to do such things. They offered him a job. He took it. He really had to, of course, since this had been his dream job. He would stick with it for many years to come.
Motto of the GIA: "Don't Bother To Thank Us. We Were Never There"
Policy of the GIA: "The Task At Hand Not The Credit For The Task. That This Nation Shall Survive"
Good Line:
- Regarding why he kept a loaded .357 magnum under his pillow in his dorm in college, Thomas says, "It was only there because of some deep seated paranoia and my secret agent fantasies."