SPYCATCHER

Oreste Pinto, aka Spycatcher, is an agent with MI5.

At least that is what one blurb on a publications of his accounts describe him.

In the opening to the two dozen plus radio dramas about those same adventures, we are told, "Spycatcher - a series of true stories of the unceasing search for enemy spies in wartime, based on the memoirs of Lt. Col. Oreste Pinto of the Allied Counterintelligence Service".

Into this compendium of fictionalized espionage agents I enter an actual real-life person for membership but I do so because his casefiles formed the basis for a series of fictionalized - or likely more accurately dramatized - adventures. How much of what we have to view in the television broadcasts or listen to in the radio ones is not known and for this matter, not too important. Whether they stick to hard facts or add elements for entertainment purposes, they are certainly worthy of following because Pinto was an interesting man with an interesting career.

According to Wikipedia, Pinto was a Dutch Counter-Intelligence officer and a Lieutenant-Colonel in their military when he left the Netherlands to work with the British against the Nazis who had invaded his country. Prior to that move he had worked in the Intelligence field for nearly 30 years, getting his start in 1913 for the French Deuxieme Bureau.

Throughout the War he worked with MI-5 as an interrogator, making it his specialty to vet the hundreds of refugees that fled Continental Europe for Britain. As he tells us in his recounts, most of those seeking asylum were truly what they claimed to be but more than a few were German spies made to look like the down-trodden to get acceptance prior to reporting back to the Fatherland anything and everything they could learn.

Exactly how successful he was will always be uncertain but there are several blurbs stating that General Dwight Eisenhower, later U.S. President, once described him as "the greatest living authority on security".

I have not, as of this writing, found any of the television episodes to watch (if you know where I can find some, please let me know). I have, on the other hand, listened to a good number of the very interesting radio programs.

I am reminded of that excellent police drama from the late 60s and on up, Columbo. Not that the two characters are alike because they are very different in probably many ways. There is one, well, two traits that they share.

First, they are dogged in their approach to a problem. There is no rush to judgment, eagerness to reach a solution and move on to the next matter. Both would talk with the suspect and ask probing questions and then politely say goodbye. And then come back at a later date with just another matter or two.

Second, they pay attention to what the people they interview say. Not just the words but the hidden meanings as well, but all the time wary of the nuances and inconsistencies. Just like Columbo might spot something out of place that will eventually lead him to a solution, so Pinto will catch the oddities in statements that prove the lie.

Such as one case when a woman had talked of walked for days in a foreign country, sleeping in barns and fields, before arriving as a stranger in a new town, totally destitute and not knowing where her next meal or lodging was coming from, and then being so relieved to run into an old friend at a ritzy hotel who would prove to be her savior. Pinto listens politely and agreeably and then a bit later ponder why someone who had no money whatsoever and who was wearing soiled and torn clothing for days on end would think it a good idea to head to a fancy hotel. Why would the doormen let such a disheveled person in? What would she expect to achieve in such a place? Not to mention that her legs and her feet showed no sign of abuse whatsoever.

I look forward to listening to the rest of the many episodes.