Kiriakou has said he has lost count of the houses he broke into over a career spent planting bugs and cameras and taking documents. The one he tells is the one that nearly went wrong.[1]
He was in a friendly country, working with counterparts from that country’s intelligence service, and was tasked with breaking into an apartment. He went with what is called a locks-and-picks officer, an expert lock picker. The building had eight floors, two apartments to a landing, with the lift opposite the doors. They could not take the lift because it made too much noise, so they climbed to the sixth floor.[1]
The surveillance was out of date
His counterparts had run surveillance on the building and reported that the target’s apartment was on the left, and that the flat on the right belonged to a married couple — he a lawyer, she a schoolteacher — who were both at work. In fact the woman had given birth the day before and was at home, and the husband was on paternity leave and at home with her.[2]
Standing behind the picker, Kiriakou heard her say through the door that she thought somebody was in the hall. He told the officer to stop. The husband said he heard nothing; Kiriakou told him to go; she said again that she was pretty sure; he stopped him again. This ran three times, the husband telling her she was imagining things, until she came and opened the door.[3][4]
At the door
As the door opened Kiriakou turned to put himself between her and the lock picker. She asked who he was. He apologised in the local language — one he happened to speak — said he must be lost and that he was looking for his aunt’s apartment, and gave a name. She told him nobody of that name lived in the building. He asked whether it was number 1205; she said it was 1207; he said he was very sorry and must have the wrong building.[5]
She gave him a funny look and closed the door. Then the lock clicked, and they went in and did their thing.[5]