Agency Rules - Never an Easy Day at the Office by Khalid Muhammad Read Free Book Online Page A

them to the best of his ability. It wasn’t good enough for his assailant, however, who took his time yelling out the finer points of standing to attention.
    “We will break you! We will turn you into men from the boys you are now.”
    A second instructor, and then a third stepped forward to straighten out the civilian population of the room. The military candidates stood watching, making no attempt to hide their contempt. The volume increased exponentially as the instructors took each individual’s weaknesses and beat them over the head with them.
    The civvies did their best to follow the orders, perhaps for the first time in their over-privileged, coddled lives, eventually falling into some semblance of order and discipline. A hush fell over the room as the soldier at the door straightened his rifle and yelled “Attention!” a second time.
    A wave passed through the room as the uniformed soldiers snapped to salutes, heads stiffly facing forward. The Chief of Army Staff and Director General ISI were standing in the doorway. Files for every military candidate in the Academy passed across the desks of these two men during the selection process. The civilians had an easier path with a commission of bureaucrats and military officers, but for those wearing a uniform, these men held the keys to their graduation and future postings as covert operatives.
    Kamal had many interactions, granted from a distance, with both these men. Both had attended the SSG graduation and personally congratulated the graduates. He had medals pinned on his chest by the COAS when he returned from Fort Benning ’s International Sniper School for his performance and for winning the competition at the end of the course. This would be the first time that he would have more regular interaction and assessment from either man.
    Behind the two military officers were members of the federal commission that had been responsible for selecting the civilians to the Academy. As the military officers moved to congratulate and interact with the uniformed personnel, the bureaucrats did the same with the civilians. This was a purely ceremonial practice done at the beginning of each Academy session.
    The Generals reached the end of the room and took their respective places behind the podium that had been set up. The Director of the Academy, Brigadier Asif Nazar, was the first to step forward and welcome the candidates to the academy. An accomplished officer with a Sandhurst background like Kamal, the Brigadier didn’t seem as daunting as his title, standing just short of six feet with a bit of weight around him. Looks like the good General has been missing physical training , Kamal thought to himself.
    His address was short, covering his expectations of each candidate at the Academy and what the Academy offered to those who were able to successfully complete training. The Brigadier ended with an introduction to Lieutenant General Misbah Qadir, Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence, stepping down from the podium as his boss got up to speak.
    The Lieutenant General was a striking contradiction to the Brigadier. He had not attended foreign military schools. He was a true son of the Pakistani soil. A graduate of the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul, the Staff College in Quetta and this same ISI Academy, Lt. General Qadir had years of experience in Military Intelligence. He was a natural choice to head the ISI.
    “If you are here thinking that this Academy will turn you into James Bond or a super spy that people will write stories about, you need to exercise your ability to walk out that door right now. This is not the place for you if that is your dream.” Lt. General Qadir had an imposing voice, deep and raspy. “Pakistani intelligence has always been the most respected intelligence service in the world because of the standards that we instill and uphold in our operatives. We have spent decades earning our position in the espionage community and no one