Tinker, Tailor, Soldier -- Screw-Up?

By DAVID ELLIS

Even if ROBERT GATES shakes off the Iran-contra allegations that have stymied his chances to be head of the CIA, will his spy staff ever respect a guy who flunked Surveillance 101? When Gates was a young CIA trainee in the early 1960s, one of his early attempts to tail a suspect was notably unsuccessful, according to a former classmate. Gates was assigned to shadow a man in Richmond. But the local police became curious about the apprentice spy loitering on a street corner and hauled Gates in for questioning. Hours later, after a CIA instructor intervened, the spook-to-be was returned to quarters at Camp Peary. Gates then traded in his trenchcoat and eventually became the agency's top analyst.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart