Bill Plunkert used to think the masks and gadgets in spy shows like听Mission: Impossible听were impossibly hokey. Then the Boston College grad found himself in Moscow, putting on an uncanny 鈥渙ld man mask鈥� made in Hollywood, as he prepared to hop out of a moving vehicle.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 need that mask today,鈥� Plunkert quipped to an audience in Gasson 100 in October. 鈥淏ut I did then.鈥�
鈥淭hen鈥� was 1982, when Plunkert was a CIA agent stationed in the Soviet Union鈥檚 capital. 鈥淓very fiber in my body was going听Ping! Ping!鈥� he recalled of the moment he leapt out of that car. Meanwhile, a dummy version of himself popped out of a fake birthday cake placed on the seat he鈥檇 just vacated, intended to fool a KGB tail. Plunkert and colleagues had only seconds before the pursuing KGB agents would turn a street corner and either buy the Americans鈥� ruse鈥攐r not. Hanging in the balance was Plunkert鈥檚 planned meeting with the highly placed Russian informer who might arguably do more than anyone to bring down the Iron Curtain. 鈥淚 was hyperventilating like a crazy man,鈥� Plunkert said.
Plunkert related the outcome of that evening (stay tuned)鈥攁nd talked about his later transformation from a spy to a spiritual director鈥攚hile an audience of 120 members of the BC community listened with rapt attention. The Carroll School of Management鈥檚听Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics听sponsored the lecture, 鈥淢y Life as a Spy During the Cold War and Beyond,鈥� and Carroll School Dean Andy Boynton introduced Plunkert, who earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree in history and philosophy from the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences in 1968.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 read management books in my spare time,鈥� Boynton confessed to the crowd. 鈥淚 read spy books.鈥� It was while reading one of those books a few years ago鈥擠avid Hoffman鈥檚听The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal听(Doubleday, 2015)鈥攖hat Boynton found out about Plunkert and decided to invite him to the Heights. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a true hero,鈥� said the dean.
Trapeze moments
At age 18 in 1964, Plunkert had barely ventured outside his hometown of St. Louis when he rode the train to Boston clutching his acceptance letter to Boston College. 鈥淚 brought it with me鈥攋ust in case,鈥� he joked, sparking knowing chuckles from the crowd. As the tall, trim, and bespectacled Plunkert described his younger self鈥攁 Midwesterner struggling to communicate with a grizzled Boston cabbie鈥攊t was easy to picture a character out of a Norman Rockwell painting, toting the single suitcase that would hold 鈥渁ll my worldly possessions for the entire year,鈥� Plunkert said.
By second semester, he said, 鈥淏C was my home.鈥�
鈥淚t was a remarkable change,鈥� he went on. 鈥淚 liked my courses; the professors cared, they were willing to answer questions. I had teammates [in baseball and soccer], friends. BC felt like home, and that allowed me to take chances, because I felt secure. They wanted you to try things here. Sometimes you鈥檇 fail with a thud, but the sun rises, you get up, you try again.鈥�
A 鈥渢rapeze moment鈥� is how Plunkert describes that act of taking a chance or a leap of faith. 鈥淣o one wants to let go of the trapeze and commit to the next one鈥攂ut it鈥檚 exhilarating, and then you don鈥檛 have to wonder, 鈥榃hat if?鈥欌��
That鈥檚 a message that today鈥檚 anxious students need to hear, Winston Center Director Monetta Edwards said later. 鈥淪ome of them are such high performers, have specific goals, and any sign of failure or deviation from said goals makes them crumple, rendering them almost helpless鈥� in extreme cases. 鈥淪omething that I encourage many of our听speakers听to do is to talk about the setbacks in their journeys, so the students can see that even professionals at the highest levels suffer from failures鈥攁nd that in spite of that are okay.鈥�
The vengeful engineer
After college, Plunkert served in the U.S. Navy for five years, then joined the Central Intelligence Agency.听
The BC crowd ranged from alumni who remember Cold War air raid drills to students born in this millennium. Many in the former category nodded as Plunkert recalled that in the 1970s, 鈥渢he USSR was truly an existential threat鈥攖hey could devastate the U.S., even if we wiped them out too. . . .And at that time, it appeared that Communism was winning.鈥�
Not wishing to destroy the world with nukes, the U.S. could only hope to contain the Soviets with conventional warfare (should they attack our Western European allies), and in that regard, Moscow held the upper hand, with superior numbers and several strategic advantages.
That鈥檚 why Adolf Tolkachev was so critical鈥攖he 鈥渂illion-dollar spy鈥� of Hoffman鈥檚 book title. 鈥淭olkachev is the hero鈥� in this now-declassified story, Plunkert stressed.
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“BC felt like home, and that allowed me to take chances, because I felt secure. They wanted you to try things here. Sometimes you鈥檇 fail with a thud, but the sun rises, you get up, you try again.”
Tolkachev rose through the ranks to become the leading engineer of Soviet anti-aircraft weapons systems. Yet he despised Communism, and he bore a grudge against the regime for its murder of his father-in-law under Stalin. To strike back, beginning in 1978, 鈥渉e gave to the CIA some of the most damaging information on the Soviet Union Army鈥攎ore than anyone, maybe ever,鈥� said Plunkert.
And it was Plunkert鈥檚 duty as Tolkachev鈥檚 new handler in 1982 to keep that stream of information flowing.
Streets filled with spies
That night in Moscow, the KGB tail car turned the corner and passed right by Plunkert without stopping. From behind, it appeared to the Russians that the same four Americans who had been sitting in the car moments ago were still riding along and chatting鈥擯lunkert鈥檚 boss operated the dummy, turning its head left and right鈥攚hile an anonymous elderly local ambled past on the sidewalk. The ruse had worked.
But Plunkert still had to shuffle along the streets for many blocks in his old-man mask and a nondescript Soviet overcoat.
鈥淭here was pretty much only one style of overcoat in the Soviet Union,鈥� Plunkert said, 鈥渟o it was easy to blend in.鈥� The former spy鈥檚 glib aside, one of many, drew laughter and broke some of the tension in Gasson, even as many audience members literally sat on the edges of their seats.
It was hard to breathe in the mask, and the agent鈥檚 glasses fogged up鈥攚hich made it difficult to walk past a couple of KGB monitors on the sidewalk without bumping into them. Plunkert managed by holding his breath.
For the next two hours, Plunkert zig-zagged about the city on public buses and changed into another, lighter disguise. The trip entailed several steps, any one of which could have gone awry and scotched the mission. Moscow was honeycombed with KGB surveillance, making his job there tantamount to 鈥渨restling the bear in his own cave,鈥� as Plunkert told Hoffman.
At last, Plunkert made it to the rendezvous point. However, he noticed an apparently drunk Muscovite leaning against a nearby lamppost. Or听was听he a drunk? Plunkert had to wonder.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 much of a praying man then,鈥� recalled Plunkert, 鈥渂ut I thought, 鈥極kay, God, here鈥檚 the deal. I鈥檒l just assume that guy鈥檚 a spy, unless you give me a sign otherwise.鈥欌��
At that moment, the drunk projectile-vomited. As Plunkert stared at him, the man vomited again.
鈥淲ell, if he is a spy,鈥� Plunkert recalled thinking, 鈥淚 just have to tip my cap to him.鈥� The Gasson crowd roared with laughter.
With the coast clear, Plunkert met with Tolkachev for the first time. The two were supposed to open with a coded conversation. 鈥淭he script was something like, 鈥楬ow鈥檚 your sister?鈥� 鈥楽he is sick.鈥� 鈥楧id you take her to the hospital?鈥� 鈥榊es, I rode the train,鈥欌�� Plunkert recalled.
Instead, as Plunkert began, Tolkachev鈥攂y now an old hand at the spy game鈥攃ut him off with, 鈥淵eah, yeah鈥攕ister, sick, train. Let鈥檚 walk.鈥�
Tolkachev gave Plunkert a trove of confidential documents, and the agency鈥檚 relationship with its prized inside man continued for several years. The high-level intel that Tolkachev fed to Plunkert and the CIA saved the U.S. billions of dollars in defense spending (hence his nickname and the book鈥檚 title) and allowed the U.S. to outmaneuver the USSR in Europe. Plunkert credits Tolkachev to a great degree with Glasnost (reforms and openness under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev) and, eventually, the fall of the Berlin Wall.
But the Russian paid the ultimate price. Before the thaw in the Cold War, Tolkachev was found out, captured, and executed. 鈥淎nd what the KGB often did,鈥� said Plunkert, still clearly pained by the loss, 鈥渨as to then extract the bullet and send it to the widow with a bill for the price of the lead.鈥�
Turning a corner
Plunkert retired from the CIA in 2001. Married with two children (and now three grandchildren), he hoped to become a history teacher at a Catholic high school in Arlington, Virginia, but there was an opening for a religion teacher. He took that job instead, and taught the religion class to seniors for seven years.
During the Q&A portion of the evening, one young man asked, 鈥淲ere there any skills you learned in espionage that aided you as a high school teacher?鈥�
鈥淚t helped me to listen,鈥� Plunkert said. 鈥淣ot just to what someone鈥檚 saying, but to the tone of voice, their fidgeting. That helped with teenagers, because there may be a subtext or some concern under the words that they鈥檙e actually saying.鈥�
During Boynton鈥檚 introduction, the dean had mentioned that Plunkert retired from teaching high school in 2008 and entered training to become a spiritual director in Ignatian spirituality (offering guidance at retreats and in other settings), which he completed in 2011.
Now during the Q&A, an older gentleman asked, 鈥淚鈥檓 very interested in hearing about how you transitioned from teaching high school religion to becoming a spiritual director.鈥�
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a bolt from the blue,鈥� Plunkert said of his calling. But the seeds were planted when he took the high school job鈥攐r perhaps even earlier. To re-educate himself on the finer points of his faith, 鈥淚 went back to my old religion and philosophy books from BC, which I still had.鈥� As he studied them and began to go on retreats, it stirred something inside him, he said. 鈥淚t was like putting back on a comfortable old pair of slippers.鈥�
Besides his 鈥渢rapeze moments,鈥� Plunkert used another metaphor to describe his latter career stages, and it鈥檚 an apt one, calling to mind the harrowing tale of how he eluded the KGB one night on the streets of Moscow.
鈥淚n a life journey,鈥� Plunkert said, 鈥測ou never know what鈥檚 around the next corner.鈥�
Patrick L. Kennedy, Morrissey College 鈥�99, is a writer in Boston and the co-author of听Bricklayer Bill: The Untold Story of the Workingman鈥檚 Boston Marathon.