The book by Jackson and Hayson, Covert Radar and SignalsInterception, is a well done presentation of the life and accomplishments
of Eric Ackerman, one of the many brave and brilliant people who worked for R.V.
Jones during WW II. Ackerman is a bit unique because of his brilliance in the
ever developing electronic technologies combined with his daring in taking to
the field at the time of war the systems used to penetrate and defat the German
systems. Eric grew up in somewhat humble beginnings and his schooling was in a
technical school. Despite these limitations, he managed to become one of
Jones’s stars and an RAF officer, albeit not an active pilot.
The book covers Eric from his early life through the War and
then into the Cold War. Eric was instrumental in a variety of signal
intelligence and became almost a one man NSA, as the Americans would develop.
Eric had the ability to understand enemy systems and techniques and then
rapidly develop methods and systems to compromise them. Often he performed
these tasks near or behind enemy lines and often at great personal peril.
The book provides full details on many of these exploits. It
also provides a window to some of the personal elements of Eric’s life, his marriage
and his family.
I had the good fortune of working with Eric Ackerman from
1977 through 1980. I was his boss t COMSAT, but in many ways I was learning
from him. I inherited Eric from his staff slot at COMSAT Labs. In 1977 I was at
COMSAT Corporate, for two years since coming down from MIT. My experience was
academic as well as in the military radar and Intel worlds. So unbeknownst to
me Eric and I had somewhat a similar path, although during differing Wars. I
had been approached by Government agencies to build a set of small earth
stations and the related network of satellites and infrastructure for what was
to be the verification systems on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty with the
US, UK and USSR. I had done a preliminary system design and the “customer” was
happy and wanted it Implemented.
Thus I needed more folks and as luck would have it, Eric
showed up at my office and said: “I was told to report to you. What do you want
me to do?” Eric was then about 58, my father’s age and I was mid 30s on my way
to 40. Yet one thing I knew was, unlike so many of today’s techies, I saw great
deal of value to those who had come before me. Thus began my three years with
Eric.
We assembled a team and designed the system in detail. Then
we were awarded the contract to build it. That we did in record time, despite
the massive political nature of COMSAT. Nearly everyone wanted a piece of it,
and without the skill of Eric navigating the political and technical waters we
would never have delivered the world’s first VSAT, or very small aperture
satellite system. It went out to our customer and passed all tests with flying
colors. Then things got really interesting. I had no idea who Eric was other
than a good Brit system designer and one who had fantastic people skills. So
when I got a significant promotion, building all of COMSAT’s equipment
deliverables I chose Eric as my Chief Engineer.
Then Eric and I went out to meet our “customer”. We were to
discuss the details of full implementation and deployment. I had been seconded
to U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency as part of the Comprehensive Test
Ban Treaty team so I had become more involved in details, while keeping my ever
expanding corporate duties. I relied on Eric more each day. On this visit to
our “customer” we both had security clearances and I had a bunch more but when
we got to the gate Eric was denied entry. We were told by Security at this
“customer” that a Brit engineer was not allowed on the premises, period.
Besides they asked: “Who is this Ackerman anyway?” I did not know even then of
Eric’s background. We had traveled a long distance from Washington and here I
had to leave Eric in the hallway all day! I felt mortified. After all, we had
apparently done all we should have and here is some Government clerk telling us
off.
After the meeting we took a flight back to Washington via
Chicago. As luck would have it there was a massive blizzard and what would have
been just a few hours of air flight ended up being half a day, waiting, in
holding patterns, waiting etc. This is when I got to really know Eric. In those
days I could bump to First Class on a 727 and smoking was allowed and Scotch
flowed like water. Eric was in heaven. I apologized again for his rather shabby
treatment and, after a few Scotches, Eric started telling me the past, and my
“war stories” paled by comparison to his. I soon learned of R.V. Jones, then of
his flights in and out of rather risky spots, his tricks played on the Germans,
then his time doing the same on the Soviets. The tales in this book are but a
few I became privy to. All in that half empty First Class cabin trying to get
to Chicago. The worse the flight got, the more Eric had of the Scotch and the
more detailed the stories. Eric was truly a hero in his own day.
I found that I had a group in my own Division doing what
was, let us say, unsanctioned side work. Needing to find out what was going on
I asked Eric if he had any ideas. Well, Le Carre step aside! I was invited to
meet Eric and his colleagues at a small bar on Massachusetts Avenue, just a bit
down from the British Embassy. It was a warm autumn day and at abbot 2 PM. I
entered the bar. It was dark and near empty except for a cloud of smoke from
the booth at the rear. I walked back. There was Eric with several of his old
colleagues, all Brits. I now had a fully experienced Intel operation. Needless
to say they did a splendid job solving my problem and keeping the results
somewhere in the British Embassy. To this day I wonder if it is still in some
archive in some part of MI whatever.
I left Washington in 1980 to go to New York, out of that
world of electronic intel but kept in touch with Eric. I visited his farm and
met his two sons and of course his wonderful wife. But unlike the depiction in
book, the farm was a version of "Faulty Towers" with animals! We saw
an old farm, with rather weathered barn, and rabbits, chickens, sheep and a
mass of other animals just wandering around. You see, a farm is not something
one retires to, it is something one retires from! As Keynes had noted in his
famous test, “A man, who does well in life, may have the good fortune to retire
and write books and do experimental agriculture” Keynes meant “gardening” not
the establishment of a full agricultural complex! But Eric and his wife were happy,
ecstatic to be exact, and their sons seemed to be prospering. We had our
scotches reminisced about the old days, I was now in the movie business, and
departed, regrettably not to meet again.
Thus the Eric I knew was a quiet but resourceful man, a gentleman
in the best use of the term, one who knew how to approach and solve any
problem, and one who was loyal to the best of extremes, and happy with his
animals! I was honored to have spent a brief time with him and his help allowed
me and others to move forward on our careers while remembering a good friend.
A couple of decades later I had started a telecom and fiber
business in Central and Eastern Europe, with offices in Moscow, Prague and
Warsaw. I chatted with my Moscow and Czech colleagues, all former technical
people in the old adversary, and recounted my friend and colleague Eric. The US
“customer” may not have heard of Eric but they clearly knew and respected him.
The mere fact that I was associated with him gave me credibility well above
anything else that I may have personally achieved.
Thus I was delighted to see and read this work about a dear
old friend. It presents his life during his youth and during the War. Eric took
technology to war on a personal basis. The book presents this exceptionally
well and uses Eric as an example of some of the best of the best. Eric would
take the work in Jonses’ lab and test it out in true combat conditions. These
tales are told again and again. In addition the book examines the post war
Intel in the case of the Soviets.
Overall the book is good. It does suffer from several
weaknesses which I shall relate here.
1. It really should have an editor to smooth out the flow of
information. For the text tends to vacillate between historical reports and personal
details.
2. The books by R. V. Jones displayed an ability to present
the technology in a somewhat readable form. This seems in my opinion to be
lacking in this book. The many systems that Eric worked on should be described
so that the average reader could understand the issues at hand.
3. Eric’s personality did not come through as well as it
should have. Then again since I spent three years with Eric toward the end of
his life I have a view which may not be that of those who had known him earlier.
In my above recollections I tried to demonstrate Eric as creative, supportive
and especially loyal. Eric was one of those few friends who would go to then
ends of the earth to help you.
I considered Eric a good friend and in many ways a superb
teacher. Decades later when I returned to MIT I tried to explain to today’s
students how "real engineers" function, and I used Eric as a prime
example. In many ways we should really miss the Erics of the past. Today we
have an overabundance of Internet “techys” whose egos and overblown self-worth
belie the real engineering expertise of those who established the platforms
upon which they build.
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