Accidental Blogger

Dear Tony aka ‘RC’ #007

You have always stood side by side with me and I will never forget it. We will always be brothers. I always love you back

All the best

George Tenet

(handwritten note by author addressed to Roland Carnaby or "Tony aka "RC #007" on the fly leaf of George Tenet’s book,  At the Center of the Storm)

Last Tuesday, exactly a week ago, while driving across town, I heard a lengthy radio bulletin reporting a high speed police car chase unfolding around Galleria, the ritzy shopping and business district in Houston. I reached my destination before the chase had ended.  By the time I got back in the car again, the suspect in the chase was dead – shot by Houston police for making "suspicious" moves after he was eventually stopped. I didn’t learn much more about the dead man or why he had run in the first place after being pulled over by a traffic cop.

The next day newspaper and TV reports had accounts of the car chase and the life story of Roland Carnaby, the man who died attempting to evade police. The son of wealthy parents, Carnaby, who in life used to surround himself with "official" CIA paraphernelia and make allusions to mysterious government assignments, was known to his friends, family and casual acquaintances as a "law enforcement" guy – supposedly employed by the CIA or the FBI. Even some in Houston’s police department believed him although no one was certain about the details of his credentials. It appears that Carnaby was probably neither Tony, nor the RC # 007 in George Tenet’s book inscription. The CIA and the FBI will not confirm his claims. Some now suspect that Carnaby had constructed an elaborate hoax, enough to convince quite a few among those who knew him. I have heard other stories of people living out a fantasy so well that they start believing the content of their imaginary lives. What I have never understood is how they fool others around them, especially those who are in a position to detect and verify the holes in their improbable curriculum vitae.

Much about Roland Carnaby’s life speaks to a long career as a devoted intelligence officer — from his effort to build a local chapter of the professional association to his personal friendships with current and former members of the intelligence community to his respect and affection for law enforcement and its dignitaries.

His home in Pearland is filled with pieces of his patriotic past. Plaques honor his years of service to the Central Intelligence Agency. A book written by former CIA Director George Tenet is inscribed with a warm and playful message. Photos of him at CIA headquarters, in front of military aircraft and with various dignitaries are prominently displayed. A small room off the front foyer was Carnaby’s study. There’s an American flag on the wall and a "CIA" coffee mug on the desk.

Now, in the wake of his strange death Tuesday at the conclusion of a high-speed police chase, doubts have been raised about his oft-projected persona as a CIA operative by the agency itself. It bluntly disavowed employing him. Might the denial be little more than standard operating procedure, as his wife suggests? Or could it be that he spent years constructing an elaborate fraud, with a home filled more with artifice than artifacts?

The rest of the strange story here.