Ever since Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI, relied on the FBI's all-pervasive surveillance network to monitor federal politicians and celebrities from all walks of life and even the general public, and gained overwhelming power for 40 years, the word "surveillance" , has always been a very sensitive but absolutely unavoidable topic in American society.
Many major political events in modern American history, such as 'Watergate', 'Zippergate', 'Prismgate', etc., are all inextricably linked to surveillance.
Monitoring others and obtaining their privacy and control actually means a kind of power.
The key reason why no one dared to shake Edgar Hoover's position as FBI director during his forty-year career was that no one was sure that if he stepped forward, there would be someone with him the next day. Scandals related to themselves were exposed.
The current president of the United States, George Bush, chose the position of CIA director in his political career, which is definitely a very sophisticated move.
As for Simon.
The eavesdropping incident at the Plaza Hotel a few years ago showed the outside world's strong curiosity about him, a super-rich man who suddenly rose like a comet.
Because he has the life experiences of more than ten people in his mind, Simon's strict defense of his personal privacy in recent years is definitely not unfounded.
Not just politicians, the federal government also monitors the country's super-rich.
The reason is actually very simple.
In a capital society, money means power. The rich have more than just money in their hands. Media tycoons like Simon also control media networks that can influence the direction of news and public opinion.
If Simon's privacy can be manipulated, or there is a handle that is not humane to outsiders, then in many cases, politicians can coerce him to act according to their wishes.
There is actually a precedent for this kind of thing.
The most classic one is probably Howard Hughes, who is also quite legendary in Hollywood.
This super-rich man who died just over ten years ago has actually been under secret surveillance by the federal government since he became successful.
According to information that has been continuously disclosed over the years, the FBI's surveillance information on Howard Hughes, including recordings, photos, handwritten letters, etc., occupies an entire room.
In the early 1950s, in order to warn Hughes for cooperating with him on a congressional bill, Edgar Hoover sent someone to give him all the surveillance data of Hughes for three years, and also attached a personal letter "From Hoover" of tribute' cards.
The data includes wiretapping recordings of Howard Hughes's residences and hotel rooms on the east and west coasts of the United States for three years, as well as almost every day's detailed schedule information. Every Hollywood actress Hughes dated during the three years also has records. It was listed out in detail.
This was Edgar Hoover's way of telling Hughes, we know your every move, be careful!
Howard Hughes almost never left his private jet in his later years, and he died alone. Although the public reason was the super-rich man's terminal obsessive-compulsive disorder, it is difficult to say whether he completely lost his sense of security due to government surveillance. for the sake of.
However, despite being secretly monitored by the government for a long time, Howard Hughes himself was also doing similar things.
This can be seen if anyone has watched "The Aviator".
Howard Hughes regarded all of his countless lovers as personal property, and sent countless men to monitor every word and action of these canaries.
What is more embarrassing is that because of this long-term monitoring, there have been more than one incident where the lonely canary and the monitor he sent fell in love with each other for a long time.
Simon's miraculous rise has amassed tens of billions of dollars in wealth in just a few years, and this number continues to increase rapidly.
Therefore, it is normal for some people to have strong curiosity and other thoughts about him.
The person who discovered that Simon was being monitored was the leader of an investigation team named Martin Dinham.
This is the candidate that the Johnston family found from Australia.
A true professional agent.
This once again proves the background of the Johnston family. Simon now has tens of billions of dollars, but it is impossible to find the person he needs from federal authorities.
Even if he found it, he wouldn't dare to use it with confidence.
After Simon had a similar idea, the old man personally helped to find 11 people and sent them over, divided into two groups, one group of five people and one group of six people.
Of course, the couple paid a pretty penny for it.
A family of 11 people can almost be considered to be supported by the Westeros system.
In fact, this is exactly what Simon likes.
After all, the possibility of betrayal is smaller for people who care about you, so Simon's original suggestion was to find someone with a family.
As long as these people are truly 'value for money', Simon doesn't mind spending millions every year.
You know, agents seem mysterious to ordinary people, but after all, they are just a profession. These people can usually get an annual salary of tens of thousands of dollars equivalent to some ordinary white-collar workers, and at most they can enjoy special government benefits.
The basic salary offered by Simon is US$200,000, which is absolutely unmatched by government agents.
Moreover, all household expenses for these people, including medical care and education, are fully covered by the Westeros Corporation.
After one year of employment and passing the test, you can also choose to immigrate to the United States with your whole family. The Westeros system will pay a one-time settlement fee of US$1 million. When your children become adults, they can also directly choose designated first-class universities in Australia or the United States. The quota will be determined by Westeros. Luo Company will take care of it.
In addition, after twenty years of service, each of these people will receive a one-time bonus of $5 million, as well as subsequent retirement benefits.
That's right.
Those who want to join must sign a twenty-year work contract.
Simon very much believes in the theory that "people are not as good as old people". Of course, the vases around him should always be new and replaced. For these special service teams around him, it is obvious that the longer they work, the more reliable they are. Human beings are accustomed to a certain kind of service team. After life, even oneself is often not easy to change.
Therefore, when the time is long enough, something called 'loyalty' will usually form.
After Martin Dinham led his five-person team to complete the investigation into the Ygritte portal hacker attack some time ago, he reported his investigation results to Janet. After leaving Dume Point Manor, he unexpectedly realized that someone was following him. .
Neither Simon nor Janet wanted their investigation team to be discovered by others, and Martin Dinham had received similar instructions.
Realizing that he was being targeted, Martin Dinham quietly arranged for his colleagues to conduct a counter-tracking, and finally found out that it was a man in his thirties named Frank Blaze.
According to the information subsequently collected, Frank Breeze is thirty-three years old. Dinham specifically noted that this age may be false. Frank Breeze immigrated to the United States from the United Kingdom as a student thirteen years ago and is now an ordinary person. Some down and out plumber, single, without any bad habits.
After members of the investigation team sneaked into the other party's residence, they quickly discovered direct evidence and installed bugs.
The investigation is ongoing and two other 'associates' of Frank Blaze have been discovered.
However, Martin Dinham has already given a result in the report. This group of people has no ill intentions towards Simon, and their monitoring of him is also very low. It clearly gives people the feeling of spending three days fishing and two days drying the net. .
"Only three people have been discovered for the time being. In addition to Frank Blaze, there is also Luther Randolph, who is publicly identified as a thug at a dance hall in Compton, Johnny Pister, a driver for a moving company in Koreatown, including Frank Blaze, all three of them have a career that is not too fixed, they are all immigrants, and their characteristics are very obvious. Although Johnny Pister is married, this is probably just a cover, an agent who has been lurking for a long time. Choosing a marriage is a very common thing. Judging from the current investigation data, the three of them are probably just pawns, and we are still tracing them. In addition, they also gave me a... um, 'abandoned son' feeling."
Burbank, in a nondescript bungalow office inside Universal Studios.
Simon listened to Martin Dinham's introduction and said: "Abandoned son? So, they are not people at the federal government level?"
If it's the FBI, it's obviously impossible to become an outcast.
Since Martin Dinham determined that the three of them were very professional agents rather than ordinary informants, they could not become outcasts unless they were overseas spies.
Martin Dinham nodded and said: "I guess the three people are either from the Stasi or the KGB. After the merger of East and West Germany, the Stasi has been disbanded, but this spy network has not disappeared. The director of the Stasi's foreign intelligence service also applied for political asylum from the Australian government three months ago because the West German government required him to hand over the Stasi's list of foreign cyber spies before he could be granted amnesty. The KGB is also a possibility, The Soviet Union is on the verge of collapse, the country's current economic situation is very bad, and it simply does not have the strength to support a huge overseas spy network."
Simon thought for a while and said: "Judging from the surnames of the three people, the possibility of the Stasi abandoning his son should be higher."
Martin Dinham shook his head: "The name is just a code name and will not reveal anything."
Simon asked again: "So, do they have Slavic characteristics?"
"Luther Randolph should have some Eastern European ancestry," Martin Dinham said: "However, this still doesn't mean anything."
When Simon heard what the middle-aged man said, he suddenly asked: "Martin, is your name true?"
Martin Dinham shook his head directly and said with a smile: "Fake, my real surname is Bedford. I'm just used to the surname Dinham. It's the same name on many passports. I haven't changed it this time."
Simon also smiled and said: "A very classic surname."
Whether in the United Kingdom, the United States or Australia, there are many regional towns named after 'Bedford'. This alone shows the universality of this standard British surname.
Since he was going to use these people, Simon had naturally done some research on their background, so he knew the real surname of Martin Dinham and more about the other party.
Martin Dinham probably knew this, so he acted very calmly.
Simon Westeros had given them enough, and Martin Dinham didn't take it for granted.
After a few digressions, Martin Dinham continued: "So, boss, what should we do next?"
Simon didn't answer, but asked: "Besides this group, do you think there is anyone else like me?"
Martin Dinham shook his head and said: "Well, I don't know. In recent days, we have only found three people, Frank Blaze, but this team has not dug them all out yet."
Simon thought for a moment and said: "In this case, you are temporarily responsible for investigating Frank Blaze and others. I want to know everything about them. As for the others, I will arrange other people."
Martin Dinham was unaware that Simon had other men on his hands.
However, some things are simply taken for granted, and it would be too shabby if they were the only people in the super-rich man's pocket.
Knowingly not asking more questions, the two continued to discuss some details, and Martin Dinham took his leave.
Simon continued to stay in the old-fashioned bungalow office at Universal Studios, slowly flipping through several scripts sent by Ira Deutschman, while thinking about the next thing.
In recent years, Simon has only focused on keeping his private residence from being invaded by outsiders, but has neglected other aspects of monitoring.
Surveillance on the super-rich is primarily about gaining privacy that these people are inhumane to outsiders.
Simon, a rapidly rising super-rich man, may have a big secret in the eyes of many people.
In addition to catching him, some people probably also hope to get this big secret that can make them rich in just a few years. In just a few years, there are probably few people who can remain unmoved by tens of billions of dollars in wealth.
Therefore, Simon simply did not believe that there was only such a shabby group of people surrounding him.
The security measures such as anti-eavesdropping that I thought were very careful may not be so airtight after all.
And some people around me.
Beautiful vases.
The girls around her were all found by Janet through actively searching for information and did not passively accept resumes, which to a large extent avoided being taken advantage of.
But even if this group of girls had no problem initially, it’s inevitable that they still don’t have a problem now.
Simon asked himself that he had given them enough salary and treatment, but people's hearts were always greedy.
Perhaps, this matter should also be investigated.
Simon didn't want to let himself become a suspicious person, but he didn't feel that this kind of suspicion was unfounded at all.
Investigate whether there are other monitoring teams around you, and reorganize the vases around you. If you want to complete these, just another six-person team besides Martin Dinham is obviously not enough.
While thinking about it, Simon remembered that Sophia had also found a group of people in Europe. It was said that they were retired Stasi agents. He had already seen the background investigation reports they had done for the European maid team. Judging from the professionalism and detailed nature of those reports, Judging from the level, the people Sophia found are quite capable, and perhaps two more groups of people can be brought over.
As for finding a team from the United States.
Simon didn't even think about it.
He had cooperated with some professional detective companies before, but now that he wanted to establish his own intelligence network, Simon instinctively felt that it was best not to look for candidates from North America.