> One by one, agents check into a hotel, each quietly offering a pseudonym to the guy at the desk.
This is actually the part that intrigued me the most. I'm no traveling salesman, but I've stayed at several different hotels over the years, and IIRC I was always asked to provide ID during check in. Cursory search seems to say that some states actually require it; in other cases it may be corporate policy.
So, do the FDIC agents (?) also have cover identities? Or are they forced to stay in no-name, possibly rundown and bedbug-ridden motels for the sake of the ruse?
The 60 Minutes video linked in this thread doesn't mention cover identities for the individual FDIC employees, but does show that they're using a fictitious corporate identity for their reservations of meeting space (and possibly for a group booking of the hotel rooms). Keeping the FDIC involvement secret seems to be more important than keeping the individuals' identities secret.
Ah I see. So it's more about "hmm why did 100 (wo)men in black(tm) just all checked in -- something big must be going down -- oh they're all just here for the numismatic convention"; and not "hmm isn't that Bob who works for the FDIC? What's he doing here?"
This is actually the part that intrigued me the most. I'm no traveling salesman, but I've stayed at several different hotels over the years, and IIRC I was always asked to provide ID during check in. Cursory search seems to say that some states actually require it; in other cases it may be corporate policy.
So, do the FDIC agents (?) also have cover identities? Or are they forced to stay in no-name, possibly rundown and bedbug-ridden motels for the sake of the ruse?