The CIA had taken a beating at home during the whole Watergate mess, but how

was it viewed abroad? For that matter, how was its counterpart, roughly speaking, the KGB? Mr. Walker was known as one of the sharpest critics of the CIA, Mr. Copeland as one of its most able advocates. The conversation starts out genially enough, with Mr. Walker giving a detailed and funny description of a couple of British intelligence operations in Northern Ireland, but the gloves come off when Mr. Copeland brings up Mr. Walker's spending time "with Philip Agee [whose activities were blamed for the deaths of several agents], chasing around identifying CIA agents, as you called them--" MW: "Look. I'm a journalist. I'm a journalist.... Who are CIA agents in London is a matter of proper concern to me as a reporter.... It's a matter of proper concern to my readers, particularly when America calls Britain her closest and most natural ally. In fact, you're treating us like a client state. You're treating us like a tributary. You can't have it both ways."