The eager recruit was going through the standard operating procedure. There was the haircut, the issuing of fatigues, the medical exam, and of course the paperwork. With the latter a particular form stood out, “The Statement of Personal History.” Among its questions was a Cold War standard — “Are you now or have you ever been” a member of the Communist Party? In all earnestness, he answered “No.” Then for the follow-up question, have you ever associated with communists? He displayed a surfeit of honesty answering, “Yes.” When instructed to elaborate he proceeded to list the names of eight people he had met in high school whom he thought had ties to the Communist Party. He dutifully included the name of a girl he had “taken out on a date.” Such was the way that Richard Aoki inaugurated his role as a government informant; modest in comparison to what would come, but a solid beginning.