In April 2002, as workers continued to haul away rubble from the September 11 terror attacks in New York, a mysterious private company decided to go public, offering its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Communication Control Systems was the world’s largest supplier of spy gadgets. In cities across America, it operated Counter Spy Shops, which featured secret sales rooms hidden behind bookcases. They sold anti-bugging equipment, bulletproof clothing and night-vision goggles to jealous spouses and paranoid businessmen. The owner of CCS was even more intriguing. Benjamin Jamil was a former Brooklyn taxi driver with a long scar under his left eye, who The New York Times described as “the outfitter to the suspicious”.
That August, NYT reporters visited Jamil’s headquarters in New Rochelle, just north of Manhattan. He showed them fountain pens that recorded conversations, teddy bears with spy cameras for eyes and other devices that were cutting edge at the time. Jamil, the son of Yemeni immigrants, proudly posed for photos with his wife, Marsha, who was the company’s marketing director, and his glamorous daughter Arielle, head of public relations. It was a family business, and their business was espionage.
The Jamils had taken the company public after two passenger planes destroyed the World Trade Center, Jamil explained, because Americans needed to feel safe again. “The rose-coloured glasses are being taken off,” Jamil said, dressed impeccably in a suit and tie. “There’s public acceptance that the good days are gone and that there are serious people out there who hate us. The technology that we have developed is giving us a serious advantage.” After CCS opened a store on Madison Avenue selling hazmat suits, gas masks and bulletproof leather jackets, sales of personal security equipment shot up from $2.25mn to $4mn.