Hey all - I have a question about Whitehall, it's a street in London, but it houses the British military administrative offices. My main character is ex-military member who wants to get into Whitehall to, erm, "talk to" an American liaison. He has a mate who can get him into Whitehall, masquerading as a Serbian liaison, he can speak fluent Serbian, but I presume you need an official ID to enter. I'm looking for a way he can get a fake, but believable and authentic ID... of course it has to appear authentic when the guard punches it into the computer... he's in England so it's difficult to buy one, he's looking for next-day delivery...? Any ideas??? Thanks for any help... hawky94
I'm in the U.S. so I can only speak of security here. From your description it sounds like the embassy is behind a military checkpoint. First, modern IDs have security chips in them. The're hard to replicate because of the tech involved and hard to keep current because of the updates that occur. His best realistic bet here would be to kill someone who looks like him, then go in when that person is supposed to go to work. He has to pray it's a busy portal otherwise guards get to know people and a passing resemblance won't be enough. You also -shouldn't- be able to come up with one of these IDs on the black market. If a Department of Defense employee looses one they have to file the equivalent of a police report before they can have a replacement. Also, all IDs are turned in upon leaving the government's employ. The Serbian Embassy (or other government building) however is not British soil, so it's going to have its own guards and own ID. This ID could be as simple a card with a laminated picture and signature on it, or as complex as something with a unique bar code, that was designed for this purpose. Ie no one else has the reader, so no one can duplicate the bar code. These badges are also in some cases accounted for daily. For computer access with the either ID he'd need the pin plus all relevant passwords. In my time in the U.S. Army I had to have a pin, and 3 passwords to get into the most sensitive records. I'd recommend at least mugging and tieing someone up to get past the first busy checkpoint. Then changing outfits to a British diplomat for entrance into the Serbian spot. This would have the advantage of not having to come up with a second ID card and get passed guards who are likely to know everyone inside (even if there are 30 people who work there the guards are going to recognize everyone after a couple days at work). He's still going to have to come up with a second fake ID. I vote South Africa. Because how often are the Serbian guards going to see one of those? It makes it more likely for them to miss a fake.
Hard hat and clipboard and a hurried manner got me in lots of places I wasn't really supposed to be in, when I was younger. Just go to the service entrance and tell them "I'm hear to fix the toilets", because the employee toilets are broken in every large organization everywhere.
