The American students are spellbound. The charismatic lecturer has had their rapt attention for half an hour but has not revealed his identity yet. He asks them which intelligence agency they consider the most effective. Their top three choices are the CIA, KGB, and National Security Agency (NSA). The lecturer writes his top three on the blackboard: the Mossad, Stasi, and the NSA. The students assume the lecturer is a recruiter from the CIA. He circles his top choice – the Stasi – and mentions that he worked for them. He has not told them his biography yet. When they hear it, their mouths drop open. He ends his story dramatically: “What I did was wrong. I'm not a hero, I'm a criminal.”

Downstairs in the front office as the lecturer is ready to sign the paperwork for his honorarium he notices that the wrong name is typed on the papers. “Jeffrey M. Carney is not my name,” he tells the administrative assistant. “I changed it several years ago: it's Jens Karney.” He does not ruffle her efficiency but later I hear speculations about how I spend my weekends away from the office. The administrative assistant quipped to me: “The people you know. I had to rip up the paperwork and type it all over again.”

Carney seems to be a born teacher. He mentions that he was an instructor in the air force.