The next day, Jan Pottker and her husband went to the Colonial-style courthouse in Alexandria and asked for Smith vs. Feld, civil action case number 98-357-A. They opened the files and found the affidavit Smith had described.

"My name is Clair E. George," it began. "I was the deputy director for operations (DDO) of the Central Intelligence Agency from July 1984 through December 1987 during which time I was responsible for the CIA's covert operations worldwide." In 1990, when Pottker's article was published, George declared, he was "a paid consultant to Feld Entertainment and its affiliates on international issues."

Pottker may not have known it -- she declined to be interviewed for this story -- but Clair George had been the CIA's third-highest ranking official until he was convicted of lying to a congressional committee in 1987. President Bush, the current president's father, himself a former CIA chief, had pardoned Clair George on Christmas Eve 1992.

Feld, George's affidavit continued, was "concerned" about Pottker's article, and so he set out to find out what else she was up to. "Subsequently," he wrote in the sworn statement, "I obtained an outline for a proposed unauthorized biography of Mr. Feld and his family by Pottker."

That, according to George's affidavit, is how it all began. Over the next eight years, "I undertook a series of efforts to find out what Pottker was doing and reported on the results of my work to Mr. Feld. I was paid for this work by Feld Entertainment or its affiliates. I prepared my reports in writing and presented them to Mr. Feld in personal meetings."

Spying on her, though, was the least of what George admitted. "I was assigned to make arrangements with a publishing house to publish a book by Pottker on another subject to divert her from her proposed book on Mr. Feld," George revealed. That was "an unauthorized biography of the Mars family, 'Crisis in Candyland, the Mars Story.'"

Pottker had, in fact, written "Crisis in Candyland," which was published in 1995 by the tiny and little-known National Press Books. It soon disappeared from the shelves.

"This," George continued, "had the result of diverting Pottker for a period from further efforts to publish materials that were of concern to Mr. Feld." At the same time, George said, he'd made arrangements to pay other writers for an "authorized ... favorable book concerning Mr. Feld," to be published should Pottker succeed, despite George's efforts, to get her own book on the circus published. It turned out to be unnecessary.

The final paragraph of George's affidavit was a stunner, too. It suggested Feld had set up a special unit, much like the Watergate "plumbers," to destroy anyone who threatened the image of the circus as wholesome fun for the whole family, not to mention a conscientious custodian of animals and circus children. It was headed by one Richard Froemming, one of Feld's executive vice presidents, George swore. His main target was People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and similar groups that had annoyed Feld with charges that the Ringling Bros.' elephants were badly cared for.

"As part of my work for Feld Entertainment," George wrote, "I was also asked to review reports from Richard Froemming and his organizations based on their surveillance of, and efforts to counter, the activities of various animal rights groups. I have discussed these reports in meetings in which Mr. Feld was present."

The former CIA spy master concluded by stating, "I swear under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct."

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