The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron

by Bethany McLean

Its physical assets provided information, of course. And Enron didn’t stop there. It employed former CIA agents who could find out anything about anyone. Instead of tracking the weather on the Weather Channel, the company had a meteorologist on staff. He’d arrive at the office at 4:30 A.M., download data from a satellite, and meet with the traders at 7:00 A.M. to share his insights. (The traders would also call him for weather reports before they left for vacation.) Early on, Enron employees paid farmers located near power plants to let them put cameras on fences to monitor activity. Later, the stunts grew more elaborate. Once, the company sent an analyst to pose as a porta-potty salesman. His task was to figure out how long a plant was supposed to be under construction so the traders could learn when it might start producing power. Enron sent analysts to meetings of the Washington State’s electric commission, where policy makers talked about the level of water in various dams. When the level was high, that meant there was plenty of hydroelectric power, so the traders might short electricity. “Lo and behold, the dam would release water, prices would drop, and we’d make a ton,” says one former executive. “We just sat there dumbfounded, thinking, this can’t be that easy.”