This Life Will Self-Destruct

Suggested Reading
The Cold War: Close, dangerously too close

M.I.C.E
Money, Ideology, Compromise, Ego

These are the foundations of spies and have been the standard throughout history. If you want to recruit someone to commit a nefarious act then your best is to apply pressure to one of the traits listed above. If you are looking for a high success rate without much fuss or effort, focus on the first letter. That one almost never fails. You might even be shocked by just how many and who is willing to betray their country, divulge secrets, and commit treason all in the name of the all-mighty dollar. I think it is fair to say that Agent Jack Bauer and 007 James Bond fall under "I". Well, maybe 007 drifts a bit to the "E" aswell.

The world of spies is a highly stressful one but you better learn to keep your cool under pressure otherwise it could be you that feels the pressure of a cold steel barrel pressed to the back of your head. Hell, maybe you get lucky and they just slap the cuffs on you. Maybe you get a show trial and get off light with say 20 years in a maximum security prison or maybe you get it heavy and are in solitary confinement for life. Hey, it could be worse; you could have a poison tip umbrella filled with a small amount of ricin jabbed in your leg. "Oops, sorry about that ol'chap didn't mean to poke you there." Ask a bloke for a light and that first spark lets off cyanide gas in your face. Ricin or cyanide, either way you will be dead in a few minutes. How about a cup of afternoon tea, would you like a very tiny amount of radioactive Polonium-210 added to it? It goes down well with your brain functions, heart, and internal organs. You will be dead in a week. Feel like taking a phone call from a loved one? Feel like having your cell signal transmitted to a satellite that triggers an explosive in the phone you are using? I don't think so. Maybe you are the cautions type and well aware you might have crosshairs on you wherever you go. So, you beef up with a bodyguard team and feel secure. Your Mercedes Benz is armored but that indiscriminate parked truck packed with TNT doesn't seem too phased by it and neither does the suicide bomber with the itchy trigger finger. He counts down waiting for that armored card to line up right beside him and that red traffic light just ahead makes his job even easier. You will be cleaned up with a sponge along with 21 others and 225 pedestrians make it out alive but are scarred for life. Everything I just told you is absolutely true and happened. It is an unfortunate part of espionage work but it only one facet of it. 

While death or imprisonment is a very realistic possibility for spies many of them manage to continue their work for a long period of time before being caught. The CIA and FBI had a few spies working for the KGB that for over 20 years were selling US intelligence secrets. Many of them did it willingly for money. Some were in debt while others were just plain greedy. There are those that were idealists and believed in either the Soviet or American way of life. Same went for those that spied in World War II who had either allied or Nazi sympathies. These spies typically didn't have the highest rank in their own countries intelligence or military departments. They were often low ranking grunts that simply had access to highly sensitive information. Edward Snowden is a perfect example. He falls under the "I" category. He believes exposing US surveillance secrets on everyday citizens was a necessary step to prevent further wrongdoings. 

Once you are ready to betray your country you can go about it the old fashion way by simply walking up to another countries embassy and say you want to speak to someone "high up" because you got something "juicy" to offer. Believe it or not that has worked in the past. Or other countries have their own recruiters who simply cozy up to you and perhaps after a martini or two or maybe after a roll in the hay you start spilling secrets. Now, either you keep spilling secrets or they expose you to your countries authorities. Oh and forget about that fat pay day, we got you under "C" now. Good old compromise. Now once that femme fatale (and yes, they were used for this very purpose) you usually get passed off to a more ugly looking fellow who becomes your handler. You might meet him once or you might him several times and he ends up becoming one of your best mates (it happens). If you meet him once he will set-up a "dead drop" with you. Your communication with him will probably be at random to avoid detection by counterintelligence trying to catch you. When your handler makes contact it will likely be in a coded form. A cipher which is a numerical code that translates into an alphabetical text is quite popular and can be quite difficult to crack if done well. Once you translate the cipher it will tell you where to take your stolen intelligence information and at what time. The details are likely to be highly specific to avoid the "good guys" from catching you. A dead drop is a "safe" location that has an object disguised as an everyday item which has a built-in container to place your stolen information. A seemingly innocent rock with a base cover removal, a small hole in the sidewalk but with a tube container attached at the bottom just waiting for some government secrets. How about a dead rat, yeah a dead rat with its guts torn out and a zipper attached; just unzip and place your information in.

Now, remember the good guys are watching or at least trying to watch or hear. They got bugs everywhere and literally it could be a bug or small animal. Trained animals with either audio or video surveillance attached to them. Who is going to suspect a cute little kitty? especially one with a surgically implanted microphone or antenna. 

On the one hand it is easy to say that spies can benefit one country and severely damage another countries intelligence effort. This is very true but only the flip side I thought to myself what if spies were not in place at all and nobody knew what their "enemies" were up too? Would that make things more dangerous? Your enemy knows that you have no clue as to what they are planning so what is to stop them from launching a full scale attack? You would be totally be caught off guard and likely defeated. But if you have spies in place it is kind of like a heads-up that shit could hit the fan. You enemy is kind of forced to come clean and balk at their opportunity for an assault. To me, that is why are spies are in place, to keep the other guy honest. It is just an unfortunate bugaboo when one of those spies happens to be one of your own citizens in search of a big pay day, has a change of heart, caught in compromising photographs, or someone has stroked their ego telling them they are a big shot and are being treated unfairly, hey it happens and if it happens to you just be sure to watch your back because someone is always watching you. Just hope they don't have an itchy trigger finger or a cup of tea....