(And incidentally, haven’t the papers just loved it all. One of the things about the press, and intelligence, is that it’s a secret world whose details are not well known. So as soon as anything is revealed, the press just goes wild for any snippet at all. And if one of the agents is an attractive redhead pictured in a corset….)
But why are intelligence agencies still using and recruiting human agents? Isn’t all a bit 20th Century?
After all, it’s really embarrassing, when they’re caught and sent home. Bad enough when they are diplomatic staff who are declared persona non grata, but at least everyone expects that, but when they are ‘civilians’ and there is a juicy court case, then it’s worse.
And since the end of the Cold War, such revelations have an even greater possible impact on international relations and trade.
Surely sigint, and fancy internet technologies and satellite imagery means that there’s not need for agents.
There are problems with human intelligence, (humint). If you’re paying for people to give you intelligence, they may quite well give you what you want to hear, whether true or not; see Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana, or the claim about Iraq’s WMD programme and missiles ready in 45 minutes, for a more serious real-world example.
But the beauty of it is that everyone knows it happens, and it can’t be stopped.
Sigint can be undone by building a better cipher, or just by using more secure communications.
Underground buildings will foil any imagery satellites.
As long as people are greedy, or stupid and reckless, or continue to be disaffected at work, or hate their boss or are vain and contemptuous, (and none of these seem to be stopping soon), agencies will always be able to recruit agents.
And counter-espionage agencies like M15 or the FBI know that and they can catch them. And that’s disruptive to the espionage agencies.
But there is no technique, including security vetting, which can produce people who are not stupid, greedy, reckless and vain, and staff in any target organization, be it a government or a commercial company, will continue to provide rich pickings for intelligence agencies.
But the beauty of it is that everyone knows it happens, and it can’t be stopped.
Sigint can be undone by building a better cipher, or just by using more secure communications.
Underground buildings will foil any imagery satellites.
As long as people are greedy, or stupid and reckless, or continue to be disaffected at work, or hate their boss or are vain and contemptuous, (and none of these seem to be stopping soon), agencies will always be able to recruit agents.
And counter-espionage agencies like M15 or the FBI know that and they can catch them. And that’s disruptive to the espionage agencies.
But there is no technique, including security vetting, which can produce people who are not stupid, greedy, reckless and vain, and staff in any target organization, be it a government or a commercial company, will continue to provide rich pickings for intelligence agencies.
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