Aldrich Ames

An espionage organization is a collector: it collects raw information. That gets processed by a machinery that is supposed to read more

An espionage organization is a collector: it collects raw information. That gets processed by a machinery that is supposed to resolve its reliability, and to present a finished product.

Espionage, for the most part, involves finding a person who knows something or has something that you can induce them read more

Espionage, for the most part, involves finding a person who knows something or has something that you can induce them secretly to give to you. That almost always involves a betrayal of trust.

I could have stopped it after they paid me the $50,000. I wouldn't even have had to go on to read more

I could have stopped it after they paid me the $50,000. I wouldn't even have had to go on to do more than I already had: just the double agents' names that I gave.

Deciding whether to trust or credit a person is always an uncertain task.

Deciding whether to trust or credit a person is always an uncertain task.

Because interrogations are intended to coerce confessions, interrogators feel themselves justified in using their coercive means. Consistency regarding the technique read more

Because interrogations are intended to coerce confessions, interrogators feel themselves justified in using their coercive means. Consistency regarding the technique is not important; inducing anxiety and fear is the point.