Why do people become spies? Would you want to be a spy if offered the chance?

[CottonBolus]

(I'm talking about spies that spy on their own country)

Without your country, there wouldn't be you. How do these people live with themselves? And plus the ones who are spies or who are in on the top secrets are usually pretty well-off and accomplished (you'd have to be entrusted with top secret government stuff). Why would they want even more money than they already have?

If offered the chance, say, for a payment of two million dollars, would you be a spy?





An undercover spy.

[eastofeden]

It would depend on the reason. Money would never be a motivation for me and if I was spying it would have to be in order to accomplish a goal I felt was worthy.

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

well ya got any century pick ya nose wit find out
befor ya nose knock on door by ya friendly countryman

unless worlds lands alls gon cleans out their buckets

ha

[HunterM]

Because they're nosy.

I wouldn't be good at it. I crack/melt under pressure the minute they show me their cocks.

[cityboy-stl]

Can I spy on you?

[JohannBessler]

Cotton, I can shed some light on this because I lived through the Cold War. In fact, I was 28 when the Wall fell.

The existence of the Cold War shaped our mentalities. Some people, however, did not fit in so well with the mentalities that their country shaped for them.

In the United States, you'll remember, we all suffered through the vagarities of the Depression. A lot of black folks suffered through the agony of racism; a lot of Jewish people suffered through the agonies of a culture that tolerated them, but didn't really respect them. (Groucho Marx once kidded. "I wouldn't want to be a member of any country club that would accept me.")

So these disaffected individuals looked across the globe, and saw promise in a political system that didn't discriminate--a system that gave guaranteed jobs and lifetime security for every one of its citizens. They thought they saw a better way. Spying, for them, became the means to an end. They fought for a cause.

I feel confident that citizens in Communist countries felt the same way, in reverse--they wanted to bring a "better system" to their host countries.

Of course, some people went into spying for a more pragmatic reason--big bucks. Money can move mountains.

[Kyanimal]

Fast cars, slick toys, knock-out wardrobe, martinis, casinos, sexy women ... Oh! ... Wait!

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz

[Harke the Boeotarch]

I would sacrifice a lot if it would end the threat of Islamic terrorism.

[xbuzzerx]

I can't follow-up Johann's account on the spying end... but maybe a little bit about counterspying. I can tell you that I grew up as a young kid in the 80's and my dad worked in a very sensitive field of defense. And my sister and I received some coaching about what kinds of suspicious questions to not answer regarding my dad's work or confirming what he did exactly should people ask. I remember at one point asking my dad why we had to be careful about people asking about his job and I don't remember his answer word for word (I was under 10 in the 80's) but he play acted a story where the gist of it basically was a Russian agent blackmailing secrets from someone in his line of work and using kids.. or knowledge of their schedules and where they went to school or picking them up-- as leverage.

It was also because of this that I was not able to get a passport until my 20's. Also neighbor kids would always ask me why people had come to their house to talk about us and I remember always thinking that meant we were in some kind of trouble, and I was never really sure why that happened, as a kid. But I guess it's normal procedure for anyone with a high security clearance for the FBI to check with your neighbors annually about your habits or if a lot of guests come and go from the property, that kind of thing.

My dad just recently retired, but it's funny, I hesitate even now to say what he did just from a lifetime of not being 'supposed' to talk about it. But he worked on two separate projects in his career, they involved ICBM's and later, B2 stealth technology.

I was one of those kids that on the rare occasion I got to go to my dad's work I get past the security area and see one of those blue maps of the United States where once it's explained to me I gather from it that I grew up in the 5th highest projected Soviet first-strike target. I had a rather morbid childhood. lol.

[JohannBessler]

^The Soviet era brought about a lot of adventure, didn't it? A lot of that cloak-and-dagger stuff. Our lives felt so exciting but scary at the same time.

Older JUBbers remember those drills where they had to practice hiding under a desk, in case of nuclear war, or digging fallout shelters in their back yards. I remember those "(.....long whistle) This is a test--this is a test of the Emergency Broadcast system. This is only a test." That Emergency Broadcast System stemmed directly from the Cold War. They devised it as a way to let the whole US know very quickly when and if the Soviets attacked us. Nowadays, of course, the Internet made it obsolete.

When we all went on camping, we usually asked each other, over the campfire,"Do you think the Russians will ever nuke us?" On a related note, due to the bitter cold winter of 1977, we thought the Russians had the means to change our weather.

Despite all this, a few Americans thought Communism could bring us a better way of life.

That's why they spied.

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

cloak ans dagga stuff?

just gonna die wot cum next

haaaaaaaaaaa

[JohannBessler]

@Buzzer: did you know that, in 1983, we came perilously close to nuclear war with the Soviets? True story.

[JohannBessler]

For your reading pleasure:

The Soviet Nuclear Scare of 1983--written by the CIA itself:

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-f...rum/source.htm

[xbuzzerx]

@Buzzer: did you know that, in 1983, we came perilously close to nuclear war with the Soviets? True story.

I did actually-- believe it or not just like 3 nights ago I mentioned that to someone and they totally thought I was pulling their leg.

[LatimerRd]

A high school friend (a good enough friend that I was a groomsman at his wedding) confided in me after the fact that he had been hired by the FBI to spy at his college campus, and that he was thoroughly ashamed of what he did, without telling me any of the details. This was in the context of having just asked me if it was true that, as he had heard, I was 1) gay and 2) an escort--I verified both--and that as he had just learned something scandalous about me, I'd learn something scandalous about him.

[Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Boom]

OMG I would love to be a spy. Always wished I could be a tripple agent with deadly combat training diverse in lingustic sent on espionage mission.

[Kyanimal]

THANK YOU! for bringing the 1983 crisis to our attention! I was completely (well not exactly "completely") unaware of it! That is, I had NO idea just how Serious it was!

Here are a few things I lived through, and DO remember:

The launch of "Sputnik", which, even though it was actually fairly benign (given what we're flying these days), was considered a Major threat! As a kid, I was at Cedar Point, in Sandusky, OH, and they turned off all the rides, and lights, so we could watch the world's first man-made satellite pass over our heads.

I vividly remember the Cuban Missile Crisis! And, was VERY aware of how close we came to possibly annihilating all life on Earth!

I remember all the "Spy" themed TV shows, and movies, of the 60s and early 70s.

I remember standing at "Checkpoint Charley", and looking over the Berlin Wall, at the Brandenburg Gate, and how BRIGHT West Berlin was at night, and the East being nearly totally dark.

I remember my Dad's stories about the Berlin Air Lift, while flying into, and out of, Tempelhof Airport.

I remember the Nike Missile Sites near my college campus.

I remember the ads for backyard bomb shelters.

Those were all quite interesting, though VERY Dangerous, times. And, we still do not live in SAFE times, for any of us.

I also remember Dick Cheney "outing" Valarie Plame as a CIA agent, merely for Political reasons!

Would I spy for MY country and our allies? If I thought I could do any good, Hell YES!

All the more reasons to ... no matter what ...

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz

[weinerslav]

I am completely passionate about the cold war, and also the WWII, spies made so much for (and against) us, I would love to be one! Of course the James Bond obviousness isn't at all near the reality but he makes part of the mystique! I don't believe that money is the major argument to turn someone into a spy (even if history is full of examples of people that would sell their own mother) but the will to change the world has to be the main reason why so many people risked or loosed their lives, even the ones that where in the wrong side...

About spying your own country, well, for me my country is the land, is the people, the ways, the food, the essence! Not the guy that is running it! I'm quite sure if I was Russian I would do my best to fight the current power... And not being Russian, I fear that a second cold war is on the way, I see the communist pattern repeating, but this time without the communist-equality propaganda, let's hope not...

[maxpowr9]

I always think back to the fact that Anderson Cooper was denied a job as a CIA agent because he was too "flamboyant".

[Scealle]

I can't follow-up Johann's account on the spying end... but maybe a little bit about counterspying. I can tell you that I grew up as a young kid in the 80's and my dad worked in a very sensitive field of defense. And my sister and I received some coaching about what kinds of suspicious questions to not answer regarding my dad's work or confirming what he did exactly should people ask. I remember at one point asking my dad why we had to be careful about people asking about his job and I don't remember his answer word for word (I was under 10 in the 80's) but he play acted a story where the gist of it basically was a Russian agent blackmailing secrets from someone in his line of work and using kids.. or knowledge of their schedules and where they went to school or picking them up-- as leverage.

It was also because of this that I was not able to get a passport until my 20's. Also neighbor kids would always ask me why people had come to their house to talk about us and I remember always thinking that meant we were in some kind of trouble, and I was never really sure why that happened, as a kid. But I guess it's normal procedure for anyone with a high security clearance for the FBI to check with your neighbors annually about your habits or if a lot of guests come and go from the property, that kind of thing.

My dad just recently retired, but it's funny, I hesitate even now to say what he did just from a lifetime of not being 'supposed' to talk about it. But he worked on two separate projects in his career, they involved ICBM's and later, B2 stealth technology.

I was one of those kids that on the rare occasion I got to go to my dad's work I get past the security area and see one of those blue maps of the United States where once it's explained to me I gather from it that I grew up in the 5th highest projected Soviet first-strike target. I had a rather morbid childhood. lol.

Wow!

I guess it could be a money thing? I always wonder if the government found some super genius talent somewhere and then recruit them to be spys?
Growing up I think i watch too much anime and Spy girls, so I think it might be fun. I understand the risks though.

[HunterM]

I always think back to the fact that Anderson Cooper was denied a job as a CIA agent because he was too "flamboyant".

I know. People knew he was gay before he knew he was gay