I have a character that needs to know all she can about recruitment for intelligence agencies. She is not a member of one but is creating her own gig. Do you know of any book that talks about that? Obviously, she will read it. She needs to know how to turn people. Blackmail is one thing, but she needs to really be there to work them psychologically.
All of the people that I've known who were recruited into intelligence were military grunts who tested high in their aptitude test. They were then put into intelligence departments. Other agencies/branches of military would then recruit those people when their military service was due to end/renew. What do you mean by turn people? Spy brainwashing? Only thing I've heard about in that regard was Project Mk Ultra.
People who are needed don't apply for a job. You don't wake up one morning and say "Gee, I have a feeling that a foreign country might need me to be recruited by them." If you're the employer, and you need a guy who just wants to go on with his life, and doesn't feel like defecting or going out on an adventure, you got all sorts of tactics you can use. And if you're a free agent starting out your own operation, you'll need to know the skills that the MI5 has or the CIA has, or at least a fragment of these methods. Now, you can just say "You go to the person and offer them money" or any other generic bribery or threat. Anyone can suggest that idea. You also have to deal with a regular person who doesn't want to be recruited and should be lured to it, and then, once it's done, you have to deal with a person who is nervous over the fact that he's now working for you. You need deeper psychology than "job application" or "money for goods".
I don't mean MK Ultra and I don't mean recruiting military people. I'm talking, say, if you know that there is this one guy who has what you want. Maybe he's a teacher. Maybe he's a pilot. Maybe he's a social worker. People turn others against their countries and organizations. Now, if you need, say, one Iraqi pilot to turn on his country and fly a plane into yours so you can look at the plane's technology, you can pick any pilot you want and try to turn them. If you need one very specific person, you can't. My MC has her own organization she made from scratch. It's all about recruiting people with sticks and carrots and watch them grow in their day jobs or change careers until they're big enough that she can use them. One guy is a teacher. One guy is a blogger. All have things that they want or things that they hide. Now, I know in general what's going to happen and how. I just need the extra kick. The extra knowledge. Because if one of these regular people is going to be nervous, the MC will need to know how to talk to them.
Sounds to me like you're talking about how intelligence operative recruit assets, meaning the people they need to do things for them. I read something somewhere--I think it was a book about the Mossad--that agents will recruit assets and compromise them in treasonous activities without the assets knowing they're committing treason or helping a foreign agent/operative. An example might be an agent posing as a banker who gets one of his coworkers to reveal confidential financial information (or something else compromising). By the time the asset realizes they've committed a treasonous act and that their golf buddy Jimbo is really a foreign agent, it's too late. They're already in the jackpot and unless they want to be exposed as a traitor, they better do anything Jimbo asks of them. I think it was in the Mossad book, but there was a section on how the agents ruthlessly manipulate their assets. They'll pull any string they can find. As for assets that willingly participate in treasonous activity, ideology is a more powerful motivator than money. Most of them "cross over" willingly without much in the way of bribery.
As Homer pointed out, you want to know how assets and informants are recruited, not people who want to work for their government as an intelligence operative. It would have helped if you had been clearer in what you were asking for - and less abrasive towards people who are trying to help you.
I think that targeted asset recruitment would be pretty hard to do. Most of history's notable turncoats (Kim Philby is a fascinating case) self-recruit, basically. I read a book on him a while ago and he got into the double-agent game when he was still a low-level intel guy and gradually worked his way up through the ranks of MI6 (?) until he was very nearly the head of British intelligence. Generally spooks will look for people with financial problems (the Walker spy ring), personal or professional problems (I know she wasn't technically a spy, but Chelsea Manning fit into Army life very poorly). It's possible to create blackmail on someone (like in the Edward Snowden movie), but most people who have some special access are also trained to avoid those sort of situations. Still, a "honey trap" would probably be your best bet.
I think in Philby's case he believed in the ideology of the other side (socialism in that case). No money needed for a true believer, and I dare say they probably turn out more reliable. There's also the example of false flag operations, where the recruiter acts as though they're working for one nation that the recruit-to-be is inclined to support, even though the information will really go back to another country that they might not like. Then there's escalation of blackmail. I remember reading a fictional story where someone was recruited by the Soviets to steal a document which, unbeknownst to him, they already had a copy of. Why do that? So that they could blackmail him to greater crimes because they now had the evidence of his treason.
The Hungarian Communist state had an insane amount of unwilling informants feeding observations to secret agents. The unique thing is that the training material for these agents was discovered in the national arhives recently and they were published in a documentary. A very interesting insight. Agents first profile a selection of people around a community or area they want an informant in. Then they elminate unreliable elements (those who would likely reveal their involvement) and choose a few appropriate informants. The method to meet them was simple; they were summoned for a government appointment (passport update, finger print taking, data update, etc.) and picked up on the way in a car with blackened passenger windows. They were brought to an unknown meeting place and provided the deal. What they have to observe, who they will report to and how, and what consequences there are for failing to do so. These were all blackmails. The scary thing was the fact around 1/5 the population were informants, and that the secret service had informants that were tasked to report/observe other informants. The training material also included stuff like breaching & searching a home without suspicion or evidence, or planting recording devices safely. In short: - Informants are blackmailed most of the time. - They are nicked, talked to, then released. Can even have everything happen in the car. - Informants are not all too reliable and agents might want multiple informants in the same group/community wgo are clueless about each other.
the acronym for recruiting agents is MICE T... money, ideology, concience, ego and threat Money speaks for itself... but the approach usually comes from the asset... the KGB couldn't target an american colonel and just walk up cold and say hey how about we give you lots of money to betray your country... he'd just tell them to do one and report it... it is more usual for a contact to be made by the wannabe asset who essentially says i can sell you secrets Ideology covers things like a western intelligence office is a true believing communist, so he starts spying for the russians... this category also includes false flag operations where for example the true believer believes he is spying for the russians but hes actually spying for Iran... there was a famous case where a western officer thought he was spying for south africa, but it turned out the people he was reporting to were russian agents Conscience is where the asset comes to spies for the other side because of either something he has done or something his country has done which he can't live with... like for example a western officer operating in vietnam during the war comes to believe that the war is wrong after seeing a village get napalmed, and starts to spy for the russians because he believes that it is the best way to bring the war to a quick end... these can also occur where the recruiting officer offers a sympathetic ear to the troubled asset who believes he had done wrong... for example a russian ordnance technician who assembled russian doll bombs aimed at maiming afghan children during the russian invasion of afghanistan was recruited by the British when he couldn't live with the consequences of his actions. Ego is where the asset agrees to spy for selfish reasons, like hes been passed over for a job he wanted, or hes become bitter after a divorce. These also cover people who have risk taking attitudes and see espionage as a game where they assure themselves they are better and cleverer than the people they are spying on... also includes the sot of pillow talk operation where the assett spills stuff to his or her bedmate out of a need to impress Threat covers either straight physical coercion, like the cartel tells a columbian official to spy for them if he doesnt want to come home and find his wife decapitated, or blackmail.. like the CIA compromised a GRU colonel who was secretly gay and forced him to spy under threat of exposure, likewise with honey traps and all the other sots of blackmail... threat is good for a short term operation but it is the least reliable for the long haul because the asset resents it and is more likely to kick against it Books wise I recommend Aquarium by Viktor Surov... a GRU Colonel who first recruited spies to spy on the west before eventually becoming a spy for the west himself, before defecting
Hello everyone. I appreciate your attempts to help me. I will look into the Suvrov book. Thank you. There is a lot of knowledge, and lots of it relates to problems I have resolved, and to problems unrelated to my characters. I need to focus only on relevant things that I have not resolved, in a story that focuses on one recruiter for one tiny organization, and two assets that I know how to recruit because I know everything about them. HERE IS THE UNSOLVED STUFF: Names of books and authors. That's it. Names of books and authors that directly deal with the recruitment and the maintenance of the asset in a deep and detailed way. What happens if a guy works for you for a month for six different reasons but now he's stressed and sad and might crack? What if you can't just kill him because he is the only person on the planet capable of doing the job you recruited him for? I don't need to know how to recruit that guy. I need to know how to support him when he's under pressure. I assume someone deals with it in some books. I'll keep looking. If you can name that book, great. If you can't name such a book, don't sweat it. I can't either.
Regular motivation tactics would probably apply. Same as in any other stressful situation, though obviously the stakes are a lot higher in a case like this. Some people needed to be threatened and torn down. Other people need to be coddled and built up. I work with a lot of people who need to feel special and appreciated for being special, so I end up using that a lot. What I've found is that people under stress and on the verge of "cracking" often need to be reassured that there is a stress-free future waiting for them, but only if they do XYZ in the way you tell them. I'd imagine in a situation like this the agent would say something like, "Just do this last job, and everything will go away." Even if that's a bald-faced lie. Or they would have to threaten them twice as much, or threaten family members or something else that's more important than their own life. You might have some luck researching basic motivational psychology. I'm sure the basics apply in all situations... and the agent would probably need the full repertoire because all people are different and respond to different things.
might i suggest amazon and a simple search for espionage non fiction... you're unlikely to find one book with all the answers but there are lots of books out there that are worth reading for research also as homer said you might also want to look at books dealing with more general psychology and communication skills
Damn Homer, it sounds like you could be a good movie director. I mean, if you know stuff about like cameras and blocking out action and all that stuff. But what you just said is what you always hear about directors, they know how to manipulate motivate people. Coddle one and slap another.
You might read memoirs from people who've been turned. Reasons why people switch their loyalty are manifold, and most lack earth-shattering events. I've found 'Nine Lives' by Aimen Dean of value.
Thank you, I will check out this book. The problem I found with Aquarium is that it is a thousand pages, so I don't know if I should start digging into a book this size for one issue I need resolved out of many other issues. Nine Lives seems interesting. From what I see this is about a guy who was already a part of the fight. So this is about recruiting a guy who works for the other side already, and had a bunch of things to gain or to lose from staying or defecting. I'm talking about people who live in a country, just normally, and going to work, and they're not a part of any insane cold war or hot war. Just regular guy, going to work, thinking of maybe be a member of some lowly board someday, and then someone walks up to him and like "dude, we got a massive covert war, and I want your mediocre lowly ass to be on board because you're a very specific pawn." I will check this out, but if there are other stories you know, of a spy who is recruited when he's just some guy, that would be amazing. That is the problem my villain has. Recruiting one specific individual named Danny whose status is: "just some guy". And it can't be any other person. Has to be Danny.
Recruitment isn't always a formal affair. When I was 21, federal agencies were being pressured to hire women and minorities. Secret Service approached me- yeah, little ol' me- because my uncle who worked in federal law enforcement put forth my name. Without warning me of the plan ahead of time, uncle took me to lunch with the recruiter. SS guy was an arrogant misogynist, we disliked each other on sight, and we spent the meeting with me responding to his snarky remarks in kind.
I applied to the CIA after graduating from college. I got as far as an interview. The CIA office was at an ordinary office building. The door to the suite did not have a name on it to indicate who was inside. I pushed a button and was allowed in. I went through a hallway which had photographs of CIA headquarters and the Nathan Hale statue. Then I went inside and had a very ordinary job interview with a very ordinary-looking woman. Also, I took a test. The test covered current international events and I think I did well since I read the Los Angeles Times every day at that time.
Greed/ Debt is a big one. If you require or have to maintain a security clearance, the monitoring agencies are constantly looking at your credit scores and such. If you are having financial difficulties they consider you a risk for good reason. Many people who have flipped have been in bad financial shape and saw what they were doing as their only way out. You could do the inverse of this with your MC, having them find people in such situations and use their situation to flip them. Others, like Richard Hanson literally walked into the Russian embassy in Washington D.C. and offered to sell information just because he wanted cash. The other is the good 'ole "honeypot". A pretty girl starts hitting on a middle-aged or older guy, often married with children. She gets him sexually compromised and threatens if he breaks it off with her or fails to deliver classified information she will expose him as a spy and his infidelity to his family. He's probably highly unwilling but at this point he is facing loosing his career and family if he gets exposed.
I think recruiting, managing, supporting, and generally controlling agents/assets lies in 1) their history and relationship type with the agency (i.e. paid informant, compromised asset), 2) providing physical and information resources to further the objectives, and 2) understanding their psychological profile. If you can understand what motivates them, you can direct that motivation. Someone can be turned immediately and directly, or gradually and indirectly. They can easily ‘recruit’ someone without that person knowing what they’re are being recruited into. The FBI does it all the time. If you’re trying to turn or manage someone, you need to know them. Figure out what’s important to them and how they’re motivated. If it’s not a direct carrot or stick approach, but psychological manipulation, it’s about providing them with the “right” choice. Or removing those choices so the best “choice” is the one you want. Someone ideologically driven is much less likely to be turned or controlled through money. They’re more likely to be turned by giving them the means to win their ideological battles. Supporting them tangibly or enabling an ideological ‘win’ for such a person would push them further, and with that the agencies continued control and agenda. With someone ideologically driven, you can manage them by controlling their progress to the ideological goal. As for detailed books covering recruitment and management of intelligence assets, most of that info might not be available (and almost certainly if there’s any innovative and effective methods). Intelligence agencies value their “sources and methods” and do whatever they can to avoid revealing them. Historical accounts/memoirs might be a good way to get a feel on their general methodology, but any publication by a former agent has to pass a certain time threshold and go through the agencies rigorous review. They have complete censor power over any book written by current or past employees. I suspect that could include support and management of agents/assets beyond the fundamentals. I think your best bet would be study police academy textbooks on working with informants and working undercover. It won’t be on the esoteric intelligence agency level, but they probably cover relevant methods and principles. It’s also possible the information you’re looking for exists in a data dump from whistleblowers or hackers, but I’m not sure about the legality of reading or possessing classified documents that have been leaked. I believe it’s legal in the United States, but I’d check the law before going down that rabbit hole. I’ve only skimmed these, but a search found these possible sources regarding undercover police and managing police informants: Undercover and Informant Handling Tactics Training Manual (State of New York - Student Manual) Managing Confidential Informants - DoJ (*see chapter three and four) DRUG INFORMANTS: MOTIVES, METHODS, AND MANAGEMENT - DoJ Handling Informants - David Lowe Confidential Informants: Ethical Considerations for the Practitioner - Bob Tarwacki
Shades of the 3rd Dirty Harry movie The Enforcer, where he got partnered with Tyne Daly, the first female detective in the precinct. Crusty old misogynist forced to work with headstrong young woman who's being pushed in to appease the new politics.
