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As a child/teenager delivering newspapers in Gloucestershire every day I knew who worked for GCHQ and who worked for other military/aerospace concerns that had

As a child/teenager delivering newspapers in Gloucestershire every day I knew who worked for GCHQ and who worked for other military/aerospace concerns that had security clearances. I had no interest, this was just standard knowledge needed for my 'performance targets' of getting to their houses before they drove to work. I would know all village gossip and know the business of every house in the village, a very detailed profile based on daily routine inspection, twice daily when delivering evening newspapers too. I would also know all about holidays, if the newspaper had to be stopped for a while then I would know where they were going and when they would be back. I did put two and two together - 'Cyprus again...' - and I also saw the subtle differences in dress code and lifestyle that goes with these civil servants. I do wonder if the CIA thought to recruit paperboys to do some intelligence gathering for them, perfect 'cover'!!!

throwanem 10y ago
Probably. It's not novel even in my experience to see an example of children making remarkably effective spies, and I'm just some goober who reads a lot.
- fapjacks 10y ago
  On every tour I ever went on (except the first, which was to a very nice European country), children were absolutely considered two-way sources of fairly true information. Small children don't lie when they're confronted by men with guns, regardless of who those men are working for. That was a blessing and a curse. Incidentally, we usually knew when the enemy was going to attack on a particular day, because there wouldn't be any children around. That being said, some of the worst people in those places use children in their attacks.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
walshemj 10y ago
That is the downside of having GCHQ in a small county town its hard to hide in plain sight. Its easy to come up with a cover story in London for a math geek not so much in Cheltenham

throwanem 10y ago

Probably. It's not novel even in my experience to see an example of children making remarkably effective spies, and I'm just some goober who reads a lot.

fapjacks 10y ago
On every tour I ever went on (except the first, which was to a very nice European country), children were absolutely considered two-way sources of fairly true information. Small children don't lie when they're confronted by men with guns, regardless of who those men are working for. That was a blessing and a curse. Incidentally, we usually knew when the enemy was going to attack on a particular day, because there wouldn't be any children around. That being said, some of the worst people in those places use children in their attacks.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

walshemj 10y ago

That is the downside of having GCHQ in a small county town its hard to hide in plain sight. Its easy to come up with a cover story in London for a math geek not so much in Cheltenham