4 ms·

The classic motives for spying go by the acronym MICE - Money, Ideology, Compromise, and Ego. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motives_for_spying https://en.wikip

by chiph 9y ago

The classic motives for spying go by the acronym MICE - Money, Ideology, Compromise, and Ego. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motives_for_spying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motives_for_spying Money - honestly, the spy agencies never really paid all that well. John Walker got a couple thousand a month from the KGB. If you're spying for cash, frankly you'd be better off getting a second job. Ideology - This is probably where younger people who didn't grow up in the Cold War era are vulnerable. "But they're our friends now, right?" Nation-states have interests, not friends. Compromise - Make sure you're not in a position to get blackmailed. If you do get blackmailed, work with the security people. Ego - Maybe a period of introspection could help?

civilitty 9y ago
Money is mostly used to compromise civilians who are in debt as that pressure makes them more vulnerable, especially if it's debt to organized crime. A common tactic is to give desperate people a medium chunk of cash to do something minor that the handler can still spin as treason afterwards, which then hooks the informant and allows the handler to pay him relatively small amounts until they are burned. Money doesn't work as well because the people in a position to command large bribes usually have emotional connections that money can't overcome (but M+ICE sometimes can). I don't know many details about the CIA's black budget but I'd imagine it can be used to quickly gather hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars for especially promising informants.
- bitexploder 9y ago
  Your credit is checked when you get a clearance. The higher level clearances have stricter requirements. It doesn't prevent people from being bribable, but it seems like a sound defense measure.
  - remline 9y ago
    If you don't allow bad credit then the new bribable, grey market, and or theft point is a minor credit mark. People with ethics problems usually understand the gamified parts of society better than the rest of us and leave their fall out everywhere that we haven't gamified yet.
    - bitexploder 9y ago
      That seems easier to fight. Go to a superior and alert them. Versus someone with poor credit who might need quick cash. Seems easier to manage.
      - remline 9y ago
        Stan Smith realizes his credit card payment for his new gadget was sent out a day late and calls his credit card company in a panic. He can't afford to have his clearance suspended. The foreign support agent tells him he isn't allowed to fix that, but as a favor he does anyway. Stan is surprised when the lawyer assigned to his foreign suspect by the embassy makes a reference to these new gadgets (perhaps coincidentally?) What does Stan do? The problem is who can alert Stan's supervisor and how likely it becomes that every agent can be blackmailed as you move toward a zero tolerance policy.
        bitexploder 9y ago
        One late payment won't hurt. IDK. Pay your bills on time and immediately tell a superior. This just doesn't seem practical. You ar almost never penalized for things like this if you report them. One late payment won't really touch your credit anyhow. Just seems much harder to exploit as th instructions for things like this are very clear and any TS or better holder routinely reports anything like this.

by chiph 9y ago

civilitty 9y ago

Money is mostly used to compromise civilians who are in debt as that pressure makes them more vulnerable, especially if it's debt to organized crime. A common tactic is to give desperate people a medium chunk of cash to do something minor that the handler can still spin as treason afterwards, which then hooks the informant and allows the handler to pay him relatively small amounts until they are burned. Money doesn't work as well because the people in a position to command large bribes usually have emotional connections that money can't overcome (but M+ICE sometimes can). I don't know many details about the CIA's black budget but I'd imagine it can be used to quickly gather hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars for especially promising informants.

bitexploder 9y ago
Your credit is checked when you get a clearance. The higher level clearances have stricter requirements. It doesn't prevent people from being bribable, but it seems like a sound defense measure.
- remline 9y ago
  If you don't allow bad credit then the new bribable, grey market, and or theft point is a minor credit mark. People with ethics problems usually understand the gamified parts of society better than the rest of us and leave their fall out everywhere that we haven't gamified yet.
  - bitexploder 9y ago
    That seems easier to fight. Go to a superior and alert them. Versus someone with poor credit who might need quick cash. Seems easier to manage.
    - remline 9y ago
      Stan Smith realizes his credit card payment for his new gadget was sent out a day late and calls his credit card company in a panic. He can't afford to have his clearance suspended. The foreign support agent tells him he isn't allowed to fix that, but as a favor he does anyway. Stan is surprised when the lawyer assigned to his foreign suspect by the embassy makes a reference to these new gadgets (perhaps coincidentally?) What does Stan do? The problem is who can alert Stan's supervisor and how likely it becomes that every agent can be blackmailed as you move toward a zero tolerance policy.
      - bitexploder 9y ago
        One late payment won't hurt. IDK. Pay your bills on time and immediately tell a superior. This just doesn't seem practical. You ar almost never penalized for things like this if you report them. One late payment won't really touch your credit anyhow. Just seems much harder to exploit as th instructions for things like this are very clear and any TS or better holder routinely reports anything like this.