3 ms·

> All was relatively well until at some point in the late '70s the big boss of my country's foreign intelligence services decided to defect to the Americans Ar

> All was relatively well until at some point in the late '70s the big boss of my country's foreign intelligence services decided to defect to the Americans Are you Romanian by any chance and is that Pacepa you are talking about? Ever thought about going to CNSAS and try getting any flies they might have had on your uncle? It would be, I think, an interesting bit of family history.

paganel 8y ago
> Are you Romanian by any chance and is that Pacepa you are talking about? Yeah, it's about Pacepa. > Ever thought about going to CNSAS and try getting any flies they might have had on your uncle? My brother suggested that we should give it a try, I might actually do it at some point. In fact, I got the info about my uncle being a Directorate chief later in his career from a "semi-public" CNSAS document that somehow was leaked on the Internet, document which was detailing the hierarchal structure at the top of the Romanian foreign intelligence services in the 1970s (before Pacepa's defection).
throwaway8932 8y ago
The phrase "more John Le Carre than Ian Fleming" can also be found as a quote on this website https://www.sie.ro/viata-in-sie.html https://www.sie.ro/viata-in-sie.html under the first testimony. Don't know if this is a frequently used metaphor.
- seppin 8y ago
  The quote makes sense, but anyone that thinks James Bond is even 1 percent realistic isn't being serious at all.
  - RealityVoid 8y ago
    Obviously _some_ people do believe that is what spies do. I would even venture the majority of people believe that. The people that write in these threads on HN are more in the know than most of the public, because they had some interest/curiosity about them. Most of the public lack knowledge about these institutions and have a severely distorted image of what they do. I would guess, some of the commenters in the thread had some brushes with intelligence agencies. At the risk of sounding conspiratorial, you're answering to a throwaway. What better place to talk with people about your job you can't talk with anybody than an anonymous online medium where smart people congregate?

paganel 8y ago

> Are you Romanian by any chance and is that Pacepa you are talking about? Yeah, it's about Pacepa. > Ever thought about going to CNSAS and try getting any flies they might have had on your uncle? My brother suggested that we should give it a try, I might actually do it at some point. In fact, I got the info about my uncle being a Directorate chief later in his career from a "semi-public" CNSAS document that somehow was leaked on the Internet, document which was detailing the hierarchal structure at the top of the Romanian foreign intelligence services in the 1970s (before Pacepa's defection).

throwaway8932 8y ago

The phrase "more John Le Carre than Ian Fleming" can also be found as a quote on this website https://www.sie.ro/viata-in-sie.html https://www.sie.ro/viata-in-sie.html under the first testimony. Don't know if this is a frequently used metaphor.

seppin 8y ago
The quote makes sense, but anyone that thinks James Bond is even 1 percent realistic isn't being serious at all.
- RealityVoid 8y ago
  Obviously _some_ people do believe that is what spies do. I would even venture the majority of people believe that. The people that write in these threads on HN are more in the know than most of the public, because they had some interest/curiosity about them. Most of the public lack knowledge about these institutions and have a severely distorted image of what they do. I would guess, some of the commenters in the thread had some brushes with intelligence agencies. At the risk of sounding conspiratorial, you're answering to a throwaway. What better place to talk with people about your job you can't talk with anybody than an anonymous online medium where smart people congregate?