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Do you have a source for that? Edit: seems people misread my intention, I am challenging the parent response because it reads like something out of a spy novel
by lawlorino 5y ago
Do you have a source for that?
Edit: seems people misread my intention, I am challenging the parent response because it reads like something out of a spy novel with nothing to back it up.
- vagrantJin 5y agoWhere do you get a complete list of spies and their activities if you do not work for covert operations government agency ala Edward Snowden?
- toomanyrichies 5y agoYour comment is valid- it’s likely unreasonable to expect evidence for this claim in particular to be furnishable. That said, if OP can’t provide evidence for the percentages they mention, perhaps the bigger problem is that they shouldn’t have made the claim in the first place.
- epgui 5y agoIt’s true even of friendly countries.
- robin_reala 5y agoYep. See Harry Dunn’s manslaughter for an example of a US spy in the UK under the pretense of diplomatic cover. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Harry_Dunn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Harry_Dunn
- mike-the-mikado 5y agoA CIA employee working at listening station based at an RAF base in the UK (presumably listening into transmissions from e.g. Russia) is rather different from spies based at the Russian embassy in Washington.
- rjsw 5y agoAnne Sacoolas, who killed Harry Dunn, was not working at the RAF base. She had also not been declared as a CIA employee to the UK government.
- nradov 5y agoYou've got to be kidding? There are no reliable sources on numbers of spies, by definition.
- aceazzameen 5y agoNot OP, but I read about this in a book by an ex-CIA guy a long time ago. I think even friendly nations do it to each other too. It's like an unwritten rule to have spies in embassies. Of course, I don't know how much was sensationalized, but it somewhat makes sense to keep tabs on everyone else if everyone is doing it. Also, this is why counter-intelligence exists in every nation. Watching embassies is part of what they do.
- progre 5y ago‘... spies?' I thought we were chums with the Low King!’ 'Of course we are,’ said Vetinari. ‘And the more we know about each other, the friendlier we shall remain. We’d hardly bother to spy on our enemies. What would be the point?’
- AniseAbyss 5y agoNothing wrong with spying, it keeps the world safe in a way if your intelligence agency can tell you the enemy isn't planning a sneak attack.
- rurban 5y agoNot really. If they would not act criminally they would not need diplomatic cover. Most of the "spies" there are actually agent handlers, i.e. handling native agents, infiltrating unions, press, police, army, government. Spying is mostly not passively writing reports of intelligence matters, it's mostly actively pursuing criminal acts. Writing wrong press articles, social media posts, paying natives to do something illegal, killing union folks, torturing students. The passive agents writing the innocent intelligence reports are usually not under diplomatic cover. They are under some commercial cover mostly. As with Israel also arts and students. There are tons of CIA books.
- NelsonMinar 5y agoThis discussion has gone poorly but I think it's a totally fair question to ask for a source. I can't find anything to corroborate the "close to half" number but here's a couple of articles about diplomatic staff being spies. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-43556816 https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-43556816 https://apnews.com/article/north-america-ap-top-news-wa-state-wire-politics-united-states-985f444da7dd42c5b3b8abc422a977b8 https://apnews.com/article/north-america-ap-top-news-wa-stat...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- engineer_22 5y agoWhy have an embassy staffed full of people in a foreign country if not gather information? "Spy" is used sort of loosely here, I think.