4 ms·
> I don’t see how someone can possibly be expected to have the personality to gather (human) intel, but somehow not ever have smoked weed. It's not clear to me
by chrisfosterelli 3y ago
> I don’t see how someone can possibly be expected to have the personality to gather (human) intel, but somehow not ever have smoked weed.
It's not clear to me how these would have absolutely any relationship at all.
- jedberg 3y agoTo gather human intel you have to be willing to do things like drink in social situation and (gasp) sometimes do drugs with the people you're trying to collect intel from, to gain their friendship. In other words, you need to have a slightly adventurous personality.
- chrisfosterelli 3y agoMost people I know who have an adventurous personality don't smoke weed. Drinking I can see a case for as it's so heavily embedded as a social activity. Just anecdotal data I suppose but I'm not seeing a similar connection for having done drugs. Perhaps for someone who is undercover and needs to fit in, sure, but I don't think that predisposes a personality to take drugs in their own time. For both alcohol and drugs I doubt it has any relevance to most intelligence roles.
- jeffreyrogers 3y agoYeah. And the people you network with in a HUMINT job aren't hanging around doing drugs for the most part. They are working in industry or government. Probably a fair amount of drinking but mostly no time for other drugs, or if they do them, keep it discreet.
- howinteresting 3y agoHuh, I'd imagine cocaine, Adderall and molly would all be very popular among that crowd.
- lstodd 3y agoSo, various forms of amphetamines. How.. mundane.
- howinteresting 3y agoIndeed. Maybe also Ritalin.
- zmgsabst 3y agoHalf (49%) of US adults have tried marijuana. https://news.gallup.com/poll/353645/nearly-half-adults-tried-marijuana.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/353645/nearly-half-adults-tried...
- Rebelgecko 3y agoI don't think they're sending interns to gather HUMINT, and I'm skeptical of how many CIA employees are doing those things regularly (non-zero amount, sure. But there's a reason that the TLA's hire so many Mormons)
- mrguyorama 3y agoReal intelligence gathering isn't James Bond.
- jedberg 3y agoA lot of it is not, but there are agents who do James Bond like things (although not that dramatic).
- derefr 3y agoYou're conflating being an intelligence operative with being an intelligence agent. The salaried employees of the CIA (operatives et al) do not "drink and do drugs with people they're trying to collect intel from." They recruit local contacts (agents) to do that for them. Think: DEA employee, vs. DEA criminal informant. The job of the DEA employee is not to infiltrate drug gangs. It's to organize and monitor the infiltration of drug gangs. The criminal informant wears the wire. The DEA employee sits in the black van outside, listening to the wire. The most common position in the CIA is "analyst." The job of a CIA analyst is to sit there in a cubicle and read/listen to all the evidence gathered by agents (or spy satellites, or wiretaps, or whatever), gathering any "interesting" stuff into a report (with a further fan-in to "senior analysts" who map-reduce all those reports into "intelligence".) Unlike an operative, an analyst doesn't even get to speak with any agents — let alone head out into the field to recruit them.
- jrflowers 3y agoWeed is ubiquitous enough in American culture these days that it’s not unreasonable to associate “I’ve never tried cannabis” with religious orthodoxy or some other conservative behavior-limiting values. It’s not uncommon to hear something along the lines of old DARE talking points about gateway drugs or schizophrenia from people that have refused to try it, which can make a person seem like a… square.
- VeninVidiaVicii 3y agoThanks for being so eloquent — this was exactly what I was trying to say.
- red-iron-pine 3y agoaye there is a certain level of flexibility, adaptability, and worldliness that is required to network with people in a way that they'll give you classified information. gotta be able to hang out on both sides of the tracks, dig?