There are lots of books by actual agents. If everything you know about spies is wrong, you've been reading the wrong books. There are histories of intelligence.

There are lots of books by actual agents. If everything you know about spies is wrong, you've been reading the wrong books. There are histories of intelligence. From WWII, Reinhart Gelhen (Nazi side) [1] and William Colby (US side) [2] both wrote good books. The CIA calls their field HUMINT people "case officers."[3] They recruit spies, people who are on the inside of something, but rarely spy themselves. That's how it's really done. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Gehlen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Gehlen [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Colby https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Colby [3] https://www.cia.gov/careers/jobs/case-officer/ https://www.cia.gov/careers/jobs/case-officer/