The CIA found tourists make lousy spies

The CIA found out that tourists going to the Soviet Union made lousy spies!

Tourists make lousy spies. During the Cold War, Russian KGB agents rounded up most of the CIA’s spies inside the Soviet Union, so the CIA asked every American traveling there to look for missile sites during their visit. Not one reported seeing one.

     The CIA does not recruit tourists, or any civilians, directly; however, many civilians work for the CIA through government contractors who have contracts to provide services. They must be cleared like regular CIA personnel are, and many are given appropriate security clearances.

    Even the civilian cleaning staff at the CIA HQ have security clearances and are vetted like all other employees or contractors.

     Outside of the U.S., the CIA recruits foreign civilians, called “sources” or “assets”, who supply the Agency with information that their country doesn’t want us to have. Overall, the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) employs more than 100,000 spies, consultants, and foreign nationals around the globe, and their job is to steal secrets and analyze information to help protect U.S. national security.

     In the MISSION OF VENGEANCE spy novel, CIA spymaster Corey Pearson convinced a foreign police officer to become an asset. Here’s a snippet from the novel:

     “By the way, sir, Sanchez has been promoted to Chief of Detectives in homicide by President Balaguer.”

     General Morrison said, “A well-deserved promotion, Corey. CBIF now has an asset in the top echelons of the Dominican Republic National Police. He worked out well. After the fake custom’s inspection of Markov’s yacht, which provided cover for you and your CIA team to blow away the killers onboard, Sanchez hurried over to notify the FBI what happened and to immediately attack Bocharov’s estate. You planned it out seamlessly, Corey.”

End of snippet. 

Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and enjoys writing about the U.S. Intelligence Community. He authors the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster series. Check out his latest spy thriller: MISSION OF VENGEANCE.