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prostoalexonJan 31, 2016

If you enjoyed this story, you'll probably like the book "The Billion Dollar Spy" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23463183-the-billion-dol... that goes deep into the story of Adolf Tolkachev (among others) https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intellig...

strictneinonMay 21, 2017

> From my readings of CIA memoirs and spy novels, CIA Agents (aka sources or informants) are really foreign people reporting information to the CIA Officers which are US Government employees

Yep. If you haven't read it, the Billion Dollar Spy details the efforts the CIA made in Moscow during the Cold War. Pretty good read.

https://www.amazon.com/Billion-Dollar-Spy-Espionage-Betrayal...

systemshutdownonNov 21, 2018

The Billion Dollar Spy by David E. Hoffman.

grugqonJan 30, 2017

yeah, a study of the literature will show that it is a constant problem for people that start to assume a secret identity. There is a class of people that are actually better at this than others[0]. For police that go undercover flow long periods, they run the risk of "going native" [1][2]. There was Tolkachev[3][4] who insisted on personal meetings rather than dead drops (although it was ultimately Alrich Ames' betrayal that doomed him, not KGB surveillance or tradecraft errors.)

Karl Fuchs described his mental trauma of being both a Western atomic scientist and a Soviet Atomic Spy[5].

There are many more references available, but it is seldom discussed. This is one of the reasons that the CIA (and other secret agencies) become so insular. The members are unable to be open with anyone else except each other, and so they tend to stick together.

Theres more on the extensive work that RUC and Special Branch had to do to maintain the sanity of the IRA informants they were running. There is a constant refrain, human beings do not operate well with secret identities under high stress environments for long periods of time.

[0] http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_science/20...
[1] Undercover and Alone
[2] Lu-CiFER: Memoirs of a Mongol
[3] The Billion Dollar Spy
[4] https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intellig...
[5] https://archive.org/stream/sovietatomicespi1951unit/sovietat...

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