A Guide for the Aspiring Spy (The Anonymous Spy Series) by Anonymous Spy

eliciting personal information about the target to develop a personal basis for future contact.
     
    Double-teaming is also a useful approach to targeting a cold target. In such cases, two NOC officers not known by the target to be associated isolate the target on two-on-one conversation. One NOC takes the lead while the other acts as reinforcement on the goals of the first NOC. Remember, elicitation only has value so long as the target does not realize what the true goals of the NOC officer are. The NOC must take care not to raise any suspicion in the target. So questioning must proceed in an order perceived by the target as a natural progression of the conversation.
     
    Assets who have been under development for a period of time are easier elicitation targets than cold contacts. You already have good rapport with the developmental contact and he orshe has become accustomed to your interest in them, though they are not aware of the real goals of your contact. You can be more aggressive in your elicitation questions in such cases. I once had a target with whom I maintained an elicitation rapport for five years who never had any idea of my intelligence affiliation. He was a prolific producer of intelligence information in his field. He and I had a genuine fondness and respect for each other throughout our association. The Company never felt a need to “recruit” him since he was providing information freely and his motivations and vulnerabilities did not appear to be sufficiently deep to make him want to accept recruitment as an agent. So rather than trying to recruit him and possibly having him turn down the attempt and refuse further contact, we just continued the elicitation contact.
     
    On another occasion, a CIA “inside” case officer who worked at the US mission in the host country and I, a NOC officer not associated with the US government, double-teamed a target we both had met separately at the same symposium. We both developed a decent rapport with the target that resulted in several follow-up “social” meetings. Comparing our “take” from the elicitations, it was clear that the target was holding back information from the inside officer, known as a US government official, while he was more forthcoming with me. A decision was made at the Station for me to take the lead in the development of the target while allowing the inside officer to maintain the contact on a less frequent basis as a back-up to possibly make a recruitment pitch if our development of the case warranted recruitment.
     
    I could go on with hundreds of such elicitation cases and find something new and unique to each case. But you are probably interested in commonalities that are transferable to your unique situation. First, keep the target in the dark on your real intentions. Be careful your questioning does not raise suspicion. Find a basis for rapport based on your knowledge of the target, or if lacking such knowledge, based on assumptions you can safely make about him or her. If possible, watch the target in a group setting first, then isolate in one-on-one contact. Establish the basis for a follow-up meeting based on shared objectives and interests.
     
    Going back to cold contacts, there can be risks to making them, especially for a NOC officer; such contacts are usually made in alias with a throw-away cover though there are exceptions. The nature of the cold contact will drive the extension and degree of cover. If the reason for the cold contact is to make a “cold recruitment pitch,” then, of course, more layers of security are provided. If the reason for cold contact is to elicit information, either intelligence, biographical, or operational information, then there is less reason for concern. Case officers, both inside officers and NOCs, make cold contacts frequently. Such contacts at diplomatic functions are done by official cover officers in true name virtually all the time. NOCs may also make cold contacts in true name and