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

the more he would divulge information about his research. I managed to use this dumber than dumb technique over a period of almost a year to elicit information about his research in this high-technology field. Clearly, his vulnerability was his superiority complex and vast ego, which were easily manipulated to obtain not only his verbal elicitation but also numerous documents on his research. Through this mechanism, we were able to assess the level of this technology without recruiting the contact and at very little expense to the US taxpayers. All that was required was a bit of acting and a shift in personality on my part and a few meals a month with the contact.
     
    Of course each situation varies, but there are key ingredients common to all relationships where you are trying to elicit information on value. True rapport is necessary to place both parties at ease. Rapport implies a level of trust between the two parties. This rapport also implies some give and take by each party where both parties feel they are getting something from the relationship. What each party may be getting from the relationship does not have to be stated, implied, or even understood by the other parties. The CIA case officer in the relationship must develop over a period of time an understanding of the motivations and vulnerabilities of the contact and use these to encourage the contact to talk about the information that is desired. Of course, the contact knows that he is divulging information, but he has no idea, if the CIA officer’s cover is good, that he is divulging information to US intelligence. This is what makes it elicitation information and thus why the contact is called an elicitation contact.
     
    Debriefings
     
    Debriefings are used to obtain information from a cooperative agent, either witting or unwitting of any CIA affiliation. Debriefings may be defined as a structured, planned meeting between two parties to talk about certain specific requirements. Debriefings usually take place in an environment under control of the case officer that provides an atmosphere of security and confidentiality. Agent debriefings are pre-organized by the case officer to respond to specific collection requirements from CIA headquarters. From these debriefings the case officer then prepares intelligence reports and operational cables. Normally, an agent debriefing will last from two to six hours. The longer the meeting the less productive it becomes as both agent and case officer become exhausted. Debriefings are the bread and butter of agent operations to collect information of intelligence and operational value. During their basic operations training, case officers practice the technique of ascertaining the who, what, when, where, why, and how of an issue that are so necessary for the art of debriefing. However, it is in the field actually handling an agent that the case officer really hones the proper skills.
     
     
    Interrogations
     
    The last and most extreme communication tool is interrogation. Case officers seldom use direct interrogation unless the agent is under a tightly controlled environment. In interrogations the agent may be suspected of being a double agent or perhaps of fabricating information. Surreptitious interrogations, where the target is unaware that he is under suspicion, may take place in a normal debriefing setting but that is rare. Surreptitious interrogations may be initially employed to avoid the agent becoming aware that he is under investigation. If such interrogation techniques fail to resolve the issues under investigation, then hostile interrogation may be employed.
     
    Interrogations by the CIA of agents suspected of wrongdoing, fabrication, or worse or interrogations of captives such as possible terrorists suspects are not at all like interrogations by law enforcement of suspects under criminal investigations. Unlike law enforcement, the CIA is not interested in developing information to document criminality. Also