9 years ago
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How to explain the KGB’s amazing success identifying CIA agents in the field?
As the Cold War drew to a close with the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, those at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, finally hoped to resolve many long-standing puzzles. The most important of which was how officers in the field under diplomatic and deep cover stationed across the globe were readily identified by the KGB. As a consequence, covert operations had to be aborted as local agents were pinpointed...
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It's kind of amusing that a organization, that's known for being experts in being covert and secretive, would make so many mistakes that would seem obvious.
If the last two guys that got appointed to a certain position turned out to be spies, wouldn't you be at least a little weary of the next person that gets hired? If those guys both drove black Toyota Camrys, that look eerily similar, wouldn't you be a little skeptical when you saw the new hire climbing out of a black Toyota Camry? It's like playing "guess which hand the quarter is in," with a guy that only puts it in his right hand. It seems any organization, that is afraid of spies, would keep track of stuff like that, and work to find patterns. At the same time, the spies should know that, and make sure that they're not being obvious.
I guess it goes to show that we're all people. Even the guys that are seen as the ones to never get caught still make pretty dumb mistakes like the rest of us.