Spies Are Not Who You Think They Are

a Russian assassination plot).

Intelligence officers have been selected on the basis of their talents and then trained to hone their skills. In particular, those tasked with recruiting sources tend to be socially adept, likeable and smooth talkers.

For example, Richard Sorge, a journalist with a doctorate in political science who was secretly a Soviet intelligence officer, used his German roots to successfully infiltrate German diplomatic circles in Tokyo in the 1930s. A bit like James Bond, he was described as having an irresistible charm. Sorge became close friends with the German military attaché (later ambassador) while simultaneously seducing his wife. Sorge also used to race around Tokyo on a motorcycle, in another reflection of the overlap between truth and fiction.

Recruited spies, on the other hand, are selected solely on the basis of what kind of information they have access to and are willing to hand over. Thus, recruited spies are typically expected to betray their own countries. Even if there is moral justification in some cases, such as Ryszard Kuklinski’s handing over of Warsaw Pact military secrets to the west during the cold war, it remains a more extreme choice than that of the career professional.

Psychology of Spies
Unlike the intelligence officer, who can look forward to leaving the life of espionage behind at some point, the recruited spy may have to spend the rest of their life looking over their shoulder. In most countries, espionage is a particularly serious offence, and carries a correspondingly heavy penalty. Recruited spies have to lead double lives, presenting a facade of lies even to friends and family. Intelligence officers work for their own country, their own people. Recruited spies work for an outsider, often an adversary.

While some of these recruited spies are coerced, there are also many who have volunteered their services. Among these eager spies, research indicates a disproportionate number of people with psychopathic, narcissistic and immature personalities, as well as many instances of alcohol abuse and personal crises.

Robert Hanssen, who spied within the FBI on behalf of the Soviet Union and then Russia, has been described as a psychopath. The same goes for John Walker, who sold the secrets of the United States Navy, later recruited family members to work with him. Both men displayed a callous disregard for the safety and wellbeing of even their own families, as well as a total lack of remorse.

Stig Wennerström, a Swedish Air Force colonel who spied for the Soviet Union for decades, had a very clear narcissistic streak (which is evident from his memoirs, in which he claimed that he single-handedly preserved world peace during the cold war through his espionage).

While there may be some similarity between the spies of fiction and the real-life intelligence officers who mingle with diplomats, the recruited spies tend to be a very different breed. Far from the glamour of spy fiction, they tend to be troubled individuals. For them the ending is not likely to be a drive into the sunset as the credits roll, but rather a lonely prison cell.

Tony Ingesson is Assistant Professor in Political Science, Lund University. This article is published courtesy of The Conversation.