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Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

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Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#61

Post by Mvhsz »

sailfast wrote: post #33
Wohlf wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very much in the security training government and military have to take annually as well.

It is, but people are terrible about it anyway. At a minimum, it is a field day for social engineering attacks because you can learn to speak in the languages / abstractions of that specific organization which automatically leads to trust-building.

can confirm that defense people are terrible about spilling a lot of details in public, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard an actual classified piece of info spoken in public

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#62

Post by nominated1 »

jessaustin wrote: post #47

Wow CIA agents are actually just swell folks who have all of our best interests at heart. I feel a lot better about all those third-nation torture dungeons now. Earlier this year NPR hired as CEO the guy who previously ran the USA organization for external propaganda. It's so surprising that NPR are even more committed to internal propaganda than they were before they hired him.

For those of us not in the loop.

the guy = John Lansing

USA organization for external propaganda = USAGM (U.S. Agency for Global Media).

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#63

Post by enraged_camel »

opportune wrote: post #48
mysterydip wrote: post #5

This is well known but often ignored for convenience. Go to any restaurant in the DC area around lunchtime and you'd be amazed at what you can learn from the table next to you.

Also true for the Caltrain, coffee shops, and nicer restaurants between SF and SJ. And SFO, SJC, and SEA airports; I think I hear some salesman loudly talking about a deal almost every time I fly out of those places on weekdays.

Yep. One of the first things I learned early in my careers is, when you're having lunch at a venue with your coworkers, if the subject turns to client work, do not ever mention the client's name out loud. You never know who might be sitting nearby.

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#64

Post by bitlax »

Scapeghost wrote: post #43
ryanmercer wrote: post #4

>and how to commit suicide. And that's when I'd come to my senses, realize all the sweet talk they lured me in with was rubbish, and hand in my 2 second resignation notice, if an employer is going to train me on how to end my own life I'm out.

heh you were downvoted for that. Apparently someone approves of * An employer training their employees to kill themselves. * A line of work where employees may have to kill themselves. * Dying for the US government (more like actually the interests of the elites) and the "greater good". How is that different from the indoctrination of suicide bombers? Before someone retorts with "because they kill innocent civilians"…

> How is that different from the indoctrination of suicide bombers?

Presumably the CIA mission is not dependent on the agent's suicide. This is an action taken in a worst-case scenario to avoid torture.

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#65

Post by e40 »

i_am_nomad wrote: post #38
goatinaboat wrote: post #12

to "the Farm," a secret CIA facility in Virginia where their grueling training included all the obligatory skills of what Fox refers to as "the Bond business": how to flip or crash a car; how to use a Glock; how to parachute; how to use a speedboat; how to withstand torture; how to use a grocery bag and duct tape to bandage a punctured chest; and how to commit suicide This is over-egging the pudding a bit.

I’ve had a bit of interaction with the Farm. As a kid, my dad and I would sail past it (as close as you can get without being blared at). I’ve heard explosions coming from there, and seen people rappelling from helicopters into the woods. Later, I was a physics student at a university very close to Camp Perry. We were able to detect microwave transmissions on odd bands, at odd hours, that seemed to be directed from o…

Please tell us more about that interaction!

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#66

Post by unlinked_dll »

jessaustin wrote: post #47

Wow CIA agents are actually just swell folks who have all of our best interests at heart. I feel a lot better about all those third-nation torture dungeons now. Earlier this year NPR hired as CEO the guy who previously ran the USA organization for external propaganda. It's so surprising that NPR are even more committed to internal propaganda than they were before they hired him.

I'm having trouble understanding how one can seriously consider NPR 'internal propaganda.' Their national broadcasts are like radically centrist and unbiased while the local/syndicated programs can be hard hitting and completely opposed to the government.

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#69

Post by beamatronic »

cwkoss wrote: post #49
beamatronic wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crowdsource. Pay people to run an app when they go around DC, that records constantly from their mic, and uploads it to the cloud along with their location. I’m sure someone has already thought of this!

> Pay people This seems like an unnecessary step for the intelligence apparatus

You could make your own intelligence service, like those repo men who scan license plates.
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