Live data from Hacker News

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

npr.org

131–140 of 159 posts

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

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, and I guarantee you foreign states send nosey-nellies to all these venues to do nothing but snoop on this stuff.

So, the guy at the end of the bar that everyone just passes off as the town drunk might actually just be a very cleverly disguised spy? I want that as my cover when I join a spy agency.

Usually it means you can't actually drink that much, so, watch what you wish for.

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

#132
post #75
post #68

When did "eatery" become an acceptable term for restaurant?

I don't know that I've ever used it, but there are plenty of places to eat that I wouldn't call a 'restaura t', and that's what I'd assume someone using it was referring to (a d possibly including restaurants in a context such as this). Cafés, 'diners', crêperies/breakfast places, anywhere in a shopping centre/'mall', that sort of thing.

Wouldn't a cafe be a drinkery?

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

#133
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who does have this merger, which one (of Mary/marry/merry) does "wary" most resemble for you?

I think the answer is "Mary". https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Rhymes:English/%C9%9B%C9%99%C...

Mary and Merry are exactly the same as Wary to me.

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

#134
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact: Using knowledge gained in this way isn't insider trading[1]. Conceivably a person could even sell tips based on information heard in public places to traders. During the golden age of Wall Street, this was extremely common. Traders or their lackeys would visit businesses (or the bars near them) and pump employees for info. [1] Not a lawyer, not legal advice.

What's even wackier is that in commodities trading, insider information was allowed. The loophole was a key plot point in the movie "Trading Places" and when the 2010 financial overhaul rules were passed, this section was nicknamed "The Eddie Murphy Rule". https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/07/09/200401407/epis...

Only wacky if you think insider trading is a bad thing. There's a pretty vocal minority of economist who thinks it does more harm than good.

One of the most objective summaries I've seen is from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (1).

Subjectively: intentional or not, insider trading laws drastically protect and enhances wallstreet's information asymmetry advantage.

(1) https://www.frbatlanta.org/-/media/documents/research/public...

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

#135
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://thefederalist.com/2018/11/07/incoming-democrat-chair... Overheard on Amtrak in some cases (strange since Amtrak does offer roomettes).

No roomettes on the Acela. The NYC -> DC route only takes like ~4 hours

Hey don't undersell the one fast train in the USA: it's only ~3 hours! Plus there are now a handful of nonstop trips that take 2 hr, 35 mins [1].

[1] https://wamu.org/story/19/07/25/amtrak-launches-nonstop-acel...

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

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CIA agents are trained to be perfectly just like "one of us" leading apparently normal lives. There are most likely CIA agents among us here on Hacker News... functioning as technology executives, sales people, engineers, developers, etc

> technology executives I've always wondered what the upper limit for this is. How high up on the social/wealth ladder do you have to go for there to essentially be no chance that the person is an intelligence officer?

The higher you go in the ladder the more likely you are to be talking to a spook

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

#137

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.

Back in my Portland days I got the DL on some of Nike’s soon to be announced Jordan’s when an obviously high ranking Nike designer popped open his MacBook and proceeded to have a design review at a local coffee shop! Maybe not the most actionable information but kind of fun to see.

Awesome, did you work at Nike or Intel?

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

#138
post #110

Interesting that one passed on SIS (the traditional tap on the shoulder by a don) I was surprised that the CIA will take dual nationals on as Officers.

> I was surprised that the CIA will take dual nationals on as Officers. You keep your citizenship but cannot carry two passports.

Doesn't alter the "dual-loyalty" problem.

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

#139
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife likes to sit in what she calls 'the Mafia seat', the seat in a restaurant that is best-protected by walls, etc, from behind, and that gives the best view of the rest of the room, so you can see what or who is coming. She's not in the mafia or allied professions, AFAIK, but I'd wager that similar metrics are used by the professionals.

Sounds like what many people (perhaps your wife is one of them) subconsciously prefer and tend to, which as I've been informed on HN before (I am one of them, I'm aware I have such a preference but it's not consciously deliberate) is Zen's 'command position'. I believe it came up before in the context of office desk arrangements. In office or restaurant, wherever, I find it very uncomfortable to have things going on…

Zen Buddhism’s command position?

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

#140
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact: Using knowledge gained in this way isn't insider trading[1]. Conceivably a person could even sell tips based on information heard in public places to traders. During the golden age of Wall Street, this was extremely common. Traders or their lackeys would visit businesses (or the bars near them) and pump employees for info. [1] Not a lawyer, not legal advice.

This is a pretty grey area. Would not recommend trading on the info.

How in the world would anyone prove that you traded on insider information that you overheard at a restaurant?

Just keep it to yourself. You might be investigated, but not a chance they will find enough to even think about prosecution.

Post reply on HN