Ask HN: Any book that you can recommend about adquiring CIA skills?

I am interested to learn from a how-to guide about the art of getting information, mapping people and so on. Let's say it is a mix between a researcher and a journalist.

I know making questions is a a good start, but I am looking something more elaborated.

Google "Open Source Intelligence" to get started.

Just read every issue! So many cunning tales of tradecraft, such as the infamous "Haversack Ruse" ;)

https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/studies-in-intelligence/

I recommend reading the declassified field manuals: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Army_and_CIA_interrogat...

When I went to interrogation school for the army, the first half of the class is based entirely on those. The second half is classified. If you are under 31 and reasonably smart, highly recommend getting a two year Army contract and going through the training. Even if you are not a US citizen, you can still do it by going through your local embassy IIRC.

The first half of the class is really hard and if you wash out, you can end up being a cook. So, it’s not for the faint of heart…

Beyond that, we had a book list. There’s one that stands out in my memory, but I don’t remember the name of it or the author. The book was written by a German defector in WWII or Cold War that explores how interrogation is more successful using certain approaches and which modern interrogation is built on. It explores building a spy network in the second half, in a foreign country, etc as well.

If I can remember the name of the book, I’ll comment or update here. Sadly, I know exactly where this book list is, but it’s literally an ocean away in a storage unit.

All those skills come in quite handy in the real world to build rapport with people and build up an information network inside your workplace so you have a good idea of what is going on around the company. You can also get those same skills by reading sales self-help books, they just use a different vocabulary and don’t talk about the “dark side” (making people angry, sad, guilt trips, gas lighting, etc) while interrogation makes use of them in some cases.

When I was in, I had a few people in basic training with me that went through some kind of “serve for citizenship” visa to become a US citizen. There was one Mexican, one guy was from Serbia or something, and one was from Nigeria. But you have to go to the US for basic training and further training. Lol, you don’t do basic training at an embassy, that’s where you enlist.