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Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy

secretmissiondc.com

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Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy

#51

Post by wiredfool »

midoridensha wrote: post #26
showerst wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not bad as in unsafe, just a bland block of high rise offices that’s dead at 6pm. It’s on public transit and close to good stuff, it’s just funny as you’d normally never send a tourist there on purpose.

There's nothing interesting in Rosslyn itself, however it's probably the closest subway stop to Georgetown. You can easily walk across the Key Bridge, which is a really nice walk when the weather is good. There's lots to see in Georgetown, especially restaurants, and also a nice waterfront area. You can also walk from Rosslyn to the Mt. Vernon trail, and to the nearby Roosevelt Island where there's some nice hiking t…

Walking to Mt Vernon is in the “marathon” category. Bikes advised, unless you do ultra or something.

Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy

#52

Post by cnntth »

ourmandave wrote: post #37
SeanLuke wrote: post #12

In the late 1990s a friend of mine gave me a birthday gift: two tickets to Spy Drive. Now THAT was something that could only happen in DC. Oleg Kalugin ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Kalugin ) was a former head of the KGB at the Russian Embassy in DC in the 1980s. When Oleg returned to Russia, his criticism of the KGB led him to be stripped of his rank and eventually exiled to the USA to avoid serious recrimina…

Is this what happens to 007s if they actually live to retire age?

To tag on to the others, the former 'chief of disguises' for the cia does interviews[1] all the time, I think also on the board for the Spy Museum (and featured quite a bit in it about both disguises and being a woman). Depending on their personality, why not play up the 'former cia/fbi/nsa' thing to educate/entertain/lend legitimacy to their business?

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUqeBMP8nEg

Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy

#53

Post by FormerBandmate »

6stringmerc wrote: post #40
ourmandave wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this what happens to 007s if they actually live to retire age?

Pretty much - look at Frank Abignale the "Catch Me If You Can" con master. Even Mitnick fits the role. Once you've mastered a craft and somehow get out from under "the system" which punishes or has caused stress, well, education is fun. Story telling is how we grow. Oral histories and all that. Normally these type of folks are not allowed to write about their experiences much due to there being potential collateral d…

Frank Abagnale exaggerated his exploits as a con man as a… con. You almost have to admire how ballsy that is.

Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy

#54

Post by lawrenceyan »

possiblelion wrote: post #31
lawrenceyan wrote: post #21

This is a genuine question: I don't really see how it's possible for spies to exist in the modern day. Our world is far too technologically advanced for espionage to work anymore right? Can someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I understand how that might seem the case, however the reality is quite the opposite. Intelligence work in general is mostly not about finding out some coke-recipe tier secrets, but rather verifying and giving confidence levels to things we already know. n world of technology, where the problem is no longer the lack of information, but rather the abundance of it, such work is more important than ever.

Ok, having analysts definitely still makes sense to me. It should be a few years before AI can do what we can as humans, or at the very least, people will still be able to meaningfully make an impact for a while.

I guess what I mean is the whole dead drop, casing the scene out, James Bond era of spying.

Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy

#55

Post by snowwrestler »

lawrenceyan wrote: post #21

This is a genuine question: I don't really see how it's possible for spies to exist in the modern day. Our world is far too technologically advanced for espionage to work anymore right? Can someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Firewalls, air gaps, and authentication are still quite effective. Having a person who authenticates through those on your behalf, and exfiltrates information by hand, is still valuable. Not to mention the information and work that is intentionally kept in-person.

To see the value of spying, see two recent news cycles:

The 21-year-old National Guardsman who leaked a bunch of sensitive info for forum cred (thereby causing a lot of headaches for the U.S. presidential administration). Just imagine that info going to a foreign govt instead.

The court case in which Google got admonished for taking any sensitive info off of chat, and auto deleting history. A spy in those offline conversations could still report on what was said.

Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy

#56

Post by teddyh »

Animats wrote: post #17

Electronic Arts tried something like this once. It was called "Majestic". [1] It was sort of a mass-market conspiracy LARP. Unfortunately, it was launched just before 9/11/2001. [1] https://obscuritory.com/other/majestic/

https://crzysdrs.net/dv/victim/275-our-new-office-passtime-i...

https://crzysdrs.net/dv/victim/283-messing-with-people-who-p...

Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy

#57

Post by lawrenceyan »

snowwrestler wrote: post #55
lawrenceyan wrote: post #21

This is a genuine question: I don't really see how it's possible for spies to exist in the modern day. Our world is far too technologically advanced for espionage to work anymore right? Can someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Firewalls, air gaps, and authentication are still quite effective. Having a person who authenticates through those on your behalf, and exfiltrates information by hand, is still valuable. Not to mention the information and work that is intentionally kept in-person. To see the value of spying, see two recent news cycles: The 21-year-old National Guardsman who leaked a bunch of sensitive info for forum cred (thereby cau…

I wonder how things change when you reliably are able to read and write to the brain in a wireless manner.

"Offline" and "in-person" won't mean the same things anymore.

Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy

#58

Post by Arrath »

FormerBandmate wrote: post #53
6stringmerc wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much - look at Frank Abignale the "Catch Me If You Can" con master. Even Mitnick fits the role. Once you've mastered a craft and somehow get out from under "the system" which punishes or has caused stress, well, education is fun. Story telling is how we grow. Oral histories and all that. Normally these type of folks are not allowed to write about their experiences much due to there being potential collateral d…

Frank Abagnale exaggerated his exploits as a con man as a… con. You almost have to admire how ballsy that is.

True dedication to the craft

Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy

#59

Post by tssva »

wkat4242 wrote: post #5
showerst wrote: post #4

“See the best of Washington DC” -> sends you to Rosslyn. Those poor tourists… Joking aside I love fun new excuses to explore the city, that’s a great theme for DC.

Is that a bad area? Though I guess here in Barcelona tourists love crowding Raval which is also a really bad area full of narco flats.

> Explore the Georgetown and Rosslyn areas of Washington DC

For starters it is in Virginia and not Washington DC as indicated by the website.

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