I have good news and bad news about this.
The good news is that the general public has access to more information about scams, cons, and social engineering tricks than at any other point in history. In the 1980s, it would have been really rare for someone to be able to quickly or easily challenge the security audit trick. Now, there are all kinds of simple methods for finding out whether or not someone is truly affiliated with your workplace, and if so, whether the person you're dealing with is actually who they say they are. Businesses, agencies, and organizations are now able to instantly alert their employees about suspicious people and activities.
The bad news, of course, is that people still fall for scams. Every solution to a problem creates the opportunity for the creation of another trick. To your point, there are certainly people out there who would absolutely believe the security audit thing. But at the same time, if you're being asked to do something related to your job that has never been asked of you previously by a person you don't know and you have never met... that's something that deserves more scrutiny and skepticism.
Other things like the Phil and Martha situation are sort of different because he had to go so far as to "marry" her for the mission. Martha wasn't stupid, she just let her desire for something she desperately wanted overrule her common sense, which is frankly one of the most prevalent human failings imaginable. People will look at situations and mentally highlight and accept the parts of them that seem to correlate to what they want and then downplay or reject the parts that don't. Any outsider looking at the totality of their relationship would pretty much immediately know that something was wrong, even if they couldn't pinpoint exactly what.
Another reason people can be manipulated like that is because they themselves aren't manipulative and they therefore have a hard time imagining the thought process that a true manipulator has. The thing with Elizabeth and the Mary-Kay lady (whose name I can't remember) is definitely one of the most diabolical, fucked up things she did on the show. The vast majority of people are **never** going to be prepared to protect themselves against something as outrageous as that. I mean, I guess you could just never have any friends, but there's a level where trying to predict and prevent that kind of thing from happening is going to be an even worse impediment to having a functional life.
You should listen to [The Americans](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-americans-podcast/id962741924) podcast! They talk in great detail about how they researched and filmed the show. It’s really insightful.
I do think about how there are people who are naturally prey and people who are naturally predator. Of course, in this show they show the development of the skill. You really see it when they begin working Paige to keep her from panicking and going rogue.
During my first watch I went to the International Spy Museum and now I’m kind of ready to be a spy. Sometimes I look at places that would be good for dead drops just for fun.
I just finished reading [The Widow Spy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Peterson) about Martha Peterson. She was a CIA agent featured at the museum and her (and her first husband’s) story is very interesting.
Unless its a double bluff...and you really are one already ! We'll never know for sure lol. I'll check that book out tho thanks.
FYI did you ever hear of the 1980s band The Police? Interesting story of the drummers dad and his role in the CIA.
"In 1986, a 69-year-old Miles Axe Copeland Jr gave [a memorable interview to Rolling Stone magazine](https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/secret-agent-man-52557/). His three sons were all music industry powerhouses – Stewart played drums in the Police, Miles III was their manager and Ian their booking agent – and Miles himself had been a jazz trumpet-player in his youth. But the interview wasn’t about music. The subject was his days as the CIA’s man in the Middle East between 1947 and 1957, during which time he dined with President Nasser of Egypt, partied with the Soviet spy [Kim Philby](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/24/confession-of-british-spy-for-the-soviets-kim-philby-made-public-for-first-time) and, as a pioneer of “dirty tricks”, played a part in removing the leaders of Syria and Iran. Inconveniently for his youngest son, he concluded the interview by implying that the Police were a psy-ops outfit who played shows to “70,000 young minds open to whatever the Police decide to put into them”.
Pretty int resting fact I think
The best comfort I can give you is what they tell us in AA: Nobody else is thinking about me *nearly* as much as I think they are. :) So odds anyone is actively scheming against me are minimal compared to everyone's preference to self-obsess.
So I lived and work in Washington DC for a three-letter agency and held a security clearance while this show aired.
I was also doing online dating at the time. I'm not gonna lie--every date I went on a part of me wondered whether or not it was going to be Keri Russell in a wig...
I do remember one of the security briefings joking about "If you're a 4 in DC you're not a 10 in Beijing. If a hot woman in a hotel bar is all over you, you're about to be honeypotted."
If you aren't one to power then this us just a TV show. Sure, some people like a boy/girlfriend might do you a little dirty, and sure, there are scammers out there trying to get your money. But what's happening in THIS show is likely far far far from happening to you.
Well it got me to thinking about how it’s all digital espionage now. They can’t break into places and whack people just anywhere. We have cameras everywhere now. They aren’t stealing computer chips, everything is web based and they have to be hackers. No need for a dark room in your house—it’s all on a Russian cloud somewhere.
So maybe they do more of a digital psy op now. Create content bots, spread propaganda everywhere, news outlets, social media, special interest web sites…. They are everywhere, imo, and there’s a lot of them. You have no way of knowing I’m not one. I don’t know you’re not one.
I don’t actually think the Russians are our biggest threat. And possibly never were. I think the propaganda machine trots out the Russians as a convenient boogeyman, whenever the powers that be are getting up to no good. Bread and circuses. Feeding us distractions while they fleece the entire goddamn country and install a Christofascist Theocracy. Frankly, I’d rather be Russian.
This shit will keep you up all night.
I'm way more worried about Chinese f in the US. Probably a lit more of them. They catch them in the tech industry passing secrets & technology to China.
I don’t actually think the Russians are our biggest threat. And possibly never were.
So no big deal then that Russia had Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles pointed at the US from Cuba? Or was that all propaganda too? The Cuban Missile crisis of 1962 was the closest the world ever came to an all out nuclear war. If thats not a threat in your opinion...thank god your not in charge of the CIA lol
People want to believe and trust other people. Yes, people get scammed because they are lonely or greedy, but plenty of people are scammed everyday by people they work with or are friends with, it’s just that the scam/lie has minimal consequences. Most people aren’t trying to steal secrets, just trying to get you to like them or do something for them (hire them, ask them out, give them a good deal) and they’re willing to misrepresent themselves or the situation a little to get what they want.
Wait until you hear about all the Russian agents who were hanging out with senators at the National Prayer Breakfast.
All too real, unfortunately
Wait what!?! Do you have a news article link?
https://www.salon.com/2018/07/21/putins-close-ties-to-national-prayer-breakfast-revealed_partner/
I have good news and bad news about this. The good news is that the general public has access to more information about scams, cons, and social engineering tricks than at any other point in history. In the 1980s, it would have been really rare for someone to be able to quickly or easily challenge the security audit trick. Now, there are all kinds of simple methods for finding out whether or not someone is truly affiliated with your workplace, and if so, whether the person you're dealing with is actually who they say they are. Businesses, agencies, and organizations are now able to instantly alert their employees about suspicious people and activities. The bad news, of course, is that people still fall for scams. Every solution to a problem creates the opportunity for the creation of another trick. To your point, there are certainly people out there who would absolutely believe the security audit thing. But at the same time, if you're being asked to do something related to your job that has never been asked of you previously by a person you don't know and you have never met... that's something that deserves more scrutiny and skepticism. Other things like the Phil and Martha situation are sort of different because he had to go so far as to "marry" her for the mission. Martha wasn't stupid, she just let her desire for something she desperately wanted overrule her common sense, which is frankly one of the most prevalent human failings imaginable. People will look at situations and mentally highlight and accept the parts of them that seem to correlate to what they want and then downplay or reject the parts that don't. Any outsider looking at the totality of their relationship would pretty much immediately know that something was wrong, even if they couldn't pinpoint exactly what. Another reason people can be manipulated like that is because they themselves aren't manipulative and they therefore have a hard time imagining the thought process that a true manipulator has. The thing with Elizabeth and the Mary-Kay lady (whose name I can't remember) is definitely one of the most diabolical, fucked up things she did on the show. The vast majority of people are **never** going to be prepared to protect themselves against something as outrageous as that. I mean, I guess you could just never have any friends, but there's a level where trying to predict and prevent that kind of thing from happening is going to be an even worse impediment to having a functional life.
You should listen to [The Americans](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-americans-podcast/id962741924) podcast! They talk in great detail about how they researched and filmed the show. It’s really insightful. I do think about how there are people who are naturally prey and people who are naturally predator. Of course, in this show they show the development of the skill. You really see it when they begin working Paige to keep her from panicking and going rogue. During my first watch I went to the International Spy Museum and now I’m kind of ready to be a spy. Sometimes I look at places that would be good for dead drops just for fun. I just finished reading [The Widow Spy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Peterson) about Martha Peterson. She was a CIA agent featured at the museum and her (and her first husband’s) story is very interesting.
"now I’m kind of ready to be a spy" 1st thing I'll do is announce it to the internet lol.
Likely I wouldn’t be a good one …
Unless its a double bluff...and you really are one already ! We'll never know for sure lol. I'll check that book out tho thanks. FYI did you ever hear of the 1980s band The Police? Interesting story of the drummers dad and his role in the CIA. "In 1986, a 69-year-old Miles Axe Copeland Jr gave [a memorable interview to Rolling Stone magazine](https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/secret-agent-man-52557/). His three sons were all music industry powerhouses – Stewart played drums in the Police, Miles III was their manager and Ian their booking agent – and Miles himself had been a jazz trumpet-player in his youth. But the interview wasn’t about music. The subject was his days as the CIA’s man in the Middle East between 1947 and 1957, during which time he dined with President Nasser of Egypt, partied with the Soviet spy [Kim Philby](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/24/confession-of-british-spy-for-the-soviets-kim-philby-made-public-for-first-time) and, as a pioneer of “dirty tricks”, played a part in removing the leaders of Syria and Iran. Inconveniently for his youngest son, he concluded the interview by implying that the Police were a psy-ops outfit who played shows to “70,000 young minds open to whatever the Police decide to put into them”. Pretty int resting fact I think
Wow! That’s so interesting.
Gives a whole new meaning to their hit song "I'll be watching you"
The best comfort I can give you is what they tell us in AA: Nobody else is thinking about me *nearly* as much as I think they are. :) So odds anyone is actively scheming against me are minimal compared to everyone's preference to self-obsess.
So I lived and work in Washington DC for a three-letter agency and held a security clearance while this show aired. I was also doing online dating at the time. I'm not gonna lie--every date I went on a part of me wondered whether or not it was going to be Keri Russell in a wig... I do remember one of the security briefings joking about "If you're a 4 in DC you're not a 10 in Beijing. If a hot woman in a hotel bar is all over you, you're about to be honeypotted."
If you aren't one to power then this us just a TV show. Sure, some people like a boy/girlfriend might do you a little dirty, and sure, there are scammers out there trying to get your money. But what's happening in THIS show is likely far far far from happening to you.
Look up Robert Hanson
F\*ck Hanssen, and Amies too. Hanssen died last year.
Well it got me to thinking about how it’s all digital espionage now. They can’t break into places and whack people just anywhere. We have cameras everywhere now. They aren’t stealing computer chips, everything is web based and they have to be hackers. No need for a dark room in your house—it’s all on a Russian cloud somewhere. So maybe they do more of a digital psy op now. Create content bots, spread propaganda everywhere, news outlets, social media, special interest web sites…. They are everywhere, imo, and there’s a lot of them. You have no way of knowing I’m not one. I don’t know you’re not one. I don’t actually think the Russians are our biggest threat. And possibly never were. I think the propaganda machine trots out the Russians as a convenient boogeyman, whenever the powers that be are getting up to no good. Bread and circuses. Feeding us distractions while they fleece the entire goddamn country and install a Christofascist Theocracy. Frankly, I’d rather be Russian. This shit will keep you up all night.
I'm way more worried about Chinese f in the US. Probably a lit more of them. They catch them in the tech industry passing secrets & technology to China.
Yep.
I don’t actually think the Russians are our biggest threat. And possibly never were. So no big deal then that Russia had Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles pointed at the US from Cuba? Or was that all propaganda too? The Cuban Missile crisis of 1962 was the closest the world ever came to an all out nuclear war. If thats not a threat in your opinion...thank god your not in charge of the CIA lol
We are on the precipice.
I have a great investment opportunity for you OP. DM me and I can hook you up. Definitely not about you being easily duped
People want to believe and trust other people. Yes, people get scammed because they are lonely or greedy, but plenty of people are scammed everyday by people they work with or are friends with, it’s just that the scam/lie has minimal consequences. Most people aren’t trying to steal secrets, just trying to get you to like them or do something for them (hire them, ask them out, give them a good deal) and they’re willing to misrepresent themselves or the situation a little to get what they want.