When it comes to spy stories, the crazier, the better. Last week’s story about an alleged CIA officer who was caught in Moscow trying to recruit a Russian official makes low marks for intrigue and scandal and high marks for craziness. The guy was supposedly caught wearing a wig, with ‘several pairs of eyeglasses’ and sandwich bags full of euros. It almost sounds to good to be true, doesn’t it?
In the world of espionage, almost anything is believable, from using dead rats as dead drops to exploding briefcases and gadgets hid inside rocks. In the world of espionage crazy-enough-to-be-true is often true.
That said, I also generally adhere to the adage, ‘Never Trust Russia,’ so it remains to be seen how many of the details of last week’s arrest stand up to scrutiny. We’ll likely never know – the more Russia talks, the less the U.S. is likely to. Some reports say that the arrest was staged. Russia’s state-controlled Channel One continues to stream video of the supposed arrest, and even did a ‘follow-up’ interview with the Russian Federal Security Service Officer who made the arrest (now, why can’t the CIA go for that kind of coverage!?)
For those pursuing a career in intelligence day-to-day life is often much more mundane (think about sitting at a desk sifting through reams of data or chasing down dozens of dead leads). That’s probably why even Americans tend to follow news of spy-stories gone array. Whether they’re real or trumped up, a crazy spy story is better than none at all.
