Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
Reading a book on defectors and spies there are three levers to recruitment
Money is the most common one and foreign services are good at targeting it, they learn about their targets through rumors and internet hacking. They position a nice sum of money to motivate.
Ideology - Was huge in the last century, it was easy to find people sympathetic to for example communism and they were the most willing participants. They also became the best recruiters to build a spy network.
Loneliness/Sex - You find the outcast or the lonely and you basically offer him or her companionship, a sympathetic ear, a shoulder to cry on, or a ideal mate, this one usually takes the longest and is the least certain, but is the most popular in spy movies.
With the above comes blackmail, once you do it once no matter how small, you can never walk away, you're hooked like a dying fish.
The most important thing that's promised, is that you'll be protected when things go wrong. There's an escape plan in place. But that's rarely true.
I would expect with the current case, that we're going to find out that he was in debt and got money to bail himself out.
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Just to add to this post, the classic acronym is MICE for the approach to cultivate and turn assets
Money - While very common motivator, it is also the most commonly detected giveaway, especially if the asset begins to obviously spend beyond their means
Ideology - As crunch mentioned, probably more common during the cold war, but modern examples include data leakers (Snowden and Chelsea Manning) where the asset's motivated by a cause
Coercion (extortion/blackmail) - May not always be negative control, but promises to allow an asset's family to live a normal life in the West, or seek first world medical treatment are common Coercion methods. However this an approach that best works short term as eventually the controller either needs to grant the carrot, or the asset controller gets burnt because they are either caught or the hold over them dissolves
Ego (Emotion) - This one is quite subtle and has overlap with the other 3. Like Cap mentioned, this approach is targeting an asset's core emotions, such as loneliness and a need for belonging, so this is where something like a honeytrap can be successful. Another example is where you target someone that has an ax to grind, someone who's been passed over for promotion throughout their career, or feels they don't get the respect they deserve. In this case money isn't the primary motivation but their need to get a sense of revenge against their organization or country
Also should be noted that recruiting assets rarely involve just 1 approach, and that the approach will change over time.
From history, Ideologues and the Ego/emotional driven drivers are the most destructive as they are the most difficult to detect
LChoy