Spymaster: My Life in the CIA

Military and economic matters are not as mutually exclusive as was implied by the young CIA officer who is supposed to have said to a newspaperman in 1992, "I am willing to die for my country, but not for Corporation X." Military security, which the young man seems to have approved of, and a prosperous economy, for which he seems to have shown contempt, are equally important elements of national security and, to a degree, mutually supportive. While concentrating on military and political matters, intelligence should not lose sight of the economic.

One of the first things to be covered in this process is the matter of motivation. Why did he come over? We want to eliminate the possibility that the defector's underlying motive is to feed us incorrect information and thereby cause us harm. But beyond that, understanding what makes this person tick will be vitally important later if and when we untertake to help him build a new life in the West.

When asked why he has come over, a defector may tell you he is ideologically opposed to the system he has been living under and is convinced of the superiority of life in the West. "Choosing freedom" is the euphemism that our own propagandists have coined and is therefore one that many a defector has come out with when first asked. But the facts are generally different. Defectors' motivations tend to run to such things as fear for their personal safety, exasperation with their living conditions, hatred for a boss, marital problems, or a life complicated by alcoholism, gambling debts, embezzlement, or womanizing. Whatever it may be, once you understand what it is, you take the defector as he is.