Agent

Recruitment and
Management
SPOTTING
Process of locating, identifying, and
gathering prelim data on person/s who
has potential value to the current
operations or those that may take place
at a later date.

Spotting is a continuous process

conducted by members of a clandestine
organization, or by individuals
specifically chosen for that purpose
SPOTTING CRITERIA

1. PLACEMENT – state of being located in the

target area, organization

2. ACCESS – position relative to

assignment that enables the person to obtain
data from files, records, information

3. MOTIVES / MOTIVATION – loyalties,

possible inducements for recruitment. A full
understanding of the Agent’s motivation will
enable the CO or PA to handle him properly.
CONSIDERATION:

Those with LIMITED ACCESS

and POOR PLACEMENT are
considered INFORMANTS,
while those with POOR
PLACEMENT but with VERY
HIGH ACCESS are considered
ACTION AGENTS.
INVESTIGATION & ASSESSMENT of CANDIDATE AGENTS
- process of conducting checks and investigations of
persons spotted to determine:

A. Qualifications

B. Motivations

C. Possible reactions to
recruitment

d. Suitability to undertake clandestine

information collection
Qualification
 THINGS TO INVESTIGATE:
 STRENGTH
 WEAKNESSES
 PERSONALITY
 IDEOLOGY
 RELIGION
 FINANCIAL STANDING
 HEALTH/MEDICAL RECORDS
Qualification
 POLITICAL AFFILIATION
 FAMILY BACKGROUND
 EDUCATION
 TRAVEL
 HABITS/MANNERISM
 ASSOCIATION
 LANGUAGE OR DIALECT
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES in SPOTTING

 Investigation prior to contact

 Investigation is conducted prior to initial

contact (repeated throughout
employment)

 Investigation starts after Candidate Agent

is located, and value to intelligence effort
is determined and / or estimated
 SPOTTING – Why investigate
prior to contact?

 You have to understand what makes

him / her tick and how to manipulate
him / her.

 What are his / her problems – is it his /

her spouse, girlfriend, boss, money,
sexuality, etc?
During contact / approach:

 You become the friend he / she does not

have.

 Feed his / her ego.

 Plant a seed.

 You have to appear trustworthy.

MOTIVATION

– incentive or drive that impels the Agent to

work for the Organization

Types / Factors:

 Ideological – usually employed in

international setting

 Emotional (Love, Hate, Fear, Revenge,

Vanity, Envy)
 Material
(Need, Greed, Identification, Career)

 Coercion
(exposure of extra – marital affairs,
sexual abnormalities, illegal
activities)
Considerations Prior to Approach

SUITABILITY – Candidate Agent’s

qualifications, motives, and other
factors which make him/her fit or
appropriate for the accomplishment of
the intelligence or operational
objective/s
ACCESSIBILITY

The Candidate Agent’s ability

to place himself in the PHYSICAL
LOCATION of the target to
perform the required information
collection without detection or
compromise
SUSCEPTIBILITY to CONTROL

The Candidate Agent’s

ability to comply with, or
submit to discipline and
control
KINDS OF AGENTS

DOUBLE AGENTS – individuals who are

employed simultaneously by 2 opposing
intelligence agencies with only one of the
agencies aware of the dual roles

DUAL AGENTS - individuals employed

simultaneously and independently by 2
or more friendly intelligence units /
office
INTELLIGENCE PEDDLER – an
individual who sells information

PAPER MILL – an individual who offers

a mixture of valid but outdated
information, overt news, propaganda,
or sometimes outright fabrications
 RECRUITMENT STEPS

1. ASSESSMENT of the CANDIDATE

AGENT

 SUITABILITY

 ACCESSIBILITY

 SUSCEPTIBILITY to CONTROL
2. PLANNING the APPROACH

a. COLD APPROACH – the Recruiter

establishes contacts and attempts
to recruit without proper cultivation
b. DEVELOPMENT APPROACH – the
Recruiter cultivates Candidate
Agent as long as he thinks
necessary before trying to recruit
 c. COMBINATION APPROACH – one
cultivates the Candidate agent,
another attempts the actual
recruitment

3. DEVELOPMENT of RAPPORT
4. EXPLOITATION of MOTIVES

 Ideological

 Emotional

 Material

 Coercion
5. Cultivation and Development of
Right Attitude
PREPARATION by the RECRUITER

 Thorough familiarity with data

available on the Candidate Agent

 Plan as to how the Candidate

Agent’s motivation, emotional
stability, dependability,
intellectual worth, security
mindedness, etc may be tested
 Conditions of employment

 Plan for subsequent communication, if

recruitment is successful

 Courses of action to be followed if

recruitment is unsuccessful
PREPARATION by the RECRUITER (consider these)

 Process of recruitment can take years

 It’s all about manipulating people,

gaining trust, finding out what makes
them tick, and using them to get the
information we want

 Agents put their lives in your hands.

DOCUMENTATION
 UNWRITTEN

 WRITTEN CONTRACT – both parties

agreed to and signed the documents
(Agent’s Agreement, Pseudonym
Agreement, Oath of Loyalty, etc)

 INSTRUMENT of CONTROL (written)

 Gives quasi – legal basis for
employment

 Serves as basis against the Agent

 Contract’s texts conform to purpose

and conditions of employment
 AGENT MANAGEMENT

Direction and Control Principal

Considerations:

 All dealings with Agents or Candidate

Agents have one purpose only –

to advance the clandestine operations

AGENT MANAGEMENT

 Agents are the MOST IMPORTANT

ASSETS of a clandestine organization;
they MUST be handled so as to make
the MOST EFFECTIVE USE of their
abilities as long as they can assist the
operations
AGENT MANAGEMENT

 Simply a problem of personal relationship.

The “Manager” must know his Agent
thoroughly – his motivation, character,
personal situation, abilities, weaknesses,
etc. In addition, the CO or PA must know
what he himself can and cannot do

 Relationship ideally is one of friendship

and mutual trust, though the Case Officer
(CO) or Agent Handler (AH) must maintain
his position of leadership over the Agent
AGENT MANAGEMENT

 TACT is necessary, the CO/AH must never

lose his critical faculties; he must
constantly assess his Agent’s objective, his
security, efficiency, loyalty, and production
AGENT MANAGEMENT

 CO / AH must be professional. He
must give clear / exact order, fulfill
promises, must be aware of, and to a
high degree, be able to cope with
Agent’s human troubles & faults
(nervous strain, illness, jealousy,
discontent, change in motivation,
family difficulties, & employment)
DIRECTION and CONTROL FACTORS

 LEADERSHIP – CO/AH inspires his Agents;

has the ability to evoke respect and
confidence; faith in his cause

 ACTION – must be engaged in with sound

objective; it must evoke quick response

 PERSONAL EXAMPLE
 OTHER CONTROL FACTORS:

 CONTROL of rate of material

compensation – Agent’s expenses
must be geared to his normal status
and pattern of living

 HATRED & suspicion of a common

enemy - common hatred could unite
the heterogeneous elements

 COERCION
AGENT’s NATURAL WEAKNESSES

 INABILITY to KEEP SECRETS –

secrecy is the basic requirement

 NEED for RECOGNITION

 STRAIN of DUAL EXISTENCE

 Expedience and Convenience – The Agent may
have the tendency to become over – confident and
begin to neglect normal safeguards in conducting
his phase of operation. The easiest way is almost
never the most secure way of carrying out a
clandestine task.

 DRAG of INERTIA – It is not natural for the Agent

to remain absolutely alert at all times. There is
also a tendency on the part of the Agent to
promote efficiency over security.

The monotony and fatigue of the work will tend to

wear him to a point where he fails to recognize the
need for an appropriate degree of conspiratorial
approach
 Loss of Objectivity –It arises when the CO/PA
“falls in love with his Agent”; that is, he
becomes unable to evaluate the services of an
Agent objectively

 Corruption by the Tools of the Trade – Agent

realizes material gain, becomes intelligence
peddler

 Patterns of Action - The moment an Agent

becomes engaged in an operation he tends to
develop certain patterns of action, which are
indicative of his clandestine activity.
AGENT’s TRAINING
 Continuous matter; informal or
formal

 Responsibility of Case Officer or

Agent Handler

 Plan the progress to fit specific

task
 Maintain compartmentation

 Maintain control over agent

 Assess the agent’s capabilities and

limitations

 Test training validity

 AGENT BRIEFING

- TO PROVIDE Agent with recent

developments that may affect the
operations

- GENERAL review of pertinent operational

facts

- PROVIDE detailed instructions on the

task itself
ELEMENTS of BRIEFING (prior to dispatch):

1. Oral

2. Review recent developments

3. Briefing should be detailed and

complete
 AH / PA / CO tests to determine
Agent’s comprehension

 STRESS SECURITY (always!)

 TAKE note of Agent’s conduct

AGENT DEBRIEFING -
ACT of extracting from an Agent
maximum amount of pertinent and
useful information obtained on a
collection mission

Debriefing is usually done after dispatch,

information collection, or deployment.
ELEMENTS of DEBRIEFING:

a. Establish rapport

b. Permit Agent to talk freely with minimum

interruptions

c. Conduct detailed briefing on all Agent’s

activity

d. Conduct test to determine Agent’s accuracy

e. Completed in one session only

f. Praise & recognize Agent’s work

adequately & when appropriate

g. Tactfully point – out & correct errors &

shortcomings

h. Determine Agent’s degree of effectiveness in

the assigned task
DEBRIEFING SEQUENCE:

 Introductory rapport

 Prelim estimate of accomplishment

 Documentation & debriefing

 Actual debriefing of reports

 Tentative evaluation of production

 Payment

 Re-dispatch / terminations
consideration

 Part time rapport

 Actual parting
SITES

 New Agents should not be debriefed at a

site frequented by a previous Agent

 Safe sites should provide security for the

Agent, AH, and to the operation

 Safe sites should provide protection

against interruptions
 TYPES
 Person – to – person

 Principal Agent or proxy debriefing

 Agent’s written report

 Under unusual circumstances

AGENT (Operational) TESTING

When conducted:

 Agent has just been recruited and has not

proven himself in actual operations

 Agent departs from his usual pattern of

behavior or performance

 Operation is to be changed in direction and

emphasis (reprojection)
AGENT OPERATIONAL TESTING (HOW?)

 INFORMATION COMPARISON

 SURVEILLANCE

 ADMITTED TEST

 DRY - RUN
SPECIAL TESTS

 NATIONAL TARGET TEST (make Agent to

report on non – existent target)

 KNOWN TARGET TEST (make Agent to

report on known target that CO / AH has
already have)

 EARMARKED INFORMATION TEST (CO /

AH plants info to an Agent & is able to trace its
transmission from one Source to another)
DISPOSITION / TERMINATION

Determination of
courses of action upon
Agent’s completion
of objectives / requirements
 OPTIONS

a. Re – dispatch / re –
employment

b. Re – testing

c. Re – training
d. RESTING

e. TERMINATION

1. NORMAL

1. ABNORMAL
BASES for DISPOSITION / TERMINATION

 Inefficiency

 Lack of access to targets

 Completion of tasks

 Target is no longer of interest

 Security violations

 Change of loyalty / motivation

 Voluntary resignation

 Acquisition of derogatory
information after recruitment
Agent Handling is an intimate affair

“It doesn’t make much difference whether the Case

Officer is male or female. Sexual attraction occurs
occasionally, because you’re meeting clandestinely,
often in cars late at night or in safe houses. The
relationship is intimate, even though physical
intimacy is rarely involved and is against the rules.
The agent’s life is in your hands. You’re conspiring
together. There are elements of danger, risk-taking,
excitement, and secrecy. How could it not be
intimate?”

Janet LOFGREN – former CIA Case Officer

 QUESTIONS?
 THANK YOU AND GOOD DAY TO ALL!!!