If you’re interested in how intelligence gathering works, or if you’re interested in interpersonally/emotionally challenging work: I recommend this interview with a US “case officer”, which is someone who finds and converts vulnerable agents of the other side into “assets”, which are essentially spies, but with none of the glamour we associate with spies, because only desperate people take those jobs, and the people best positioned to do them are people who the US has reasons to distrust.
If you’re interested in how intelligence gathering works, or if you’re interested in interpersonally/emotionally challenging work: I recommend this interview with a US “case officer”, which is someone who finds and converts vulnerable agents of the other side into “assets”, which are essentially spies, but with none of the glamour we associate with spies, because only desperate people take those jobs, and the people best positioned to do them are people who the US has reasons to distrust.