Why do spies turn?
Hanssen, Pitts, Ames
Those are the ones we know about
Those we catch
But how many elude us?
We’ll never find out
Trained to be wary they cover their tracks
As we search for turncoats
It’s painstaking, sometimes depressing work
It’s usually money, unjustified anger at “the system”
Vacation homes, luxury travel and Ferraris provide a measure of pleasure
‘Til they are found out and get life sentences
My colleague, a psychiatrist who has met with these traitors in a
therapeutic setting says they compartmentalize
They think they are very smart (and often are)
And they’re remorseful and ashamed
Every intelligence agency in every country has these problems
Loyalty to country is the norm
But there are always bad apples
There is the suggestion that the agencies
Afford an amnesty to the those corrupted
Isn’t it better to bring them back in than suffer the loss of, say, an aircraft
carrier with 5000 sailors on it than having a traitor not serve a lot of jail time?