Authors Leak Secrets of Espionage History
Submitted on November 12, 1999 - 1:00am.
Bernard McGhee - Fall 1999
WASHINGTON _ Spies, all of them: The CIA, Casanova, the KGB and James Bond.
But do the real spies live in a world of lies and intrigue and top-secret documents that seal the fate of entire nations? Are hi-tech gadgets, self-destructing messages and license-to-kill objectives all part of a typical day at the office for an average intelligence agent?
Probably not, says Thomas Allen. "The thrilling stuff is very rare," Allen said. "The key to most intelligence is taking material from seven or eight sources, or maybe infinite sources, and then putting them together."
Allen ought to know. He and co-author Norman Polmar recently have revised and updated their a definitive work on the world's second oldest profession: "Spy Book: The Encyclopedia of Espionage."
But do the real spies live in a world of lies and intrigue and top-secret documents that seal the fate of entire nations? Are hi-tech gadgets, self-destructing messages and license-to-kill objectives all part of a typical day at the office for an average intelligence agent?
Probably not, says Thomas Allen. "The thrilling stuff is very rare," Allen said. "The key to most intelligence is taking material from seven or eight sources, or maybe infinite sources, and then putting them together."
Allen ought to know. He and co-author Norman Polmar recently have revised and updated their a definitive work on the world's second oldest profession: "Spy Book: The Encyclopedia of Espionage."
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