What kind of information do spies seek

She works on an al-Qaeda-related investigations team and her job is to analyse intelligence coming in from a variety of different technical and human sources - and from partner agencies. Emma's mother was worried when her daughter told her the news that she was going to join MI5. She'd watched Spooks and her initial reaction was, 'Oh my goodness, you're going to end up with your head in a fat fryer!

Emma knows that a vital piece in putting the "jigsaw" together comes from human sources or agents recruited from within suspected terrorist organisations - a standard plot line of Hollywood movies.

But recruiting and running agents can pose potentially life-threatening questions, in case the source being handled turns out to be a double agent. Channel 4's current Homeland series is based on that intriguing question.

In reality too, such possibilities are always there and every precaution is taken to check out that the agent is genuine and not a plant. So how does he go about it? Life on the edge for fictional spy James Bond. Michael sees as pure fantasy. And the idea of having a licence to kill?

Anna, his MI6 colleague in London confirms this. They worked in an operational context in which all meetings between intelligence officers and sources were high-threat and therefore necessarily infrequent and swift. Despite these working conditions and ever-mounting dangers the agent continued his espionage unabated, such was his dedication to countering the extremists taking over his religion and his homeland and murdering people at will, such as his son.

Just as they face outward physical dangers, agents face many inner psychological adversities. These pressures in the psyche are as taxing as physical hardships. Furthermore, while physical hazards and hardships disappear once the active espionage is over, the psychological toll can linger.

Intelligence agents lead double lives, requiring them to regularly deceive other people, and not just their targets. It is not easy for a person with a solid social conscience to sustain a lifestyle that involves covertly influencing or controlling others through lies. Agents can come to feel subtly detached or separated from other people, feelings that may persist even when they resume their normal lives once their espionage is over.

These psychological burdens of detachment and loneliness are acute while the agents are deployed and living their covers among their targets, where the seemingly trusting social relationships they have built with targets are mostly false, based on lies and manipulation. Sometimes they frankly despise the targets they are pretending to admire.

Their real personalities are buried under layers of clandestinity; there is no one there who is aware of their true status, other than themselves.

One particularly self-aware agent described his psychological situation while deployed as a form of solitary confinement, with his own skull his prison cell. U Ursula Wilder. How white supremacists robbed an armored truck.

Ex-FBI agents explain white supremacist agenda. Scary moment before alleged terrorist is nabbed. DEA chief gets a disturbing message. The Russian-US spy game explained. Tracking a Russian deep-cover spy. Deep-cover Russian spies explained. Russian deep-cover spy caught on camera. How do spies break into your home? What is a cover identity? How do spies use cryptography?

How do spies conduct dead drops? What goes into a stakeout? Story highlights An estimated , spies work in the U. In the United States alone, one expert estimates that there are about , foreign agents working for at least 60 to 80 nations -- all spying on America. Authorities warn that spies in America are not a thing of the past. Read More.

Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement last March. Russian pleads guilty to conspiring to work as a spy. Bharara was referring to a case in New York City against a man who pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an unregistered Russian agent. Evgeny Buryakov, 41, posed as an employee in the Manhattan office of a Russian bank. He entered the United States and stayed as a private citizen, the Justice Department said.

Buryakov gathered "intelligence on the streets of New York City, trading coded messages with Russian spies who send the clandestinely collected information" to Russia's foreign intelligence agency, the SVR, Bharara said. According to court documents, Buryakov was "receiving taskings from Moscow. He reportedly was sentenced to 2. The FBI gathered some of the evidence in the case with basic techniques that might seem ripped from spy dramas. If you are interested in working in intelligence, submit an application.

Many intelligence agencies now have websites where you can learn about types of positions available and apply online. Test your knowledge of spy lingo with our Language of Espionage glossary. To learn more about spies and espionage, you can check out the museum's podcast Spycast , our YouTube channel , view our online collection , or attend a virtual event. Experience the immersive Undercover Mission and see the largest collection of espionage artifacts ever placed on public display.

Process And Definition What is a spy? What is an Agent? What is a Double Agent? A double agent is essentially someone who works for two sides. What is the difference between a detective and a spy? What is espionage? What is the Espionage Act? What is economic espionage? How do spies collect intelligence? How are spies recruited?

How do you get someone to risk their life and become a spy? How do spies go undercover? How do spies communicate? Context Who was the first spy? Was George Washington a spy? What are some famous examples of espionage? Are spies real? Spies are real. Are spy movies realistic?

Espionage Tools What gadgets do spies use? What is cyber espionage?