The Anatomy of a Spy: A History of Espionage and Betrayal

by Michael Smith

A short list of what appear to be the most common motivations—money, sex, revenge, love, hatred, patriotism, ideology, ego and fear—only

The very human need for physical and emotional sexual intimacy with another person has been almost as much of a boon for espionage as it has for prostitution. It is no accident that the two are deemed to be the world’s two oldest professions.

To this day, the head of SIS is still known as C, albeit now referring to the initial for “chief,” the formal title, and C still uses green ink to sign official correspondence, a naval tradition adopted by Cumming from the start.

The women, known as “swallows”—their male counterparts were “ravens”—were persuaded to have sex with potential agents

Money, as it is so often, was a very effective way of recruiting agents, but—from the intelligence agencies’ point of view—a very ineffective way of obtaining reliable ones.