Using a SpecificTechnology

It just gets better and better. It's easy to take your bluetooth enabled cell phone, get within range of a person of interest and attach to their bluetooth device: cell phone, laptop, cash register, and many other devices.
Now, though, car dealers are allowing bluetooth to start and stop your car, lock and unlock it and so on. So with a little help, you can look in that arms dealer's car without breaking in and even take it with you if you need.

Note that most people are not even aware their bluetooth is on. Good for us.

The Current State or Don't be a spy if...

We keep the public in the dark about wiretapping, domestic spying, and the CIA’s “rendition” program where the CIA kidnaps people from American soil and sends them to foreign countries to be tortured.
Wiretapping Americans’ phones without a warrant goes on unabated. Warrantless snooping through American’s e-mails and watching what they do online continue. Both are a clear violation of the 4th Amendment right to privacy.

Pre-crime exists to arrest not people who have committed crimes, but people who “might” someday commit crimes. Depriving people of life and liberty without due process of law is a violation of the 5th Amendment. Preventing the accused from facing their accusers in court is a violation of the 6th Amendment’s guarantee to a speedy trial and trial by jury.would target and murder Americans “believed to be involved in terrorist activity.”
Last month this principle as put into practice when "he" authorized the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim cleric and U.S. citizen. That’s right. "He" has authorized the assassination of American citizens. No trial. No Jury. No due process of law.
"He" and we understand the security of our nation. If you not beleive in these things, you do not want to be a spy.

More useful alive than dead

One thing about being a spy, that the movie world does not show, is that not everyone is out to kill you. Sure you must always take counter measures but a government can get a lot more from you these days if you are alive. Torture? No. All they have to do is slip items in to your cell phone or a trojan key capture on your laptop and your doings are for them to enjoy. This is one reason our "gadgets" are agency authorized, issued, scrutinized and encrypted. Still it happens.

If you have any kind of knowledge a foreign government might want, and your cell phone or laptop or other gadget appears slightly moved or different after you've been away from it. You may have fallen victim. It's not just for spies to be concerned and it's not just hackers trying get you. Anybody with "wanted information" may fall prey.

Web Tracking

Going to some web sites is private and some are not. To find out whether a site tracks your IP or not, unfortunately, you first need to go to the site (if it does track you need not go there again though). When you are at the site, right click anywhere on the page and a menu will appear. Select "View Source". A box of code will appear. Select the Edit menu and then Find. You can then search for "tracker" or "counter" and find out if the user of the site is tracking you IP information. The Internet is not a private place.

Where's the Body

Osama bin Laden is dead to you. That's all that is needed to know by the general population. For the intelligence community, things might be a bit different. Enough said.

Osama Bin Laden (Usama Bin Laden )

Tradecraft works, Osama Bin Laden or Usama Bin Laden is dead. This involved almost all the items mentioned in prior posts. The main thing about intelligence and its analysis is that it is not a fast process. Typically no instant gratification here.

But the war on terror itself is far from over. There are terror cells over seas as well as in the US; some Muslim, some not.

The life of a spy never ends. But we do it for love of country, freedom and our ideals.