What is 'Recruitment Training' for the CIA?
The CIA provides all of its spy trainees with training in what we call the "recruitment cycle". That is the ability to spot, assess, develop, and then, ultimately, recruit. What that means is that when you are in a setting, particularly a foreign country, to spot people who might have access to information that the US Government wants; to assess those people to determine, A: if they really do have access to quality information, and B: if they have some of the attributes that might make them a good candidate to be a spy. If you find that they do, then to develop that person--and to develop that person means, basically, to become a friend with him, to approach him, introduce yourself, try to find some common interests. Even if you don't have a common interest, you have to pretend that you have a common interest. If you don't like hunting or fly fishing, it doesn't matter. You are going to pretend that you like hunting and fly fishing. Then you start to “schmooze” that person. Say he is an avid fly fisher. Suddenly, you are going to be going on a lot of CIA-funded fly fishing trips with this person, and trying to develop a close relationship with him. As you develop this close relationship, little by little dropping hints to him, or her--sometimes it is a woman, but rarely--dropping hints that you might not be who you say you are, and that there is more to the relationship than just friendship, so that by the time you get to recruitment, that person probably has a pretty good idea that you are not pursuing him just for friendship. They probably have a pretty good idea that you might work for the CIA. When you finally pitch that person, what you are doing is formalizing the relationship, and saying, "I like you. You are a great guy, but not only are you a great guy, you have given me some great information, and this information is very important to the United States Government. It is so important that we would like to pay you for it." This is really formalizing the relationship. Usually, nine times out of ten, if everything has gone as planned and you are pretty sure that the person is going to accept, then when you pitch him, he or she accepts, and you have done what is the cornerstone of the Central Intelligence Agency. You have successfully recruited a foreigner who is now going to provide you secret information, and in return, usually, you provide them with some monetary compensation.
