This article is somewhat very lightweight on content, but it reminded me of a thing I'm looking for. Does anyone know of any resources that discuss in details how spymasters and intelligence agencies manage things in day-to-day pracitce?
I consider it an essential read for understanding group dynamics in unfamiliar territories. People tend to act in archetypes when put in controlled situations. For example, one of the training/vetting challenges was to cross a pool of water without touching it using supplies scattered around the site. It took three planks to do it properly, although two would work if you were extremely slow and careful. One plank was easy to find, one was hard, the third was extremely well-hidden. You can see from that example who will examine all of the options and who will get frustrated with 2/3 of the supplies and try to wing it.
Another interesting facet he brought up was how different tests could show aptitude in different people. For example, Polish recruits tended to be poor at individual tests but they excelled as a team because they were far less prone to bickering over who gets to lead.
I consider "The O.S.S. And I" to be a better guide to management than most white collar crap we see these days. One of the candidates who got impatient and failed the water-crossing test, by the way, was an American executive from a multimillion-dollar company.
(I have just purchased the book, and the problem mentioned in negative reviews about the text not matching the title seems to have been fixed.)
http://www.nepistemology.com/sites/default/files/kahneman.pd...
In one case, a French paratrooper heard the warning and immediately dashed past him and out of sight. It took two hours until his hiding spot was discovered. When asked why he ran away, he answered that by alerting his presence so loudly it implied the hotelier was in fact working with the police and couldn't be trusted.
Going back to Kahneman, I would interpret that as a System 1 reaction geared towards survival, rather than following the rules. There is a line in the book that says something to the effect of: "A spy must be a man of integrity, but he must also be willing at a moment's notice to act as a criminal by lying, cheating, or killing, to serve his country."
He posts interesting things on twitter, too.
The Manning / Snowdon revelations do plenty to expose the myriad problems the US have with secure systems. Lets just say that not every country has such a haphazard approach...