Michael Ganske gave a presentation entitled Spies, Lies, and Myths. Because he worked for the CIA, there will be no photo! Or they'll know ... and we won't know that they know.
 
As he began his presentation, Mr. Ganske said there are some questions he can't answer -- first, he doesn't know who killed President Kennedy and second, he has never been to Area 51.
 
He described an intelligence cycle that progresses from identification of direction, needs, and requirements to collection, processing and exploitation, analysis, dissemination, and then progresses back to identification. The process is accomplished using yet another process -- that of recruiting individuals to work on behalf of the United States and gather intel. That process includes spotting, assessing, developing, and recruiting. Mr. Ganske said all 137 intelligence organizations in the world use this process. 
 
He discussed three types of people who do espionage:
  1. The Infiltrator: A person sent with the sole purpose of infiltrating a group or a country to commit espionage. The United States has security countermeasures in place to prevent this from happening to us.
  2. The Exploiter: This shows the frailty of the human condition. Those who are most vulnerable can have those vulnerabilities exploited, whether it be something in their character, their background, etc.
  3. The Volunteer: This is the predominant type of person who performs espionage. They have been trusted insiders, have earned security clearance and have been trusted with valuable information. They typically volunteer for the role on behalf of another country or group.
The top reason why people become spies -- money. 
 
Mr. Ganske showed a video of an infamous case featuring Aldrich Hazen Ames, a former CIA agent who was arrested in 1994 and is serving life in prison in Pennsylvania for giving up the identification of 25 CIA and FBI officers who were providing information on Soviet activities in the mid-1980s. His actions led to the deaths of 10 of those officers and the failure of more than 100 operations between 1985 and 1994.
 
To close out his presentation, Mr. Ganske identified the following myths about spies:
  • They get rich
  • They're insane
  • They control their own destiny
  • They display suspicious behavior
  • They suffer poor job performance
  • It's not like the movies
 
Mr. Ganske served in the U.S. Army where he was assigned to the White House Communications Agency, serving under President Ford and President Carter. In August 1978, he entered the Central Intelligence Agency as a professional, multi-disciplined security officer. He held a variety of positions during his career and has managed counterintelligence programs and has performed two tours of duty overseas. He retired in November 2000 and was awarded the Career Intelligence Medal. After retiring in 2000, he and his family moved to Clymer, where he now runs a firm consulting on federal background investigations, security evaluations, threat analysis, and security vetting. He now lectures on espionage for universities and civic groups and is the lead instructor for the Director of National Intelligence's Personnel Security Seminar.