美国国家公共电台 NPR CIA Chief Pushes For More Spies Abroad; Surveillance Makes That Harder

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Before she became the director of the CIA, Gina Haspel spent much of her career overseas and undercover. And she wants more CIA officers doing the same. In her one speech as head of the spy agency, she said a top priority is to...

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GINA HASPEL: Steadily¹ increase the number of officers stationed overseas. That's where our mission as a foreign intelligence agency lies, and having a larger foreign footprint allows for a more robust² posture³.

MARTIN: But in an age of universal surveillance, this is a big challenge. Here's NPR's national security correspondent Greg Myre.

GREG MYRE, BYLINE⁴: When a CIA officer goes abroad, it's important to, well, not look too American.

JONNA MENDEZ: So we would de-Americanize you.

MYRE: That's what Jonna Mendez did when she was chief of disguise at the CIA, a job that went far beyond wigs⁵ and makeup⁶. If, for example, an American wants to appear European, here are a few key tips.

MENDEZ: They wear their wedding rings on different fingers.

MYRE: And in a restaurant...

MENDEZ: They eat differently than we do. They don't shuttle that fork back and forth⁷.

MYRE: And on the street...

MENDEZ: They think that we are slouchy, a little sloppy⁸. And they think that they can almost see that in our demeanor⁹ on the street because they stand up straight. They don't lean on things.

MYRE: And of course, you need documents that hide your true identity. Retired¹⁰ CIA officer John Sipher says it wasn't all that complicated when he started out in the 1980s.

JOHN SIPHER: I could use what we called pocket litter of driver's licenses¹¹ and these kinds of things, and that would be enough if I was ever questioned at a hotel or even crossing borders.

MYRE: It's not that way anymore.

SIPHER: There's no doubt it's much harder to build and protect cover nowadays than it was 20, 30, 40 years ago. That's for sure.

MYRE: Many airports now scan faces and fingerprints¹² that are matched against a vast database. Sipher says it could be tough today to enter the same country twice with different sets of documents.

SIPHER: You know, with the proliferation of social media and a lot of these open-source means of looking into people's backgrounds, if you don't have a consistent background and a cover that makes sense, it's going to be much more difficult to hide your true affiliation¹³.

MYRE: Most everyone leaves digital footprints from a young age that can easily be checked years later - school records, work history, phone numbers, addresses. It's a dilemma¹⁴ for spies who need online personas, real or fictional¹⁵, that look plausible¹⁶ without giving away too much. Here's the CIA's chief of recruiting, Sheronda. We're only allowed to use her first name.

SHERONDA: People here do use social media. And yes, specific guidelines are provided.

MYRE: Which she won't talk about. And if nothing turns up in an online search, well, that would certainly be suspicious. Here's Mary, a CIA undercover officer who spent most of her career abroad.

MARY: I think everybody has some sort of online presence. If you were to Google an officer, I'm sure that something would come up, whether it was college degree or whatever. I don't know. So I don't think nothing would come up.

MYRE: Some in the world of intelligence say it may now make more sense for spies to use their real names and their real personal data rather than create a fictional past. Consider the two Russians accused of poisoning a former Russian intelligence officer, Sergei Skripal, in Britain this past spring. Britain released security camera footage documenting their visit to the country under assumed names, notes John Sipher.

SIPHER: The British were able to put together an incredible mosaic¹⁷.

MYRE: Armed with the photos, a private research group, Bellingcat, then used open-source Internet data to tease out the real identities of the men, tracing them back to their hometowns in Russia.

SIPHER: They were able to put together essentially¹⁸ everything that they did to prove that it was a Russian intelligence operation.

MYRE: Intelligence work is often a combination of electronic surveillance and clandestine¹⁹, person-to-person contacts. As technology races ahead, electronic, or signals intelligence, keeps getting better. Old-fashioned spying between a CIA officer and a foreign source gets harder. But Jonna Mendez says you'll always need the human touch.

MENDEZ: It's a job of human beings. You have to find the people who have the access, and then you have to do what I think is one of the toughest jobs in the world. You have to convince them to give you that information.

MYRE: These are the people the CIA hopes to find.

Greg Myre, NPR News, Washington.

1 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

2 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

3 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 wigs   

n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They say that wigs will be coming in again this year. 据说今年又要流行戴假发了。 来自辞典例句
• Frank, we needed more wigs than we thought, and we have to do some advertising. 弗兰克，因为我们需要更多的假发，而且我们还要做点广告。 来自电影对白

6 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 sloppy   

adj.邋遢的，不整洁的

参考例句：

• If you do such sloppy work again,I promise I'll fail you.要是下次作业你再马马虎虎，我话说在头里，可要给你打不及格了。
• Mother constantly picked at him for being sloppy.母亲不断地批评他懒散。

9 demeanor   

n.行为；风度

参考例句：

• She is quiet in her demeanor.她举止文静。
• The old soldier never lost his military demeanor.那个老军人从来没有失去军人风度。

10 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

11 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

12 fingerprints   

n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
• They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 affiliation   

n.联系，联合

参考例句：

• There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似，但我们之间并没有关系。
• The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。

14 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

15 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

16 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

17 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

18 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

19 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。