To know what risks to manage, you start with the risks that are possible. Past data is great for telling you what’s possible. History gives you an idea of what could happen in the future. In the history of espionage, a lot of things have happened. Some good, a lot bad. Some world-changing, some deadly. Some spies have been executed. Some spies have won wars. If you categorized all the good and bad things spies have faced in history and put them on a scale, it might look like

Before I joined, the CIA’s Head of Recruitment recommended I watch Ronin to learn something about the life of a spy. It’s a story set in the years between the Cold War and 9/11, when spies were using old skills to do new things. The new things in Ronin include a chase for a briefcase. The old skills are the planning, execution and reacting to what happens. The main character is Sam, played by Robert De Niro. Playwright David Mamet (credited as Richard Weisz) was brought in to