In the end, however, he told us about it in great detail something he had never done before, not even to his wife of many years. As he put it: I did not consider myself as someone who was deceiving others. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. It transpired that the humiliating interrogation was in fact a mock arrest led by Stasi handlers to test his mettle. Whether your goal is to become a senior creative director or become an agency executive, you have potential for great advancement. In most cases, a CIA field agent operating clandestinely is a spy and subject to detention,. You do not have any colleagues in espionage, he said. Considered an elite corps of men and women, CIA field agents or operations officers come from many different ethnic, educational and professional backgrounds. He became a double agent: by successfully pretending to be a Stasi agent, M would acquire valuable information on the personalities of his Stasi handlers for the Dutch service. Cost - using a network of agents can be a. How China combined authoritarianism with capitalism to create a new communism, What my 20 years in Afghanistan taught me about the Taliban and how the west consistently underestimates them, Embracing uncertainty: what Kenyan herders can teach us about living in a volatile world. Might get to have a cool job like doctor/astronaut/CIA agent. CIA field agents captured in hostile territories or nations have been imprisoned, tortured and even executed. A key link between a CIA operations officer in the field and agency intelligence analysts, collection management officers spend 30 percent to 40 percent of their careers overseas. You will often have regular workweeks. In some ways, this is the most brute force act of cyberaggression out there: you're not altering. Insurance agents have regular workweeks. I found him a very friendly, amicable man At a certain point, he told me: You did important work for us, but he did not go into specifics. When M wanted to bring up his earlier unpleasant experience in the prison, Wolf cut him off by saying: We will not discuss it.. The CIA takes the best and the brightest students: CIA officers must have at least a bachelor's degree. You may even be able to afford some luxury and some insurance agents even make a six-figure income. Working in an advertising agency comes with lot of advantages and disadvantages. Advertising is a meritocratic industry. Not only can this be quite interesting, but it also gives you the opportunity to really develop your people skills and to get to know how the human psyche really works. Due to the nature of the work, and the general high-stress that goes with being in law enforcement, FBI agents may experience stress-related health issues such as depression, anxiety, heart problems, digestive problems, chronic pain, sleep difficulties and poor nutrition. As the largest employer of American citizens, the federal government has become synonymous with bureaucracy. A meeting was simply cancelled, and the door on his spying career slammed shut. Hopeful CIA clandestine service officers must also possess strong academic credentials and highly developed interpersonal skills. I knew very little really. This story is part of Conversation Insights He added: You become totally demoralised. When you start off as a young recruit, you think, 'Fine, that suits me.' The possibility of treason from within the CIA became an obsession. Field Agent Dangers CIA field agents operate in both friendly as well as hostile nations. As you can see from the previous discussion, there are many advantages and disadvantages to working as an insurance agent. $63,000 per year on average, most insurance agents make between $48,000 and $83,000 per year. I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Masters degree in Economics. The Hohenschnhausen Memorial in Berlin, a former Stasi prison. There is an increasing tendency to recruit people who are older, not just to take them fresh out of university. For instance, trains cannot just stop operating just because it is Saturday or Sunday. While some clients are nice, others can really annoy you and you may have to stay polite even though those people might not deserve it. A career with the FBI can have a profound effect on family life. Hence, if money is really important to you, a career in insurance can be one way to go. You passed the test, you are now one of us!. Increased ability to get high and fuck around through all of college vs. having to study to maintain average GPA. Due to the mass number of projects, account managers need to communicate the needs of the client to the creative. And, depending on your position, it can even put your life in danger. Every creative is familiar with the nagging worries about a potential creative block. Another upside to becoming an insurance agent is that you will also be able to work indoors. At an agency, all of that is taken care of for you. If people dont trust you, they will simply not buy insurance products from you. People all over the world are idolizing creative agencies. I have to assume you mean is there a Disadvantage to being an Military Intelligence Servicemember as opposed to being in the Intelligence business as a civilian. When he became engaged to his future wife, M confided during an intimate dinner at a restaurant that he was working as an agent against the Stasi. Or was it just a way for the East Germans to test his mental resilience, to check if they could count on him in a stressful situation? The trouble with any operation is that there is a great deal of preparation and research that has to go into it. Account managers try to sell as many campaigns as they can. While some agents possess certain skills and experiences that might not seem relatable to tactical situations, like being a certified public accountant or having law experience, all agents are armed and trained for tactical combat. We see the varying degrees of gratitude and recognition that the Dutch security service, the CIA and the Stasi showed for Ms work, from personal attention and verbal expressions of gratitude to material gifts. If you are producing an easily recognisable product or service for a local market then there may be little point in appointing an agent. During the cold war, the KGB, of course, worked very closely with the Stasi. There is no "spy type" that secret service recruiters look for. What are your experiences? While working as an insurance agent can be mentally demanding and you may have to handle many clients in a rather short period of time, you can still avoid the heavy physical work many people in other jobs have to do. This treatment is still ongoing. Collection management officer Stick with me since I will show you all the pros and cons of being an insurance agent so that you can better decide whether you still want to work in this field or if you want to go for other career options instead. It contributed, in his view, to his ensuing depression and nervous breakdown in the early 1990s for which he would receive psychiatric treatment. Decent work-life balance for call center agents. He allowed us to see and check all of these documents. He wants to find out, in particular, why his East German handlers, whom he had managed to deceive so successfully for so many years, suddenly seemed to turn against him in the mid-1980s. No, they will approach you You are appreciated for your efforts, but [these services] remain a dark cloud that you cannot enter. Joining the bureau can bring multiple benefits, including great job security, prestige and the knowledge that you're helping keep your country safe. But it is emotionally crushing for officers in the secret services and you can never really share that guilt with anybody. Easy to find - agents are easier to recruit than experienced sales executives with specialist knowledge. And then suddenly, all this ended, and I was sitting at home. This can be problematic, especially if you just dont look trustworthy at all and are just not born with a sympathetic aura. Increased ability to get high and fuck around through all of college vs. having to study to maintain average GPA. And while the median agent income of $50,300 was nice, the top 10 percent earned a cool $112,610. Before you go ahead and sign that contract, remember everything comes with a price. Quite often, you will sell insurance products to influential people who are in leading positions in their companies. Career Bliss: Average Central Intelligence Agency Special Agent Salaries. His former CIA handler (who M managed to get back in touch with in recent years) advised him in an email: Let it go, man, let it go. But this was clearly to no avail. Especially on days where you will not have client meetings, there will often not be the need to commute to the office. Because of their undercover nature, CIA clandestine service officers receive little public recognition for their sometimes heroic service. At an agency you might get the feeling like youre just a number. FBI agents are well trained and carry firearms, but they are also put in harm's way whenever they are investigating crimes. Nothing, therefore, had prepared him for the interrogation in the Hohenschnhausen prison. This is a disadvantage that doesn't affect everyone equally. He also has the medal he officially received from the Stasi. Creative agencies allow you the luxury to bounce ideas off colleagues. More difficult to make friends [via decreased ability to suffer fools, via not being a fool]. The mock arrest and meeting with Wolf were unsettling for M, as he often said during our interviews. Now advances in technology mean maintaining people's covers has become a specialist area and it is a much more sophisticated operation. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I just said: "Yeah, sure." Was there a suspicion on the part of the HVA, based on a lead from a KGB mole in the CIA? While some real estate agents work independently, others work for a licensed broker. Creative freelancers have to worry about marketing themselves, handling their financials, and finding new clients. The Career Bliss website says the average salary for CIA special agents is $61,000 annually. Protective agent 8. The classic example of a loss of availability to a malicious actor is a denial-of-service attack. Another downside of working as an insurance agent is that only few mistakes can damage your reputation and ruin your career. I thought even if I move on from this, it's got to be a once in a lifetime opportunity and it will be interesting to find out what the job is really about. I can forget people's names two minutes after being introduced to them, but I retain a lot of seemingly unimportant details which can be terribly important when dealing with a mass of paperwork on your desk or when you are out in the field trying to remember what your brief was. Having an advanced degree can be helpful for most positions, and in many instances, is required, although the CIA also offers its own relevant undergraduate programs. I advise you to contact your GP, so he/she can put you in touch with a regular therapist.. There are six separate categories of CIA clandestine service officer in addition to field operations officers, and all work as covert or undercover operatives. The media and communication industry is infamous for its low salaries. In the winter of 1967-68, during an internship in Israel that was part of his studies, a somewhat older German-speaking man introducing himself as Gerber approached M and invited him for dinner. Knowing someone else was imprisoned, tortured or killed because you didn't do your job properly is a terrible burden. We interviewed M extensively between 2019 and 2021 about his career as a spy during the cold war. Not everybody can handle this. Ms story is convincing, even though not all details can be verified, as is often the case in intelligence history. FBI investigators will interview your friends, co-workers and family to determine whether you would be a good fit for the organization, and you'll need to take a polygraph and drug test. As a smart creative in an advertising agency, your opportunities are endless. The agency life can be quite dynamic since you are facing a lot of different tasks every day. The end of the friendship with his East German handlers and the insecurity and threat that it generated, in Ms words, had a considerable impact on his wellbeing. Our research has found that agents and double agents desire a relationship with their handlers that involves trust and gratitude, not just one based on financial compensation. After obtaining a degree in engineering, he fulfilled his military service with the Dutch army and began his career at the large multinational. Nevertheless, if you listen to your clients and figure out what phase of their lives they are currently in, you can give them proper advice on what insurance products make sense. Subscribe to our newsletter. Free Download Pros and Cons of Working in Advertising, Get the Free Pros and Cons of Ad Agencies Guide, The Risks of Working at an Advertising Agency, The Advantages of Working at an Advertising Agency, Summary Pros and Cons of Working in Advertising Agency, 29 Surprising Facts About The Agency Business, Best 19 Agency Software Solutions to Manage Your Agency, Speed up your review and approval process in 9 simple steps, Sometimes you dont even get a compliment for your work, Lower salaries than in the corporate world, Agencies are a great place to learn all the tricks, It is easy to find an agency that fits your personality, You can focus a majority of the time working on your creative projects, Creative agencies offer relatively safe jobs and a steady income. M feels the CIA abandoned him after the cold war, when he was no longer useful for them. His shock was even greater because Wolfgang said this in English, in the precise wording M had used in his CIA debriefing. 0800 181 4422. Our research focuses on the relationship between intelligence services and their agents and in particular, how signs of gratitude and trust affect this relationship. In the end, with a bit of luck, M managed to find help at an institution that specialises in the treatment of war veterans. In our current state of the world, the job market changes rather quickly and it is also questionable whether insurance agents will still be needed in the future. It wasnt like the movies. Intelligence collector 3. Another disadvantage of becoming an insurance agent is that you will also have to deal with many difficult people. Thus, you will also not be stuck in your job forever when you first start as normal insurance agent. Founded in 2010, Thought Catalog is owned and operated by The Thought & Expression Company, Inc. For over a decade, we've been at the bleeding edge of media, pioneering an infrastructure for creatives to flourish both artistically and financially. In early 1985, it appeared that the Stasi may have uncovered his deception and his true loyalty to the west. Others tend to have a more relaxed way of operating. M could easily make such trips behind the Iron Curtain without raising suspicions. Others are known for their competitive kickball teams. Flexible Schedule. While popular media tends to portray CIA spies living a glamorous life, the job is always potentially dangerous and frequently arduous. This lack of cooperation on the part of the AIVD intensified Ms feelings of bitterness. You can avoid physical work. Paradoxically, M bonded most with these two handlers that he was deceiving. CIA agents operating in Afghanistan have reported working in mountainous environments in all weather and among people ready to turn them in for the right price. Disadvantages of being an Insurance Agent Stress and pressure to sell. Yet, you should not expect that working in this field is all upside. This is for a number of reasons it improves your value judgment and it helps your cover because you have obviously done something before. The requirements for special agents are considerably more stringent. A typical art director in advertising agency works long hours. The operation, codenamed RACKETEER by the CIA, used the Personality Assessment System designed by the agencys former star psychologist John Gittinger. This surprised him. Feel superior to others. M was untied from his chair, handed back his clothes and taken to a room to freshen up. Instead, you can work from home in a rather quiet and cozy atmosphere and this also gives you more flexibility to do your private work. Being a real estate agent is a great deal for many investorsbut not everyone. In all six of our interviews, M emphasised the distinctive nature of his relationships with the three different services he dealt with. Many jobs in the FBI require mandatory travel. I was recruited in that old fashioned way, but of course these days the service has a website and a recruitment team which goes round universities and run open evenings at various places. The CIA Eligibility Requirements Are Flexible The requirements of some accounting certifications, such as the CPA and CFA, are very demanding and very strict. The Pay Scale of a Veterans Service Officer. Numerous professional staff positions also require travel, but the frequency of their excursions varies greatly, even for positions within the same division. Creative agencies are not for everybody. Common areas of investigation include computer hacking, finance and accounting fraud, illegal gambling, terrorism and human trafficking. He told us about his life as a double agent and how, in the end, he was abandoned by the masters he had served. You can avoid working at nighttime. In later years, he would ask himself these questions repeatedly. They rob you, as it were, of your identity and take away every shred of humanity. Mentally, he recited the mantra: Keep denying, do not give in. In addition, we applied to the AIVD for access to Ms file, but our request was refused several times. Sure, not all insurance products make sense and whether one kind of insurance is suitable for you also depends on your individual circumstances. For example, if I wanted to find out about Iranian nuclear production tomorrow I couldn't wander into a facility in that country, no matter how good my cover was. New special agents must also undergo a 20-week training course at the FBI academy. Agencies are flexible corporations that move at a very fast pace. Without a doubt, it was also his bitter feelings that made him eager to share his fascinating life story with us. Contract - they can be entitled to compensation on termination of the contract even if they breached the agreement. Naked through the corridors on my way to the interrogation room. From the perspective of the East Germans, M was indeed a traitor. According to M, only treason within the CIA could explain it that a mole within the American intelligence service had betrayed him as a double agent to the Soviet KGB. It stated that from then on the BVD would no longer bear any responsibility for him. These messages consisted of numbers read out monotonously according to a pre-arranged transmission schedule. Can write relateable poetry about the alienation experienced from having untouchable wit and genius. That was a shock. No matter the position, when you are working at CIA you are contributing to the work of a nation at the center of intelligence. Several times after Ms return from the Eastern Bloc, she was the one who made a phone call to transmit a pre-arranged coded message to the CIA, implying that M had come back safely. If the client wants a project done that you dont particularly care about, you still need to get it done. 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