How the Spy Town academies generated the perfect deep cover agents Judging by the posts and feedback I'm getting, it looks like I've aroused
the curiousity of many expats, into the murky world of 'sleeper cells' and
deep cover espionage.
Of course having graduated from these Spy Academies, fully kitted out with
false identities, purloined from the birth certificates of american or british
children who died in childhood but are, to all intents and purposes, the 'dead
double' ( in terms of age, date of birth, etc ) of their new idenitity. Having
memorised every facet of their background until its ingrained in their psyche,
they would be able to recite, with ease their new family history, as if it was
their own and fill in the missing gap years with a plausible legend of the
schools, colleges, universities and jobs held in the past before entering
the United States.
Now its time to check out one of these Sleeper Cell's in action as they
settle down to family life in the United States and see whether they
are able to 'pass muster' with friends and neighbours before finally
being betrayed by an SVR defector, who exposes the snug little spy ring
to the FBI.
BBC video - FBI expose Sleeper cellThe above video clip is from a new BBC2 documentary called
Modern Day Spies.
Which looks at how espionage has adjusted to new threats since the end of the Cold
War, broadening its range of recruits. But also taking into account that many of the
old Cold War rivalries and adversaries still remain.
BBC2 documentary, Modern Day Spies