What types of mental training exercises do CIA officers receive?
CIA officers, the Directorate of Operations and the spy element of the agency receive what is called trade craft training. This is a several months long course that we do at the farm where a complete alternative reality is created. You are taught specifically how to spot people who might be potential recruits and how to assess their personality to determine whether or not they might be a good foreign spy. Also, how to seek out their weaknesses to see what the weaknesses they have are, that you can prey upon in order to convince them to spy on behalf of the United States. It’s several months long courses in how to become a manipulative person if you weren’t beforehand, and how to use those skills to hire foreigners to give secrets to the United States.
