In the intelligence game, leverage is everything. You don’t just collect secrets – you collect people. This is how spies achieve this:

Control is crude. Influence is elegant. The best operatives never give orders – they make people want to follow them.

The CIA doesn’t rely on luck or goodwill; it identifies pressure points, exploits weaknesses, and finds the right incentives to turn assets into reliable sources. Whether it’s recruiting a foreign official, flipping an enemy operative, or coercing a double agent into staying loyal, leveraging people is a key component of tradecraft. This guide breaks down how spies identifies, builds, and applies leverage to get what they need.

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Leverage isn’t about forcing someone’s hand, it’s about making them believe they had no other choice.

The CIA’s method of leveraging people isn’t about control – it’s about influence. The difference? Control is force. Influence is making someone believe they’re acting on their own. And that’s the real power of tradecraft.

[INTEL : Covert Manipulative Tactics]