Daily Times

Espionage is a dangerous offence. It can have ramifications like death sentence and life imprisonment.

Over a period of time, there have been many instances where whistleblowers have managed to bring to light evidence, which has had an incriminating effect on corporations and governments alike.

It is up to us to make use of the tightly held secrets and the revelations. For some people, political ideology and riches serve as a motivator to commit acts of espionage, but they, for sure, are not the only factors involved.

Whistleblowers are lauded by some as heroes. Other times, they are labelled as traitors with grudges to settle.

Espionage is illegal in the UK under the Official Secrets Acts of 1911 and 1920.

According to MI5, the intelligence agency of the UK, a person commits the offence of “spying” if he obtains information that is not publicly available, using agents or technical means. It may also involve seeking to influence decision-makers and opinion-formers to benefit the interests of a foreign power.

A combination of factors has been found in individuals prone to commit acts of espionage. The factors include ideology; personality dysfunction; personal crisis; and opportunism

The crime includes any action, which may be considered “preparatory to” spying or encouraging or aiding another to spy.

Espionage is a dangerous offence and can have ramifications like death sentence and life imprisonment.

A combination of factors has been found in individuals prone to commit acts of espionage, which includes ideology; personality dysfunction; personal crisis; and opportunism.

Ideology is adopted by an individual to the degree that it reflects the individual’s ego. It serves as a vehicle for the individual to express a personal value or belief; it’s chosen so as to legitimise the inner or outward workings, which the individual has already internalised. A particular ideology may serve as a motivator to breach the trust placed in them or give them a reason to rationalise their uncalled behaviour.

According to Dr Ursula Wilder, a clinical psychologist with the Central Intelligence Agency, four personality elements are essential to the entry into espionage: psychopathy, narcissism, immaturity and grandiosity.

“A psychopathic person is a person whose approach to reality is ruthless and cold,” she stated in an interview at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

“They have no conscience, or they have very limited capacity to feel guilt. So, their whole approach to life is predatory. They are excitement-seeking. They love to con people. It’s a game. This is all they can do to connect with other human beings. So that kind of person will commit espionage either flat-out for self-interest or because it’s fun, or both.”

“The next is narcissism,” she explained.

“A narcissistic person is fundamentally egocentric. They can only experience the world with themselves at the centre. They are very needy and would provoke circumstances that permit them to be at the centre of attention. They believe that what they need, want and desire is the truth. They will get greedy for attention. That kind of person will commit espionage to seek fame. Someone like that will commit espionage because it makes them feel big and important.”

Wilder says an individual prone to commit acts of espionage (in comparison to a professional intelligence agent), either for or against their nation, is “an adult who can only function as an adolescent. These people live their lives in a blend of fact and fantasy. They do have a conscience, they can feel deep guilt afterwards, but fantasy is much more real to them than it is to adults who are grounded to reality, so to them committing espionage is a bit of a game, a fantasy, and online they have this illusion that if they do it online, if they just turn off the machine it goes away. They have a fantasy about the implications of their actions, and although on some level they might grasp the reality of it, it’s not real to them. The grandiosity applies to all three.”

It is most important to make a distinction between an ordinary citizen who commits acts of espionage and individuals who join the intelligence services. People who join the intelligence services are trained professionals and spend years learning the trade, such as, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of passing the US atomic secrets to the Soviets. They were executed at New York’s Sing Sing prison on June 19, 1953.

Successful whistleblowers leave a mark on our human history. One such is, Peter Buxton, who was tasked with investigating venereal diseases in 1966. He found out that hundreds of black impoverished Americans were being infected with syphilis under the guise of free health care, and tried to file a complaint, but, was told off. Only when he made his findings public through a press release, and it became headline news, was the experiment ended.

Another whistleblower who has left a mark on human history is Jan Karski, who fought for the Polish resistance in Warsaw. He managed to single-handedly expose atrocities committed by the Nazis and Hitler against the Jews and other groups in Poland. He published Stories of a Secret State, which detailed his accounts and sold hundreds of thousands of copies.

Only history can judge if a whistleblower is a patriot or a traitor. Exposing sensitive information knowing the risks and implications that might follow takes a lot of courage, determination and in certain cases lunatic behaviour.

The writer is a freelancer