Look at the 9/11 attacks. Part of that was not communicating between agencies, or that delivery of intelligence was not exceptionally performed, or … Maybe three weeks ago, I was in London. The commander of intelligence with Scotland Yard, he’s a very good friend, and he and I are both trustees of an organization that fights human trafficking. We’re very close. Even him, he goes, ‘It’s like the powers that be, the politicians — the hierarchy think that intelligence is just this crystal ball.’ It’s not, you know — it needs manpower. You can’t prevent an attack on London by just trying to pull intelligence out of the sky. You need a million spies on the ground. Then you’d have a better chance. Do we have a budget for that? No.
It’s interesting. I’m in places like Erbil, in Iraq — I was recently on the whole ISIS fight. In Erbil, there are tons of cash all over the streets. There are people walking into banks, walking out with duffel bags full of millions of dollars — no one gets hit. No one gets hit because every second or third person’s a spy. That’s kind of how it works, there. You don’t know who to trust — who’s working for the government and who’s not. I’m not saying that’s a solution; I’m saying that’s how it works in Erbil.
IM: The nature of the Litvinenko attack — the substance used, polonium 210 — its toxicity is so extreme, yet it seems so difficult to detect, even in the tissues and fluids of a victim. It doesn’t take much to theoretically kill millions of people with it, and yet it’s so hard to detect. It seems like a pretty scary scenario that people could be traveling on board a plane with a quantity of this stuff in their midst without knowing it. Do you know if the TSA has the means to be alerted to something like this?
TS: Are you going to be scanning for radioactivity? In its current form, can you even detect radioactivity? Some of it needs to be oxidized or whatever. All these covert ways that that espionage world works — I recently dealt with chemical weapons in Iraq. Mustard gas — ISIS attacking the Kurds. There was an identifiable chemical WMD. But it was an old weapon. An old weapon was either stockpiled or re-created, or created by ISIS. What happens today is so much more superior and covert. Even the days of the Bulgarian spy who was assassinated in London — it was a Bulgarian dissident of the communist regime, and he got executed by the Bulgarian secret service. That was an umbrella that embedded a minute pinhead — and that pinhead had holes in it. Those holes were sealed by some sort of a membrane that would, over time, release that poison. That’s how many years ago? Where we are now is completely beyond, capability-wise. How are you going to detect that? If you’re traveling with it? Very difficult. And those who are smarter are just going to make it in country anyway, and will have access to do that.
I reiterate — if you’re in the crosshairs of any intelligence organization, you’ve got a problem. Because sooner or later, if they really want to get to you, they’re going to get to you. I have friends, colleagues, associates who I still talk to, who live from hotel to hotel. They’re still completely paranoid about this, because they’ve made enough enemies, within or from the outside. That’s that murky world, where they did really massive things. They were dangerous. Now they’re older, and they still fear for their lives.
IM: So how does one exit the life in the field and transition into the private sector the way you have?
TS: I was very lucky. I was recruited out of college — I didn’t know what I was doing. I was thrown in the deep end. I was dealing between national intelligence services, CIA and just somehow managed to survive all of that craziness, and the crazy positions I was put into, basically. When a change of government happened, I had the best exit strategy, because with the new government in place, everything that we did was destroyed, anyway. What we did back then is something I’m also very proud of. Probably in the most minute way, personally, we helped avert a civil war, and [effected] a smooth transition of government. If it wasn’t for the intelligence agencies of the time, it could have been a massive civil war. That was something that was very important, but it also allowed an exit, whereas many others didn’t have that opportunity to exit and go into the private world.
My dealings with government were so limited and so quick. … I’m finding that’s something intelligence agencies are supposed to take advantage of — people who are ignorant to a point, and really don’t understand what they’re doing. If I knew the stakes at the time, I probably wouldn’t be able to perform, because I was young and dumb, basically. You don’t know what the stakes are. You just perform. And when you’re educated, it stifles the performance, because you understand the stakes that are at play, and what could potentially happen to you. So I was able to exit very quickly and cleanly, and without any blood on my hands. And then go into the private industry and make my own choices, and not be directed by any government or any superior officer. As a private entity, I can choose. Just like in Iraq recently, I chose to stick my head out for the Kurds, to help them with this problem with chemical weapons. But in doing so, I completely made enemies out of the Iraqis. And I was dealing with Iraqis at the same time — with higher-ups in the Iraqi government. Because the Iraqis and the Kurds are at odds. Without ISIS as a common enemy, they’d be at war. So I make that decision, not in line with any country’s or government’s foreign policy.
IM: As someone who’s traveled in hostile territory and lived the threats that an unfriendly foreign power can bring to bear, what are your recommendations for others who might find themselves facing similar threats — threats of kidnapping, perhaps, or worse?
TS: Right off the bat, situational awareness is everything. You need to, firstly, understand the environment that you’re walking into. If you’re going to walk into a slightly dangerous or hostile environment, when you walk into that country that’s maybe dangerous politically or criminally, then you need to be aware of that and walk in with that mindset, knowing that something could potentially happen. … You can’t teach anyone how to survive a kidnapping effectively by just giving them instructions on a list and go, ‘A, B and C — this is what you do.’ If that’s a real threat and they’re actually going to kidnap you, there’s training involved in how you speak to your kidnappers — the psychology you use. The elements of escape and evasion, and how to defend yourself, and how do you overthrow that enemy if you’re trying to escape. That’s all training-based stuff. But the logic comes in situational awareness — not going into certain environments. Where you’re staying — how secure is that? Where are the exits? Who knows you’re there? Make sure the right people do know you’re there. What are your movements? Let them understand your movements — someone you can trust, like the embassy, etc. If you’re there for sensitive business, whatever that may be, there are a lot of things that can help you if that kidnapping’s going to take place. That requires training for you to be able to get out of that alive.
IM: With all of the security situations you deal with around the world, what do you see as the greatest threat to our safety as a nation today?
TS: Within our borders, I would say the lone terrorists. Those who are, maybe, at all mentally unstable, or who are disillusioned — those individuals who have decided to take their cause further, whatever it may be, and have decided that they are now ISIS. They are part of a bigger thing, then go and commit these horrendous acts. Because you take an example of a child who gets bullied in school, goes home and takes his dad’s gun and goes and shoots his classmates — which is what happens, quite often. Now that same mentality when it comes to adults, when they can suddenly now belong to something — something greater. They have a greater cause, and now carry out these lone terrorist attacks. I think, for example, al Qaeda — you don’t just pop up and say you’re al Qaeda. There was more of some semblance of a process of becoming that, where it seems like ISIS, suddenly I believe in making the entire world fall under Sharia law, that’s it, and now I’m going to go and kill a non-believer. I think that is one of the greatest threats within our borders. Whether we destroy that Caliphate or not, they’re here to stay. And if we completely destroy them, there’ll be another offshoot of them. Terrorism is here to stay. We’re going to have to deal with it in our lifetime and beyond. That’s just it. .