In Defense of Spying

Before World War II arms control agreements never involved national or international inspection systems; the great powers relied upon their own intelligence agencies to detect violations. That old method has a certain appeal: spies instead of inspectors. And Allen Dulles has recently assured us, in the midst of the Profumo affair, that despite continued reliance upon the lure of sex, espionage is a profession only for the high-minded—he offered himself as an example. Still, the spy seems more interesting than almost any other government employee, and more fallible; he is a man who takes risks in this age of security; he experiments continually in human relations. To spy may be more human than not to spy.

The apparent inability o...