At the CIA’s top-secret training facility near Williamsburg, Virginia, known as “The Farm,” new recruits learn the shadowy world of espionage—essentially, how to get people to spill their most closely guarded secrets.
Jim Olson, who spent 31 years as a CIA officer and even served as Chief of Counterintelligence, knows this world inside and out. During the Cold War, Olson worked in Moscow, trying to convince Russians to betray their country and share secret information. He explained to CNBC reporter Eamon Javers that the key to espionage isn’t fancy gadgets or wild action scenes—it’s the human element.
“We’re in the business of head-hunting,” Olson said. “We need to find people who will work with us and share their secrets.” Essentially, it’s about figuring out who has valuable information and getting them to give it up.
This dangerous and delicate game is at the heart of CNBC’s podcast series, “The Crimes of Putin’s Trader.” In this podcast, Javers dives into the incredible story of how U.S. authorities took down a Russian businessman, Vladislav Klyushin. Klyushin is accused of running a massive hacking scheme where he stole confidential earnings reports from American companies, then used that inside information to trade on the stock market, making millions. When Klyushin was arrested in Switzerland, his lawyer claimed that American spies tried to recruit him during their first meeting, aiming to turn him into a spy for the U.S.
But Olson clarified to Javers that espionage isn’t that simple. He revealed a secret that most people don’t know: the “recruitment cycle.” According to Olson, recruiting a spy isn’t just a single conversation or offer. Instead, it’s a systematic process made up of seven steps.
“The first thing we realize is that every person has needs,” Olson said. “It sounds cynical, but it’s true. Our job is to find foreign individuals who have access to the secrets we want—secrets that protect our national security—and then we figure out what they need in return.” This could mean money, protection, a better life, or even something as simple as recognition. Once the CIA identifies those needs, they use them to convince someone to commit treason against their own country, even if it means risking their life. That’s the dark reality of espionage.
Recruitment is rarely quick or easy. It can take several meetings, where CIA officers slowly get to know their target on a personal level. They might run into them at the gym, invite them to a fancy dinner, or share drinks at a bar—anything to build a deeper connection. It’s a slow dance of trust and manipulation, one that can feel like forming a friendship, but as Olson explains, it’s a “false friendship” because there’s always an ulterior motive.
In the latest podcast episode, listeners are pulled into this world of deception, where spies from the U.S., Russia, and China all work behind the scenes to gather critical information. Olson doesn’t sugarcoat the job. “I serve my country by gathering intelligence,” he said. “To do that, I have to be manipulative. I have to lie. I have to deceive people. That’s just part of the job. There’s no other way to do it.”
This is the secretive world of espionage—where friendships are fake, motives are hidden, and secrets could cost lives.
