

Remarkably, there may only be around 50 of them operating in Europe and the Middle East. From capturing Nazi war criminals to the agency’s monitoring of the geopolitical magma spewing from a volatile Middle East today, its operatives, the Katsa, are infamous for their skilful ruthlessness. Traditionally, the Mossad’s recruits are thought to have come from the Israeli army service. “All are welcome, regardless of religion, nationality or occupation,” it says, “to work with us or be involved in activity that could bring great personal benefit and a chance to make a difference.” The Mossad is in the premiere league of international spy agencies, but it does adopt a friendly tone on its website. “There’s nothing for the West to worry about – we’re just trying to provide the right sort of skills for our requirements,” an intelligence spokesperson said, gently. Which means intensive training in computer science, law, management and more before beginning proper intelligence work. Like many Western intelligence agencies, it aims to produce spies whose tradecraft is not a swift karate kick but deep data collection and analysis. China: The Ministry of State Security (MSS)Ĭhina’s MSS based its structure on the Soviets’ KGB, while expanding its pool of spies to include ordinary businesspeople, journalists, professionals and diplomats, sent around the world to collate information to be sent back to HQ.įor the MSS, pretty much anyone can be an intelligence asset, but schooling is still required – and there are at least eight National Intelligence colleges spread through China.Īll the intelligence in the world cannot eliminate every blind spot Once completed, you’ll find yourself overseas in “unstructured operations” – their words.
#Mossad training academy series#
There are courses in handling firearms and hand-to-hand fighting, then what they call “more clandestine series training” which lasts a year. The training at Langley will push you hard when it comes to handling mental stress – whether that’s sleep deprivation or focusing in the face of extreme danger, fatigue and discomfort.
#Mossad training academy free#
When it comes to training, you’ll need to be a graduate to get in the door, aged over 18, drug free for at least a year, and from a scientific, engineering or business background – and a foreign language is useful. The Katsa are infamous for their skilful ruthlessness There were just 30 MI6 agents working on counterterrorism on 11 September 2001. Today, counterterrorism has superseded other espionage challenges. In Red Sparrow, the new espionage thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence as a prima ballerina turned Russian agent, she gets her training under a decidedly stern Matron (Charlotte Rampling) at Sparrow School, learning to use her body and mind as deadly weapons.Īdapted from the bestselling novel of the same name by former CIA operative Jason Matthews, the film’s action encompasses some of the deadly tradecraft of modern-day spies.īut what are the real-life equivalents of Sparrow School in the world’s most powerful nations? Here we part the curtain to discover how the adepts of the spy world learn their trade… UK: Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and GCHQīond author Ian Fleming may well have worked in an early version of MI6, but its real work has little in common with the world Fleming created for 007.

At GCHQ, they have used Xbox live gaming data to target prospective employees
