Enacting Deception: Tradecraft

This is especially true and a most necessary evil in intelligence work. Meaning it’s also an invaluable skillset in everyday life, regardless of profession.

We apply strategic deception to gain an advantage over an adversary or situation that may not otherwise be possible or available without it.

If mission success has to be through force or deception, the latter is almost always optimal.

The benefits and rewards of deceit however, takes skill, training and knowledge to properly conduct.

The raw process act of lying is easy, enacting a successful and effective act of deception is not.

Telling a lie is easy, getting away with it is not, continuing to get away with it takes work.

When telling the truth, you don’t have to remember or make up anything, it just flows easily like breathing.

When telling lies, you have to “remember” something that doesn’t exist, you have to devise and construct.

In which lying well requires effort.

Deception requires maintenance.

Yet novice liars often overplay their attempt at deception, displaying tell-tale signs of deceit.

Masterful deception should appear effortless to the target subject, like telling the truth. The eyes see and the ears hear only what the target is shown.

A lie is a variant of a secret and people with secrets act secretive. Don’t act like you have secrets.

The truth is the exact correspondence of reality.

But reality is dependent on perception.

The truth is incontrovertible and facts are universal.

But the perception of truth and facts are not.

Perception is the key to enacting deception.