Top secret government stuff

[allmywires]

Quick question from me:

I have a character who is a former member of a top secret government organisation which does some very nasty things in the historical canon of my novel's world. When the organisation was dissolved, he's sent to live in another country under a new identity.

My question is: is this believable? Would he actually be allowed out of his home country with all those top, top secrets? Particularly if said country is a paranoid and controlling autocracy. Also, if anyone has any examples of this happening in history that would be fab...my mind's drawing a blank.

 

[MemoryTale]

It's semi-believable. Personally I think he'd be more likely to be quietly killed, but if he could fake his death and escape with a new identity then he could still be in the situation you want.

 

[allmywires]

Personally I think he'd be more likely to be quietly killed.

Yes, that's the main stumbling block I'm struggling with - I think they'd keep him alive, though, because they want this project to start again (which is where the actual plot begins). Even so, humans are quite quick to pull the trigger, and I normally do hate when bad guys (or even good guys) are let go because of needs of the plot, when in reality they'd just be quietly got rid of!

 

[The Judge]

If the organisation is known for doing nasty things, then they'd doubtless have no compunction in eliminating him. So I'd also think it more likely he'd be killed, or at least attempts would be made to silence him since he knows too much to be allowed to go free.

Of course, he would know this would be the obvious outcome, so he could well have secured his own exit strategy. Does he possess information he could use as a bargaining chip? If he's secreted documents away he might have set up the equivalent of a dead man's handle -- eg the documents are now possessed by a person who looks for a classified advert in a specific newspaper every month which your character writes (obviously a different one each time, based on a pre-arranged code, otherwise too easy for the baddies to identify and use) and if the ad doesn't appear the documents are released to every press organisation.

If the organisation has been dissolved because new honourable people have come in, they might baulk at killing him, but I still don't think he'd be allowed out of the country, since there's a risk the other side (there is always the other side...) might get hold of him and obtain information.

But as with all these things, we can suspend disbelief if you can make it appear plausible.


EDIT: just seen your other post. If they intend to resurrect the organisation, then I would see that as a reason to keep him alive, but again they'd keep a close eye on him, I think. he might also be protected by someone senior for political reasons.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Would he actually be allowed out of his home country with all those top, top secrets?

IIRC, someone who signs the Official Secrets Act is not allowed to travel to certain countries. I would find it more believable that their movements would be even more restricted in the event of the organisation being dissolved.

For research, it might be worth checking up what happened to the Enigma code workers after that project dissolved.

 

[Dave]

IIRC, someone who signs the Official Secrets Act is not allowed to travel to certain countries. I would find it more believable that their movements would be even more restricted in the event of the organisation being dissolved.

Unless they lost all the records in a briefcase left on the train from Waterloo.

 

[Cathbad]

Unless they lost all the records in a briefcase left on the train from Waterloo.

(I'm still looking for the key.)

 

[Venusian Broon]

My question is: is this believable? Would he actually be allowed out of his home country with all those top, top secrets?

In real life, and involving the UK government, I give you: Peter Wright, formally MI5 officer who went to Australia then published Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer (see Spycatcher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

All a bit of a farce overall and I'm not sure they are quite the top, top secrets you had in mind.

Depends on whether the information that your character has, i.e. can he actually use the knowledge to some advantage? If not, I think the simplest thing an organisation is make out that this person, if he is making this knowledge public, to be a paranoid conspiracy nut. (See David Shaylor - although his pronouncements post 9/11 have been pretty far out, so he's doing the job himself*)

But it does depend on your fictional country. Stalin's Russia, I'm sure, would definitely keep you close in 'retirement' or you'd find a nasty end, I guess!

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* Which makes me think he is still working for the intelligence services, but given a remit to travel the 'fringes' and muddy the waters with all sorts of outlandish and false claims. But that's the sort of paranoid conspiracy thinking that appeals to me...

 

[Gonk the Insane]

he could well have secured his own exit strategy

I think @The Judge has got to the heart of the matter. A paranoid autocracy is unlikely to expose itself to risks that could rise from the agent leaving the country. I think that even if they are planning/considering resurrecting the organisation, the character would need to be exceptionally skilled for them to consider allowing it.

Faking their own death, possessing a bargaining chip (blackmail, essentially), or even using those skills to go to ground and escape are, I would think, more believable in terms of story. If your guy's already on the run from his own people, it might serve to raise the stakes and make a more compelling story?

Depending on how you want to play it, there's also one further option: defection. There are, regrettably, plenty of examples of this historically. Perhaps none more (in)famous than Philby and the Cambridge spies. Strangely, the tourist info for my lovely city doesn't mention this. Can't think why...

 

[allmywires]

Ta everyone! So the 'special skills' in question relate to his scientific knowledge (he is a university professor) and his research on a classified matter - he is one of two people who worked on this project from a research perspective.

Depending on how you want to play it, there's also one further option: defection. There are, regrettably, plenty of examples of this historically. Perhaps none more (in)famous than Philby and the Cambridge spies. Strangely, the tourist info for my lovely city doesn't mention this. Can't think why...

Hmm that's true! Hadn't thought of that one. I like TJ's idea of having someone political keeping watch on him. Because, of course, eventually they do come looking for him. (The place he ends up is kind of like a Switzerland-kind of neutral country in this world)

 

[Ihe]

If this MC was a VIP/key player (head of a research facility or string-mover in the organisation), then the organisation itself might deem it important to protect him if they are planning on resurfacing at some point. Having a heavily armed "nanny/carer" (following emergency protocols) with him would be advisable and proper for such an organisation IMO.

 

[Vladd67]

IIRC, someone who signs the Official Secrets Act is not allowed to travel to certain countries. I would find it more believable that their movements would be even more restricted in the event of the organisation being dissolved.

For research, it might be worth checking up what happened to the Enigma code workers after that project dissolved.

When I signed it there was a list of countries that I was not allowed to travel to and others that I had to check first. For example I had to get permission to go to Yugoslavia.

 

[J Riff]

Oh sure, I don't think they kill 'em off anymore. Probably a memory wipe or a simple blackmail setup will keep most silenced. Many signed secrecy documents, many, they are out there yakking away to their heart's content. It's movies make it look like secret agents, books are allowed to be more accurate and believable, aren't they?

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Look up Jack Barsky. KGB spy profiled on '60 Minutes' lived in the Lehigh Valley

He was a KGB spy sent from East Germany to live in the US and spy on us, in the 70s. In the late 80s, the Russians wanted him to return, but he wanted to stay with his wife and daughter in the US (instead of returning to his wife and son in Germany -- speaking of double lives) and so he told them he had AIDS. They in turn told his German family that he had died, and let him stay here. He didn't get caught by the US government until 1997, and they declined to prosecute him, in exchange for information about the KGB.

So if your guy were allowed to stay somewhere, rather than being sent somewhere later, it would definitely be plausible. As plausible as Barsky's story, anyway -- which is, frankly, a bit outlandish.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

For me, no. Sorry. I can't believe that any government organisation worried about the possibility of secrets slipping out would allow an ex-intelligence scientist to go to another country let alone send him there. There would be no way they could control him. They'd want him close where they could watch him, and use him again should the need arise. I'd expect to find him living under an assumed name in some small hick town where his phone and internet use would be closely monitored and evey six months or so he'd be polygraphed etc. He would of course have been warned in detail about the consequences of his having leaked anything.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[hopewrites]

I'm also of the mind (above evidence to the contrary being noted) that out of country would be out of question.
Seeing as he's a science officer, not a field agent, I'd find his skills not up to a foreign exit strategy.
Perhaps an internment in a prestigious college, with "tenure" where what he researches and what he teaches is closely audited by the branch of government appointed to make sure that the members of the former branch don't make mischief.

 

[Loren]

Well, there is always Eric Snowden's story.

 

[allmywires]

Thanks guys!

I have been thinking about this a bit more and I think I'm going to go with the faked-his-own-death thing - the Top Secret program ended when the facility was blown up, where he escaped and let the powers that be think he'd died. However, they then find out he's still alive and go after him when they re-start the program.

 

[J Riff]

The 'government' as a whole, has no idea, zip, and if they get their hooks into it it will be all taxed and fudged and wrecked.
Secret agents steal tech secrets of cutting edge tech, that's about all. They are like the guys who go through the garbage at night looking for something they can use. I find a lot of stuff that way. Computers, DVDs... bags of personal papers and photos... real exciting stuff.* )