Let’s play a game called '“Do You Have Espionage PTSD?”
Do you work in a Secret Compartmentalized Information Facility? If yes, you might have Espionage PTSD.
Have you had to provide the United States federal government with your data via an SF-86? If yes, you might have Espionage PTSD.
Have you had to go through polygraphs for various intelligence agencies?
Have you been trained to spot foreign intelligence officers trying to elicit information from you?
Have you been trained (sometimes quite poorly) about the dangers of cybersecurity?
Have you ever had access to a special access program (SAP)
Have you ever been through any interrogation and counter-interrogation training, some that involved physical abuse?
Have you ever walked around the globe with something on you that is classified?
Have you ever briefed foreign governments on releasable intelligence?
Have you been taught to survive, evade, resist, and escape detention?
Have you ever briefed foreign government at a classification higher than the slides because a general officer ordered you to?
Have you ever been trained to spot and assess?
Have you ever been trained to handle sources?
Have you ever been trained to interrogate prisoners of war or detained terrorists?
Have you ever been psychologically evaluated to gain entrance into various units, special access programs, etc?
Have you ever done operations so sensitive that your commander cannot know about them?
Have you ever killed anyone from a computer desk and then cooked a delicious meal for your family?
Have you ever seen child pornography off the hardware of a killed or detained terrorist?
Have you ever nominated someone to be killed?
Have you ever killed innocent civilians while conducting a kinetic strike?
Do you get agitated with TSA?
Do you understand that intelligence agencies conduct assassination campaigns at international airports regularly?
Do you understand that foreign governments use their airport wifi to snoop on their citizens and foreign travelers?
Have you ever spotted a tail while traveling abroad?
Have you ever reported suspicious activity to a counterintelligence unit that made it to a distro?
When people ask you more than two questions, do you wonder why they’re talking to you?
Do you get anxious when meeting strangers, especially those who aren’t American citizens?
Have you ever had to report foreign contacts, even those you met, on a social media platform?
Has the Office of Personnel Management contacted your family members, friends, and former lovers as part of your background investigation?
Have you ever worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, or any other intelligence agency?
I wrote this questionnaire in about 10 minutes. I can confidently answer Yes to these 30 questions. And it’s why I not only have combat PTSD but something I’d like to trademark as “Espionage PTSD.”
For far too long, trigger pullers have understandably received the lion’s share of attention when it comes to PTSD. But here, at
, we’re dedicated to shining a light on the intelligence professionals who served on the battlefield and back home. These men and women have fought in the shadows for far too long.Espionage PTSD is pernicious because it’s part paranoia. But as any good spook would tell ya, “Just because you’re paranoia doesn’t mean that nobody is looking.”