Everyone loves a good story filled with espionage, secret undercover agents who can somehow blend in a while looking like they stepped out of Vogue magazine, and action sequences so wild it gives us whiplash. That’s the stuff. Nothing like a spy movie pumped with hot people doing parkour in suits. 

But while these movies get us off, the world of spies is quite different from the Bonds and the Jack Ryans and those movies that pretend Matt Damon is an action hero. Many experts and ex-CIA agents have been interviewed over the years, and most of them agree that Hollywood is responsible for a lot of misconceptions when it comes to gathering intelligence for one’s country. Classic Hollywood.

One of two images tend to pop up in people’s minds when they think of “spies.” It’s either a conspicuous-looking man in a long coat with a hat pulled low over his eyes or Daniel Craig in a tuxedo. Mostly it’s Daniel Craig in a tuxedo. Movies make spies look super suave, with a wardrobe so luxurious we’d totally want to raid it.

Many spy films also like to show how, for most spies, it’s practically impossible to live a normal life, what with the “secret” part of being a secret agent. Former CIA officer Douglas Laux said that while it can be challenging to basically lie to everyone around you, it doesn’t mean every spy leads a sad and lonely life. “My social life was robust, but do understand that came with a lot of stress that I brought upon myself. Consider, every new person I met was one more person I had to keep my secret from and weave another lie with.”

{Excerpt from CRACKED Magazine}