A Spy's Guide to Strategy

When you're a spy, you see a lot of strategies. It's your job to see grand strategies. Regional strategies. National strategies. Most of all, individual strategies. It's your job to see them and to understand them, because that's how you know when threats exist. To identify threats, you're infiltrating an enemy's organization. You're figuring out who is making decisions. And who isn't. You're collecting intelligence on what they know. And what they don't know. You're figuring out their plans. Whether they mean you harm or don't. Whether they're a threat. Whether they're going to attack. Hopefully, before it's done. You're uncovering the enemy's strategy. That's the job of a spy. But it's not only enemies' strategies you see. You're also talking to allies who have strategies of their own. You're understanding what they want. What they don't. Hopefully, they'll tell you what their strategy is. But sometimes, they don't. Then, there's your side's strategy. Your side's strategy is why you're a spy. It's why they send you to foreign countries and back alleys and diplomatic receptions. You're there to serve your side's strategy. When you're a spy, you have a front row seat to a lot of strategies. Which means you see some strategies succeed. And you see many more strategies fail. Sometimes, a strategy fails because of logistics. Or because the enemy strikes first. Or because the strategy was overtaken by events. Or because it was made obsolete by inaction. But most strategies fail earlier. Most strategies fail before a conflict starts. Most strategies fail before an alliance is formed. Before even war is declared. Most strategies fail because they're made the wrong way.