Stage Seven: The Dormancy Stage(s)

From time to time, the insider spy just stops spying.

He goes to ground, lies fallow, and quits producing.

How perplexing for those who subscribe to the idea that insider spies are simply maliciously driven, robotically single-minded villains.

But how logical for Dormancy Stages to occur if the true psychology of the insider spy incorporates the conflicted dynamics described above.

Life is nasty and brutish for the insider spy who has been at it for a few years.

He feels burned out.

The supposed solution to his original sense of failure and drowning years ago has transformed into a larger problem than ever before.

Like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, his vaunted brilliant solution for his problems has mutated into a daily nightmare.

Fantasies of escape from this daily dilemma abound.

He thinks: “Maybe if I just dial down my productivity, perhaps they will forget about me? If I just keep quiet, I’ll go off their radar screen—and then I’ll resume my normal everyday life and pretend this never happened.”

Then, either his handler tugs on his leash, or other stresses pile up again.

Like an alcoholic, he goes back to the sauce.

Many insider spies, such as Robert Hanssen and Earl Pitts, cycled through several Dormancy Stages.

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