Stage Nine: The Arrest and Post-Arrest Stage

Now the trap is sprung.

The insider spy gets caught red-handed at the drop site.

And out of his mouth come surly, arrogant remarks and teenager-like bravado and insolence.

These are the comments and attitudes that commonly form the basis for making sense of insider spy motivation.

For example, immediately upon getting caught, Robert Hanssen said, “What took you so long?”

These comments engender fury and outrage from within the intelligence and law enforcement communities, as well as from the general public.

The insider spy’s seeming lack of remorse and annoying nasty superiority actually covers over something entirely different.

The insider spy is now facing his third failure, added to his first two.

He could not even succeed as a spy.

He is now revealed to the entire world as a failure in this aspect of his life as well.

It’s like a flashback to his bad old days when he first felt like he was drowning.

So he spits and fulminates like a teenage rebel without a cause, attempting to preserve his reputation, at least with himself, as a world-class desperado.

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