I’d say that it could well be a mixture of “patriotism, money, sex, or adrenalin” but think that you could add something else to the mix.

For some people working 9-5 or whatever would just be too boring and if the person is an introvert by nature then being a spy might well suit him perfectly.

And think of peeping toms, who get a thrill out of just watching what’s happening.

Nearly all spies, spy on their country of origin by the way because only a native would be able to function without being quickly caught.

A person immigrates, catches the attention of the host nation and is asked if he’s willing to go back to his country of origin and to spy.

He left his birth place for a reason, probably because he had negative feelings about it, and is therefore a likely candidate if his personality type is right.

Once the person’s spying days are over, for whatever reason, he will be very well rewarded and never have to work again.

The question is kind of interesting and I’ll need to give it a little more thought.

But for whatever reason when I started to think about it, I thought of Peeping Toms who get a thrill out of watching people that don’t know that they’re being observed, and I don’t think that sex has to be involved for the Peeping Tom to be turned on by this.

It’s obviously not the main reason and the above mentioned ones most likely all play a part but I’m thinking about the kind of person who enjoys reading other people’s diaries etc.

Of the cuff, I can think of four reasons why people become spies.

1) They have an ideological disagreement with their home country.

During the Cold War, the KGB had quite a lot of success recruiting agents in the United States and Britain, and they were people who were known to support communism.

2) Money

Many spies have turned over crucial, deadly information for nothing more than cash.

3) The desire to be important and worthwhile.

Recruiters look for people in menial positions who have access to important information and then show them how they can become really important.

4) Blackmail

Recruiters who hold evidence of behavior that their target would not want made public, such as an extramarital affair, can threaten to release the evidence if the target doesn’t agree to become a spy, and if the person spies even once then they are video taped providing information and the tape is then used to coerce them into prolonged spying.

I’m not sure many people know they want to be a Spy from age 10 or whatever, a lot of them probably end up there via a military career and most people who agree to do this job probably have their fear sensors turned down or they are psychotic.