A Spy's Guide To Taking Risks by John Braddock

Author:John Braddock [Braddock, John]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2019-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

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The myth of the Border Patrol is that they care most about your documents.

They look closely at your passport when you approach the window. They compare your face to the face on the passport. They look at your supporting documents, like an airline ticket. If you go into secondary, they look at your receipts and electronic trail, too.

But documents can be faked.

Documents can be forged. Documents can be altered. Documents can be false. Plus, the Border Patrol has machines to tell them when documents are fake. If it was a simple document check, a robot could do it.

Instead, Border Patrol officers care about something more than your documents: They care about your behavior.

The next time you go through passport control, watch when the Border Patrol agent first looks at you. It’s usually when you’re still two or three back in line. That’s when they do a first pass at your demeanor. They scan you for anything out of the ordinary. Nervousness. Discomfort. Agitation.

But most of all, they look for fear.

When fear hits, it’s hard to stay still. Fear spikes your heartrate. Fear gets your blood pumping. Fear sends adrenaline through your body, so you can fight or run away.

If you’re stuck in line or in a train seat, you get agitated. You shift around. You’re nervous, because fear makes you want to move.

In the empty first-class train car, the Border Patrol had surrounded me, and it was on purpose. They could have sat in any of a hundred seats, but they didn’t. They chose to surround me. One in front. One across the aisle, one behind me.

Being surrounded by the Border Patrol is a necessary condition of being arrested. It’s a precursor. After they surround you, they can arrest you.

But being surrounded isn’t a sufficient condition of arrest. Being surrounded doesn’t mean they’ll arrest you.

When the Border Patrol officer in front of me turned, I was nervous. I was agitated. Adrenaline from the sprint was mostly cooked off, but some was still in me. My heart rate was still elevated. I was a little flushed.

But I’d been trained for this moment. Trained to not arouse suspicions. Trained to play my part.

I smiled at the Border Patrol officer and nodded.

He didn’t nod back. Just stared at me.

I opened a book.

I looked at the pages and reminded myself to turn the page every 30 seconds. Because I wasn’t reading. I was thinking.

I was thinking if I did something wrong. If I triggered a tripwire somewhere. If my sprint through the train station had brought focus on me. If there was some reason for them to arrest me.

I got ready for their questions. What I was doing. Where I was going. The purpose of my travels. None of which would be true.

I got ready to recite my alias’s place of birth. My alias’s birthday. My alias’s previous travel. None of which would be true.

The Border Patrol officers turned to each other and started chatting in the local language. They talked and laughed and I turned the pages on my book every 30 seconds.

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