Burn Notice - Season 02 - Episode 03 Spy Tips & Tactics

Burn Notice Season 02 Episode 03 "Trust Me" was first aired last July 24, 2008 and below are the spy tips and tactics:

* There aren't many rules in the spy trade. There are a few "agreements" that most intelligence agencies honor though. Low-level agents get traded, not prosecuted. You don't shoot foreign operatives if you can avoid it. And you stay away from embassies and consulates. 


*Consulates are a great place to renew your visa, pay your taxes back home or find foreign spies working under diplomatic cover.

* Like all bureaucrats, consulate employees live in fear of a pissed-off journalist.

* Most of the people who work in a consulate are just municipal drones enjoying an overseas post. But the head of security that guy's almost always a spy.

* One job of a security chief is babysitting the secrets. If one goes missing, it's a big deal even if it's just transactional data on chemical imports. Steal a few files, no matter how boring, and you've got leverage. Play your cards right and you can trade what you've got for what you want.

* In any covert operation your first concern is remaining undetected. Whether you're infiltrating a military base or getting car parts from your mom's garage without her knowing, staying invisible is tough. And no matter how good you are, sometimes they're better.

* Exploiting an asset is easier when they have a vice, an addiction you can feed: drugs, money, respect, women.

* If you need to get into a secure area, the best approach is to give yourself a good reason to be there.

* A hairpin is one of the most versatile tools in a thief's arsenal. It's as good as a key most of the time but not when the lock is a magnetic card reader.

* The key to hand-to-hand combat is being able to close the distance between you and your opponent without putting them on their guard.

* There are two schools of safecracking. Some people like to beat the lock. Some people like to break the lock. But it doesn't matter when the safe is sitting wide open.

* Good counterfeit money is more expensive than you think. If you're looking to fake money on the cheap, a real bill bound to a stack of filler will do.

* Thirty years ago, the CIA would've killed for bugs as small as cell phones. They're the perfect improvised listening device but they burn juice like a Humvee. If there's no charger handy, an unused USB port will do the trick.

* To win a negotiation, you have to show you're willing to walk away. And the best way to show you're willing to walk away, is to walk away.

* They say a picture's worth a thousand words. Add in a few hundred that survive the censor's black pen, suddenly, you've really got something.