posted on Nov, 21 2011 @ 11:50 AM
For those of you in the dark about most of the intelligence field's inner workings, let me explain. A spy or agent is someone who provides
information. Think of them as a mine of gold. An operative (or what we would think of a traditional spy) is the one who gathers intelligence from them
and could be described as the "miners." According to the article, it appears that agents were captured. This is a setback for whoever was "mining"
them in that region but it doesn't appear any operatives have been compromised. Traditionally, an agent is handled by an operative and shares
information with them. Agents will give up information usually for Money, their Ideology, Coercion (blackmail), or their Ego. If the operatives did a
good job of disguising themselves during these meetings, then (if) the agents are tortured and executed (likely), the operatives will still be safe.
However it appears people have been REALLY sloppy with tradecraft as of late (See Anna Chapman and the Russian Illegals program) so the operatives
identity(s) might be at significant risk.