 information. (Try this: ask a man what someone said on the phone, then ask a woman, the difference in response length will be at least 1,000 words.) Also, women are cunning. So spying's not difficult - or at least, I didn't find it so.
The SIS seeks to reassure over the question most often asked about secret agent work. "Will I be used as a honey trap?"
"Absolutely not," it splutters on its website. "The service does not use this or similar tactics."
The reality is they would send you out there with your skirts up if they thought it'd work, but one of the first rules you’re taught is that if you want to get information out of anyone, never sleep with them. Sex is all about deception of one sort or another. The promise of sex, however, can go a long way to get people to spill - especially if they hold Big Secrets they may want to impress you with.
But to any woman considering intelligence work I would say: it seems glamorous but it completely changes the way you interact with people. Even now I can go into my
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interrogator mode, which sounds fun, and can be, but I know is both terrifying and exposing for the people I turn my metaphorical light on. I have been known to fleece people for information within 15 seconds of meeting them. And that's only the delivery men who knock at the door for a signature.
And however much of a party trick it sounds, it's not ideal knowing when people are lying to you because, in everyday life, you can't always confront them about it. Having worked in Intelligence you're always after the ulterior motive, and sometimes the lady at the check-out just doesn't have one.
Finally, never think you’ll be Jane Bond. A good spy has to be anonymous, not notorious. All you'll ever be is a conduit for someone else's words. 
FIRST POSTED MAY 15, 2007
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