Spies? Beware The Charming Intern

• February 16th, 2009
• Posted by Daniel Challis

The European Commission has warned officials of the possibility of spies working in its midst, who may fit the profile of “pretty trainee with long legs and blonde hair”.

The warning came last Wednesday (11.2.09) from Commission spokeswoman Valerie Rampi, who said the threat of infiltrators was “increasing day by day”…

COMMISSION PARANOIA?

A species of mild paranoia may have set in amongst Brussels security officials, who fear Eurocrats may be susceptible to the “pretty trainee” prying for top-secret information.

Every year hundreds of ‘stagiares’ or interns work at the Commission’s headquarters, many young and female.

Ms Rampi said the ‘spies’ could be journalists, private agencies, lobbyists or IT experts.

“Like any large-scale organization which deals with sensitive or confidential information, there are always people who endeavour to gain access to (secret) information,” she said.

Ms Rampi also said that “hostile intelligence services” had made numerous attempts to gain access to secret information; however she failed to give details of specific threats identified by the Commission.

The Commission’s security agents are working with national security authorities of the 27 member states to expose spies.

One 24-year-old intern from a Baltic nation told the Telegraph of London that attractive female spies might be more about male fantasy than anything else.

“I think men working here in boring jobs would love to believe that sexy women spies were after their bodies and their secrets,” she said.

Reference:

Bruno Waterfield, Telegraph, London, ‘European officials warned of ‘interns trading sex for secrets’’ (11.2.09), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/4593857/European-officials-warned-of-interns-trading-sex-for-secrets.html (14.2.09).

BBC News, ‘EU warns of ‘pretty blonde spies’ (11.2.09), http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7884450.stm (15.2.09).

Picture:  sxc.hu

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