13
Employing Spies
Sun- “When you send forth an army of a hundred thousand on a campaign, marching them out a thousand kilometers, the expenditures of the common people and the contributions of the feudal house will be one thousand pieces of gold per day. Those inconvenienced and troubled both within and without the border, who are exhausted on the road or unable to pursue their agricultural work, will be seven hundred thousand families.
“Armies remain locked in a standoff for years to fight for victory on a single day, yet generals begrudge bestowing ranks and emoluments of one hundred pieces of gold and therefore do not know the enemy’s situation. This is the ultimate inhumanity. Such a person is not a general for the people, an assistant for a ruler, or the arbiter of victory.
“The means by which enlightened rulers and sagacious generals moved and conquered others, that their achievements surpassed the masses, was advance knowledge.
“Advance knowledge cannot be gained from ghosts and spirits, inferred from phenomena, or projected from the measures of Heaven, but must be gained from men for it is the knowledge of the enemy’s true situation.
“Thus there are five types of spies to be employed: local spy, internal spy, turned spy or double agent, dead or expendable spy, and the living spy. When all five are employed together and no one knows their Tao, this is termed ‘spiritual methodology.’ They are a ruler’s treasures.
“Local spies—employ people from the local district.
“Internal spies—employ their people who hold government positions.
“Double agents—employ the enemy’s spies.
“Expendable spies—are employed to spread disinformation outside the state. Provide our expendable spies with false information and have them leak it to enemy agents.
“Living spies—return with their reports.
“Thus of all the Three Armies’ affairs no relationship is closer than with spies; no rewards are more generous than those given to spies, no affairs are more secret than those pertaining to spies.
“Unless someone has the wisdom of a Sage, he cannot use spies; unless he is benevolent and righteous, he cannot employ spies; unless he is subtle and perspicacious, he cannot perceive the substance in intelligence reports. It is subtle, subtle! There are no areas in which one does not employ spies.
“If before the mission has begun it has already been exposed, the spy and those he informed should all be put to death.
“In general, as for the armies you want to strike, the cities you want to attack, and the men you want to assassinate, you must first know the names of the defensive commander, his assistants, staff, door guards, and attendants. You must have our spies search out and learn them all.
“You must search for enemy agents who have come to spy on us. Tempt them with profits, instruct and retain them. Thus double agents can be obtained and employed. Through knowledge gained from them, you can recruit both local and internal spies. Through knowledge gained from them, the expendable spy can spread his falsehoods, can be used to misinform the enemy. Through knowledge gained from them, our living spies can be employed as times require.
“The ruler must know these five aspects of espionage work. This knowledge inevitably depends on turned spies; therefore, you must be generous to double agents.
“In antiquity, when the Yin arose, they had Yi Chih in the Hsia. When the Chou arose, they had Lü Ya in the Yin. Thus enlightened rulers and sagacious generals who are able to get intelligent spies will invariably attain great achievements. This is the essence of the military, what the Three Armies rely on to move.”
COMMENTARY
This chapter, which comprises the earliest known manual or treatise on covert intelligence gathering, identifies five major categories of spies and provides a humanitarian justification for their employment. Within the context of the vast commitments and expenditures required by warfare, Sun-tzu believed that wasting material or lives, even if subsequently proven to be inconsequential, would be both stupid and inhumane because the ultimate intent of warfare should be to preserve one’s own people while rapidly vanquishing the enemy. Thus, failing to gather any information that might facilitate attaining victory can only be considered perverse. However, moral purists in China over the centuries condemned the book for its breaches of sincerity, righteousness, and trust, just as did the first Westerners who eventually translated the text into French and later English. Non-military Western readers, being particularly appalled by the boldness of Sun-tzu's assertions, irrespective of their own covert traditions and widespread practices condemned the Art of War from a doctrinaire Christian perspective as a heathen work somehow typical of an inferior race. However, in the present era of increasing political complexity, shrinking defense budgets, and proliferating availability of deadly weapons throughout the world, perhaps Sun-tzu’s essential message should be heeded rather than ignored.
Apart from discussing the types of spies, and in particular the importance of the double agent, the chapter identifies two critical points: controlling agents requires talent and character, while interpreting the data acquired requires wisdom and perspicacity. Moreover, a certain degree of ruthless determination is required to deliberately sacrifice agents in the cause of righteousness. Subsequent military writings, although stressing the need for their activities, rarely discuss the spy’s actual work and nature, emphasizing instead the critical role of military intelligence for accurately evaluating the enemy and formulating battlefield plans.
“Employing Spies” also contains a statement erroneously over-emphasized by Western commentators unfamiliar with China’s military history: “Advance knowledge cannot be gained from ghosts and spirits, inferred from phenomena, or projected from the measures of Heaven, but must be gained from men for it is the knowledge of the enemy’s true situation.”
Even though the classic military writings stressed human effort and denied the value of divination in fathoming the outcome of campaigns and battles, the prognosticatory tradition that originated in the Shang dynasty not only continued to flourish, but vigorously evolved to encompass the interpretation of such diverse phenomena as sounds, clouds, weather, phases of the moon, natural omens, and the numerology of dates. Commanders might exhort their men to ignore meteors, birds flying backwards, and the sudden appearance of dense black clouds, but rulers and generals still turned to nonhuman agencies in an attempt to predict favorable courses of action amidst the confusion of military confrontations.