# "Burn Notice" question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 8, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-notice-question/1033681 "2026-10-08T19:08:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leftpopulist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ee7513/32.png) [@Leftpopulist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leftpopulist)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-notice-question/1033681/1 "2026-10-08T19:08:08Z")
Michael Westen appears to be superhuman, combining the skill-sets of a mater criminal, a police detective, and a special forces soldier. Are spies like that in real life? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-notice-question/1033681/2 "2026-10-08T19:13:48Z")
There are all sorts of spies, ranging from dudes who sit in an office and clip newspaper stories (in Russian, or whatever) to undercover foreign based agents. They do have to be pretty good at a lot of things to survive. But TV shows like Burn Notice (which has been off the air for a while, right?) of course exaggerate. Not as much as films do, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-notice-question/1033681/3 "2026-10-08T19:16:20Z")
Almost invariably not, for a bunch of reasons. There are a very small number of operatives in certain 3 letter agencies who blur the lines a little between special forces and intelligence collection. Most of the time when those skills are called for, actual special forces are used. The vast majority of people in the intelligence community are analysts and never do field work. Most of those who do field work handle assets, which are usully adversaries who are working for us. Also, “spies” is what we call adversaries working against us. And what our adversaries call our assets. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-notice-question/1033681/4 "2026-10-08T19:23:37Z")
Unless you are one of the She-Spies, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-notice-question/1033681/5 "2026-10-08T23:01:53Z")
> [@Leftpopulist](#): > > Are spies like that in real life? They wish. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-notice-question/1033681/6 "2026-10-08T23:46:15Z")
The first season was so good. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-notice-question/1033681/7 "2026-10-09T00:03:54Z")
My understanding, from sources who are more “in the know”, is that the bulk of CIA work is more like being a librarian and analyst than anything active. Within the territory of actual, active spy work most of that is about developing and managing assets. And most of that comes down to hanging out at bars, getting people drunk, and squeezing them for dissatisfaction with their life and things that you might be able to offer them to get them to secretly work for you. Once they do, you’re like their secret sugar daddy. Perhaps things have changed but I think I read once that alcoholism is a big risk of the job. Leaping from a speeding car onto another one is not, generally, a risk. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-notice-question/1033681/8 "2026-10-09T00:04:23Z")
> [@Leftpopulist](#): > > Are spies like that in real life? There was a time in my youth/early adulthood that I was curious about what it was like to be a spy. What was involved in actually doing that sort of work, living that kind of life. So I read a number of books about it, including a couple of autobiographies. (It was decades ago so I can’t remember a single one of them.) What I gathered from them is that the most important skill a spy has, what sets them apart from a regular person, is lying. Not just lying, but lying all of the time to everyone and being able to live with it. Constantly being a fake person to basically everyone you ever interact with, except your superiors and/or handlers. Otherwise, you don’t have special abilities, you’re not a super martial artist and expert marksman with MacGyver-style improvisation and a keen Sherlock Holmes mind. You’re a government employee who goes somewhere, takes on a completely fake persona, and just does fake stuff constantly while gathering information. It sounded absolutely miserable and completely put me off any thought of working in the intelligence business.