Although spying for another country might sometimes fall short of the legal definition of treason, it is always a betrayal of the spy’s duty to his country and countrymen.
The “tradecraft” of the intelligence business takes this into consideration. Because persuading someone entrusted with his or her nation’s secrets to betray that trust is extremely difficult, intelligence operatives are trained to use “false flag” recruitments to lower the barrier of conscience to such betrayal…
If we were to accept that providing secrets to, say, the friendly South Korean government is somehow a lesser betrayal, we’d provide a field day to our North Korean enemies who would need only a phony ID to pass as our friends. Chinese Communists would have no trouble passing themselves off as Nationalist Chinese. Cubans could easily disguise themselves as Argentines, Mexicans or Puerto Rican Americans.
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