It's easy to forget what intelligence consists of: luck and speculation. Here and there a windfall, here and there a scoop.
John le CarreThe cold war provided the perfect excuse for Western governments to plunder and exploit the Third World in the name of freedom; to rig its elections, bribe its politicians, appoint its tyrants and, by every sophisticated means of persuasion and interference, stunt the emergence of young democracies in the name of democracy.
John le Carre