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But what is a sleeper agent?
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>> A sleeper agent is someone who is taken
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virtually from birth and trained to be
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of another nationality. The Russians are
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very good with sleeper agents. No other
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country that we know of uses sleeper
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agents. Let's say you're born in Russia.
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from the age of, you know, two, they
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take you from your family with your
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family's acquiescence and they take you
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to an Americanstyle
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town that they've built out in the
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hinterland in Russia. They teach you to
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speak English with an American accent.
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You watch American TV shows. You watch
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American movies. You eat American food.
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You get an American style education.
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So, I have no idea that you're not
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American. And then they send you to the
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United States with a fake ID. I was born
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in 1964. So, they'll go through death
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records from 1964 and they'll look for
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deaths where the person was only a day
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or two old. They'll take that name and
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the birth date and they'll get a social
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security card with the birth date.
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They'll use the social security card to
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get you a passport. So, you come here on
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your American passport, everything's
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legit. Now your name is Bob Smith, which
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was really that baby's name that died.
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And you get a job. You may work as a
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travel agent for 20 years and never hear
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from them, but then they'll activate you
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and they'll say, "We want you to go take
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care of this target over here.
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>> Kill him."
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>> Yeah. Or we want you to get a job at the
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defense department and give us
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everything that you that you can steal.
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I interviewed a former sleeper from the
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East German Intelligence Service, raised
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as an American, sent to New York. He got
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a job. He got married and he had a
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daughter. And he told me as soon as I
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looked at her face the day she was born,
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I realized this life wasn't for me
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anymore. So they sent him an activation.
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What they do is listen to your radio
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message. The voice just saying 6 5 8 12.
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That's called a reading from a one-time
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pad. A message from the KGB to a
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sleeper. But those numbers don't mean
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anything unless you have the decryption
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pad. He gets one of these messages and
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he didn't respond to it. He was on the
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subway one day. He's just standing there
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holding the strap and this guy came up
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to him and the guy grabs the strap next
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to him and whispers in his ear, "If you
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don't report back, I have to kill you."
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He ran straight to the FBI field office
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in New York. And he said, "I'm an East
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German sleeper and I want to turn myself
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in." And he became a prolific source for
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the FBI. He came over here young and did
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this for 25 years. As soon as his
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daughter was born, he was like, "Wow,
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this is what life is for." Not