The disarming power of sex has made it a powerful weapon of espionage since Samson and Delilah. Female agents using ‘honey trap’ techniques to beguile and compromise their targets are known as ‘sparrows’. The male equivalent is a ‘Romeo’.
Former Australian Defence Force Chief Admiral Alan Beaumont (1993–95) retired to his hotel room one night during an unofficial trip to Indonesia at the height over tensions over Timor. A young woman was waiting for him in bed. Beaumont asked her to leave. A young man was waiting for him the following night. ‘They [Indonesian intelligence] wanted to find out which way I'd go if I'd go at all.’ Beaumont ‘went’ with his country and sent the youth on his way.
ON LOAN COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL ARTV00807
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