Every year, the federal government spends an estimated $3 billion of your tax dollars on the Central Intelligence Agency. What do we actually get for our share of the CIA budget, aside from the supposed protection that a sophisticated, international, secret spy network provides to the nation’s citizens? Nothing!
Hotel Safety Tips from a Former CIA Agent
In the interest of raising some tax money and because I think espionage is pretty cool, I asked former CIA agent Jason Hanson what the best life hacks his CIA training has taught him.
According to his biography, Hanson served for seven years in the CIA as an agent with a top secret security clearance. After retiring from the agency in 2005, he started the Tactical Spy School in Utah, secured $150k in funding for Shark Tank, and wrote a pair of best-selling books (Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life, and Agent of Influence: How to Use Spy Skills to Persuade Anyone, Sell Anything, and Build a Successful Business), all to "help good, honest Americans stay safer and better prepared for the crazy and unpredictable world we live in."
While Hanson teaches his Spy School students how to drive defensively, how to escape duct tape and handcuffs, and other fun movie tricks, his most important advice for personal safety is so practical, your mom probably told you to: Stop checking your phone all the time.
