The game of intelligence-gathering is much more simple than the geniuses heading organizations assume. No, it's not necessary and usually too risky to "plant" a spy in the space with the information.
My most effective approach, one that comes easily to me a compulsive consumer of Diet Coke, is to stalk rest rooms. The earlier in the process of whatever, the less guarded the players usually are in verbal exchanges, facial expressions, body language and more.
For example, during opening arguments of the Rhode Island lead paint public nuisance trial II, it was a no-brainer to identify one of the jury consultants for the plaintiff. That person and an attorney from the private counsel assisting on contingency exchanged knowing glances as they exited their respective rest rooms. Her cover story to me was convoluted. No surprise she followed me to my car and interrogated me about which plaintiff attorney seemed most likable to the jury.
In covering another courtroom proceeding in New Haven, Connecticut, all I needed to deconstruct was the defense attorney's deer-in-the-headlights expression in the lady's room. No question, she did not sense she was dealing from a position of strength.
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