"Once the (operatives) had identified a target as having potential (for) mental (destabiliztion), staff members sometimes suggested ways to break him down, reasoning that by using a ratchet-like approach to put him under increased pressure, they might be able to break the lines that tied him to ...(family, friends), if not to his sanity. DELETED stated, "I was sent to deal with the most negative aspects of the human condition. It was planned destructiveness. First, you'd check to see if you could destroy a man's marriage. If you could, then that would be enough to put a lot of stress on the individual, to break him down. Then you might start a minor rumor campaign against him. Harass him constantly. Bump his car in traffic. A lot of it is ridiculous, but it may have a cumulative effect." Agency case officers might also use this same sort of stress-producing campaign against a particularly effective enemy intelligence officer whom they knew they could never recruit but whom they hoped to neutralize.


...covert operators had long been deciding matters like these, " (1)


1. JOHN MARKS, "THE SEARCH FOR THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, CHAPTER 10 THE GITTINGER ASSESSMENT SYSTEM.
page 186