In intelligence, assets are persons within organizations or countries that are being spied upon who provide information for an outside spy.

There are different categories of assets, including people

• that willingly work for a foreign government for ideological reasons such as being against their government, but live in a country that doesn't allow political opposition. They may elect to work with a foreign power to change their own country because there's few other ways available.
• that work for monetary gain. Intelligence services often pay good wages to people in important positions that are willing to betray secrets.
• that have been blackmailed and forced into their role
• that don't even know they are being used. Assets can be loyal to their country, but may still provide a foreign agent with information through failures in information safety such as using insecure computers or not following proper OPSEC procedures during day-to-day chatting.

See also

• Vetting

Espionage