
Counterintelligence 175
question them as well. At a minimum, agencies are interested in attributes
that can be understood by the acronym CARLA (Character, Acquaintances,
Responsibility, Loyalty, and Ability).
In BIs, investigators try to ascertain information that would predict the
likelihood that someone is already in the service of a foreign government or
has the potential of betraying the United States. In large part, BIs focus on
circumstances and motivations that have been shown in the past to corre-
late to spying. For example, many American spies have turned to espionage
for nancial reasons. As a result, background investigators condu