CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT torrent

?Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from
experience, nor by any deductive calculation. Knowledge of the enemy?s dispositions can only be
obtained from other men.? ?Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Our story begins 2000 years ago with the words of Sun Tzu, a Chinese general and a man who
valued information and those who brought it to him. The informant is an institution as old
as history. Controversial for nearly as long, the informant?s role in law enforcement is as
important today as it was in Sun Tzu?s day. One might suppose that, at a time when science has
given the police more tools than ever before to use in the war on crime, we would not need to
rely so much on the informant. Unfortunately, Sun Tzu was right in saying that knowledge of
the enemy?s dispositions can only be obtained from other people.