World | spies Top Spy: Women Make 'Bloody Good' Agents British officer opens door to would-be female spies By Neal Colgrass Posted Mar 31, 2014 5:36 PM CDT Copied This undated publicity film image provided by Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. shows Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty." (AP Photo/Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Jonathan Olley, File) A British intelligence officer tells the Times of London that women make "bloody good spies" because they are fine multi-taskers who excel at "tapping into different emotional resources." As part of a Secret Intelligence Service recruitment campaign, the top spy dismissed the notion that female agents are over-emotional (Homeland's Carrie Mathison) or obsessed with sex (Mata Hari), the Guardian reports. In fact, a woman with a personality disorder "would not be selected" for service, she says, reports Australia's News Network. "You would be too much of a risk." Speaking anonymously, the spy said her life as a working mother is hard to balance—but being married helps her connect to a range of people, from politicians to terrorists, the Daily Mail reports. "I'm less of a threat than a single female," she says. "They, the terrorist, have mothers, sisters, daughters." She also spoke of rewards beyond gender: "I have made the world a safer place through some of the operations I have done and the agents I have run. There is a strong moral reward to it." (For a weird spy story, check out Russia's hijacking of Ukraine's spy dolphins.) Read These Next Mark Zuckerberg's 'list' has Silicon Valley buzzing. Tillis, who opposes Trump bill, won't seek reelection. Hall of Famer Dave Parker dies Musk renews attack on Trump's bill. Report an error