Yeah, listening to one of the Intel O's I work with talk about how they would meet up with a contact, who would often along with a 'boy....friend', then pay him off for info. I guess he needed some way to pay for his fix......
Kind of a turn off to the business when you realize some of the scum you have to deal with in that world.
The mission of humint sourcing and exploitation could be renamed "scumbag scuttlebutt management".
Of the three reasons people betray the trust of their nation and comrades, none of them are respectable. You are going to deal with people who's character is broken from the bottom up.
If you have hopes of delivering a quality intel product you need to cultivate deep and wide. For every source who provides information of interest you will need five sources who's only purpose will be testing the character of your source of interest. Find out how deceptive he is, we already know he is a scumbag.
From what little I know, HUMINT on the ground is not for anyone who cant smile and hug a murderer if its in the best interest of the big picture.
On the topic of CURVEBALL, it seems to be a case of higher authority shopping for the Intel product the wanted. If you seek the answer, you will find them, and choose the one you like best.