Silent Enemies Few countries will officially admit that they use spies. A spy is caught and the public sometimes glimpses what goes on behind the scenes of politics. Spies are rarely killed these days and are often tried and imprisoned. Sometimes he is handed over to an enemy country in exchange for an equally important spy who was captured by the enemy. Few have the opportunity to witness such exchanges. On a cold winter's morning on December 17 last year, a small blue car pulled up on a bridge in a rural town in northern Germany. Three men in 10 heavy black overcoats came out and stood on the bridge. A motorboat passed on the river bank. Three men got out of the boat and looked at the bridge. The men on the bridge were walking silently up the stone stairs that led to the river bank. No word was uttered when they met the men from the boat. The boat moved and three men returned to the bridge. Only two of them were wearing black coats and the third was wearing a light gray jacket. Anyone watching the scene might not have realized that two fine spies had been replaced on that cold winter morning.