From the introduction:
This game is about the tension between opposing forces. The largest and most obvious tension is the tension between the Soviet Union and America, but this might be the least important tension during play. The game focuses on the tension between your life as a spy and your life as a person. Every parent misses Little League games, but not every parent misses them because they’re changing the tape on the Secretary of the Interior’s bug.
This tension spins out into a tension between loyalty to state, loyalty to family and loyalty to self. You need to have some decadent American luxuries in order to further your cover, but you don’t need to enjoy them; at least not as much as you might be tempted to. You’re loyal to the Soviet Union, but sometimes doesn’t it feel nicer - no, that’s not the word - just more… comfortable… to be in the United States?