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are assumed to have been killed or executed in a foreign country while serving as NOC agents. In nations with established and well-developed spy agencies, the majority of captured non-native NOC agents have, however, historically been repatriated through
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The degree of sophistication put into non-official cover stories varies considerably. Sometimes, an agent will simply be appointed to a position in a well-established company which can provide the appropriate opportunities. Other times, entire
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Some countries have regulations regarding the use of non-official cover: the CIA, for example, has at times been prohibited from disguising agents as members of certain aid organizations, or as members of the
194:
operative is one who assumes a position in an organization with diplomatic ties to the government for which the operative works such as an embassy or consulate. This provides the agent with official
198:, thus protecting them from the steep punishments normally meted out to captured spies. Upon discovery of an official cover agent's secret hostile role, the host nation often declares the agent
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An agent sent to spy on a foreign country might, for instance, work as a businessperson, a worker for a non-profit organization (such as a humanitarian group), or an academic. For example, the
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if their espionage activities are discovered. Operatives under non-official cover do not have this "safety net", and if captured and
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Official cover operatives are granted a set of governmental protections, and if caught in the act of espionage, they can request
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officer "Nicholas
Anderson" wrote an account of his service in a fictionalized autobiography (as per British law) entitled
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This is in contrast to an operative with official cover, where they assume a position in their government, such as the
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from their government. In other words, official cover operatives are agents officially recognized by their country.
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The
Volunteer: The Incredible True Story of an Israeli Spy on the Trail of International Terrorists
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is the ostensible identity and/or role or position in an infiltrated organization assumed by a
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during the Second World War; it gave her the alias of a
Frenchwoman named Marcelle Montagne.
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630:"Our Kind of Traitor: an interview with former MI6 intelligence officer Nicholas Anderson"
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231:) are operatives without official ties to the government for which they work who assume
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officer, operated as a Mossad NOC or "combatant" as described in his memoir,
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Ostensible identity in an infiltrated organization assumed by a covert agent
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entities are established in order to provide false identities for agents.
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Many of the agents memorialized without names or dates of service on the
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can be established in order to provide false identities for agents.
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are subject to severe criminal punishments, up to and including
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Representative clandestine operations run from diplomatic cover
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Counterintelligence and counter-terrorism organizations
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NOC Three Times: Knock-On Effect (Last of the
Trilogy)
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60:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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402:NOC: Non-Official Cover: British Secret Operations
384:investigations and made public as a result of the
132:"Undercover" redirects here. For other uses, see
406:NOC Twice: More UK Non-Official Cover Operations
376:, used by the CIA during the Vietnam War, and
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8:
447:. Other examples are featured in the books
1117:
1108:
1087:
1073:
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674:
660:
652:
606:"Tripping Over CIA's Bureaucratic Hurdles"
295:Clandestine HUMINT operational techniques
120:Learn how and when to remove this message
1501:Scientific & Technical intelligence
636:. Immediate Media Company. May 11, 2016
562:
924:Chinese espionage in the United States
426:(Skyhorse Publishing, September 2007,
204:and orders them to leave the country.
570:Shannon, Elaine (February 20, 1995).
349:for other captured NOCs as a form of
7:
1323:By alliances, nations and industries
919:Chinese intelligence activity abroad
58:adding citations to reliable sources
985:Interpersonal (HUMINT) intelligence
437:Fictional notable examples include
337:spent nearly two decades as a NOC.
69:"Cover" intelligence gathering
604:John Weisman (September 7, 2010).
378:Brewster Jennings & Associates
25:
820:Computer and network surveillance
855:Short-range agent communications
264:
34:
1471:Words of estimative probability
1333:Operational platforms by nation
444:Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
45:needs additional citations for
1:
572:"Spies for the New Disorder"
1519:Intelligence cycle security
489:; and the television shows
242:, which provides them with
134:Undercover (disambiguation)
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131:
1120:
456:The Eleventh Commandment
235:roles in organizations.
1486:Intelligence assessment
1476:All-source intelligence
1096:Intelligence management
805:Covert listening device
775:Intelligence assessment
1170:Operational techniques
1125:Special reconnaissance
326:
183:
1054:Targeted surveillance
380:, used by the CIA in
351:gentlemen's agreement
316:
256:plausible deniability
209:diplomatic protection
181:
1557:Covert organizations
1491:Medical intelligence
1461:Competing hypotheses
1271:Industrial espionage
1256:Denial and deception
980:Industrial espionage
780:competing hypotheses
54:improve this article
1524:Counterintelligence
1439:Technical (TECHINT)
1434:Open-source (OSINT)
1424:Geospatial (GEOINT)
1398:Casualty estimation
586:on January 14, 2009
474:The Bourne Identity
462:Mission: Impossible
404:, and two sequels:
244:diplomatic immunity
223:, operatives under
196:diplomatic immunity
160:counterintelligence
1496:Military geography
1481:Basic intelligence
1419:Financial (FININT)
1360:signature (MASINT)
1286:One-way voice link
1222:Concealment device
931:Cold War espionage
898:Front organization
872:Surveillance tools
850:Phone surveillance
845:One-way voice link
800:Concealment device
347:prisoner exchanges
327:
240:diplomatic service
225:non-official cover
215:Non-official cover
184:
156:human intelligence
1544:
1543:
1447:
1446:
1338:Direction finding
1328:In modern history
1309:
1308:
1062:
1061:
716:Agent provocateur
510:The Night Manager
432:978-1-60239-132-1
372:Examples include
342:CIA Memorial Wall
319:birth certificate
201:persona non grata
130:
129:
122:
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16:(Redirected from
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1343:Traffic analysis
1315:Signals (SIGINT)
1150:Asset recruiting
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634:historyextra.com
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610:Washington Times
601:
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580:. Archived from
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541:Illegals Program
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248:charged as spies
168:covert operation
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18:Diplomatic cover
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1429:Imagery (IMINT)
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1368:Electro-optical
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1358:Measurement and
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1281:Numbers station
1210:Black operation
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903:Limited hangout
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546:Secret identity
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367:front companies
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299:front companies
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516:Covert Affairs
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174:Official cover
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1562:Spies by role
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1529:organizations
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1296:Steganography
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1276:Interrogation
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958:Eavesdropping
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860:Steganography
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838:
836:
835:Invisible ink
833:
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754:Sleeper agent
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551:Sleeper agent
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492:The Americans
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450:Debt of Honor
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335:Ishmael Jones
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323:Virginia Hall
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71: –
70:
66:
65:Find sources:
59:
55:
49:
48:
43:This article
41:
37:
32:
31:
19:
1301:Surveillance
1291:Resident spy
1232:Cryptography
1226:
1037:Surveillance
825:Cyber spying
810:Cryptography
749:Resident spy
734:Double agent
721:
714:
640:February 21,
638:. Retrieved
633:
624:
613:. Retrieved
609:
599:
588:. Retrieved
583:the original
575:
565:
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508:
502:
496:
490:
484:
478:
472:
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460:
459:; the films
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448:
442:
439:Chuck Barris
436:
423:
416:Michael Ross
414:
409:
405:
401:
395:
386:Plame affair
371:
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339:
328:
290:
262:(pronounced
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164:covert agent
140:
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116:
107:
97:
90:
83:
76:
64:
52:Please help
47:verification
44:
1373:Geophysical
1155:Cell system
1142:Clandestine
1027:Stay-behind
936:Recruitment
893:Canary trap
791:Devices and
739:Field agent
498:Burn Notice
486:The Recruit
418:, a former
374:Air America
289:) or as an
1551:Categories
1402:earthquake
1266:False flag
1104:Collection
1022:Sexpionage
1002:COINTELPRO
995:safe house
975:False flag
912:Operations
886:techniques
882:Tradecraft
615:2010-03-19
590:2008-02-19
557:References
480:Safe House
110:March 2017
80:newspapers
1393:Materials
1247:Defection
1242:Dead drop
1215:black bag
1180:Espionage
946:black bag
830:Dead drop
759:Spymaster
683:Espionage
252:execution
221:espionage
188:espionage
166:during a
1453:Analysis
1251:Turncoat
1198:handling
1012:SHAMROCK
865:microdot
768:Analysis
535:See also
468:Spy Game
392:Examples
321:used by
303:strawman
149:military
1400: (
1378:Nuclear
1348:TEMPEST
1007:MINARET
951:wetwork
528:Patriot
522:The Spy
396:Former
309:History
291:illegal
145:foreign
94:scholar
1237:Cutout
1188:Agents
1042:Global
968:MASINT
963:SIGINT
815:Cutout
699:Assets
694:Agents
525:, and
504:Spooks
483:, and
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359:clergy
233:covert
153:police
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1383:Radar
1227:Cover
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1193:field
727:Agent
722:Cover
317:Fake
293:(see
190:, an
141:cover
101:JSTOR
87:books
1047:Mass
1017:FVEY
744:Mole
642:2018
577:Time
453:and
428:ISBN
408:and
73:news
884:and
434:).
398:MI6
382:WMD
333:'s
331:CIA
301:or
285:NOK
260:NOC
229:NOC
219:In
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158:or
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143:in
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