Covert agents in the United States

As it is used in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Intelligence Community

Intelligence community

Intelligence community may refer to* Bangladeshi intelligence community* Croatian intelligence community * Israeli intelligence community* Italian intelligence community, see SISMI...

, it is legally defined in 50 USCA

Title 50 of the United States Code

Title 50 of the United States Code outlines the role of War and National Defense in the United States Code.-External links:*, via United States Government Printing Office*, via Cornell University* Appendix to Title 50, via Cornell University...

 §426.

The definition is subject to judicial interpretation

Judicial interpretation

Judicial interpretation is a theory or mode of thought that explains how the judiciary should interpret the law, particularly constitutional documents and legislation...

, but a reading of the plain language of that statute reveals that a covert agent can be an employee of the US intelligence agencies

Intelligence agency

An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...

 or a private citizen working on behalf of that community.

Cornell Law definition

The term covert agent means: a present or retired officer or employee of an intelligence agency or a present or retired member of the Armed Forces assigned to duty with an intelligence

Intelligence

Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....

 agency—

(i) whose identity as such an officer, employee, or member is classified information, and

(ii) who is serving outside the United States or has within the last five years served outside the United States; or a United States citizen whose intelligence relationship to the United States is classified information, and—

(i) who resides and acts outside the United States as an agent of, or informant or source of operational assistance to, an intelligence agency, or

(ii) who is at the time of the disclosure acting as an agent of, or informant to, the foreign counterintelligence or foreign counterterrorism components of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; or an individual, other than a United States citizen, whose past or present intelligence relationship to the United States is classified information and who is a present or former agent of, or a present or former informant or source of operational assistance to, an intelligence agency.

Identity protection

The law against unmasking the identities of U.S. spies says a "covert agent" must have been on an overseas assignment "within the last five years."

The law says that if someone reveals the identity of a covert agent to a third party, "knowing that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent's intelligence relationship to the United States", can get up to 10 years in prison. If this third party then tells anyone else, they can get no more than 5 years in prison.

Famous cases of "outing"

In the 1960s and 1970s, anti-CIA activists occasionally revealed long lists of overseas intelligence agents to sabotage their activities.

In the first decade of the 21st century, a controversy arose in which some people claimed that the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

itself revealed an agent's identity. In that case Libby was found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice. A court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald during his sentencing hearing revealed that Plame was indeed a covert agent at the time.