"Covert operative" redirects here. For the legal definition of covert agents or operatives, see covert agent

Covert agent

-Covert agents in the United States:As it is used in the United States Intelligence Community, it is legally defined in 50 USCA §426.The definition is subject to judicial interpretation, but a reading of the plain language of that statute reveals that a covert agent can be an employee of the US...

.

A covert operation (also as CoveOps or covert ops) is a military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

, intelligence

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 law enforcement

Law enforcement agency

In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...

 operation

Military operation

Military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state's favor. Operations may be of combat or non-combat types, and are referred to by a code name for the purpose...

 that is carried clandestinely and, often, outside of official channels. Covert operations aim to fulfill their mission objectives without any parties knowing who sponsored or carried out the operation. It is normally sponsored by taxes from the government.

Under United States law, the Central Intelligence Agency

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

 (CIA) is the sole US Government agency legally allowed to carry out Covert Action. The CIA's authority to conduct Covert Action comes from the National Security Act of 1947

National Security Act of 1947

The National Security Act of 1947 was signed by United States President Harry S. Truman on July 26, 1947, and realigned and reorganized the U.S. Armed Forces, foreign policy, and Intelligence Community apparatus in the aftermath of World War II...

. President Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 issued Executive Order 12333

Executive Order 12333

On December 4, 1981 President Ronald Reagan signedExecutive Order 12333,an Executive Order intended toextend powers and responsibilities of US intelligence agencies and direct the leaders of U.S...

 titled in 1984. This order defined covert action as "special activities", both political and military, that the US Government could legally deny. The CIA was also designated as the sole authority under the 1991 Intelligence Authorization Act

Intelligence Authorization Act

The Intelligence Authorization Act was implemented in order to codify covert, clandestine operations and defines requirements for reporting such operations to the Congress...

 and in Title 50 of the United States Code

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...

 Section 413(e). The CIA must have a "Presidential Finding" issued by the President of the United States in order to conduct these activities under the Hughes-Ryan amendment to the 1991 Intelligence Authorization Act. These findings are then monitored by the oversight committees in both the US Senate and the House of Representatives. As a result of this framework, the CIA “receives more oversight from the Congress than any other agency in the federal government”. The Special Activities Division

Special Activities Division

The Special Activities Division is a division in the United States Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service responsible for covert operations known as "special activities"...

 (SAD) is a division of the CIA's National Clandestine Service

National Clandestine Service

The National Clandestine Service is one of the four main components of the Central Intelligence Agency...

, responsible for Covert Action and "Special Activities". These special activities include covert political influence and paramilitary operations. The division is overseen by the United States Secretary of State

United States Secretary of State

The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

Law enforcement

Undercover

Undercover

Being undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information or to gain the trust of targeted individuals in order to gain information or evidence...

 operations (such as sting operation

Sting operation

In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...

s or infiltration of organized crime

Organized crime

Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...

 groups) are conducted by law enforcement agencies

Law enforcement agency

In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...

 to deter and detect crime

Crime

Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...

 and to gather information for future arrest

Arrest

An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...

 and prosecution.

Military intelligence and foreign policy

Covert operations and clandestine operation

Clandestine operation

A clandestine operation is an intelligence or military operation carried out in such a way that the operation goes unnoticed.The United States Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms defines "clandestine operation" as "An operation sponsored or conducted by governmental...

s are distinct. The Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms

Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms

The Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms is a compendium of terminology used by the United States Department of Defense ....

 (Joint Publication JP1-02), defines "covert operation" as "an operation

Military operation

Military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state's favor. Operations may be of combat or non-combat types, and are referred to by a code name for the purpose...

 that is so planned and executed as to conceal the identity of or permit plausible denial

Plausible deniability

Plausible deniability is, at root, credible ability to deny a fact or allegation, or to deny previous knowledge of a fact. The term most often refers to the denial of blame in chains of command, where upper rungs quarantine the blame to the lower rungs, and the lower rungs are often inaccessible,...

 by the sponsor. A covert operation differs from a clandestine operation in that emphasis is placed on concealment of identity of sponsor rather than on concealment of the operation." The United States Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

 definition has been used by the United States

United States

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

 and NATO since World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

In a covert operation, the identity of the sponsor is concealed, while in a clandestine operation the operation itself is concealed. Put differently, clandestine means "hidden," while covert means "deniable

Plausible deniability

Plausible deniability is, at root, credible ability to deny a fact or allegation, or to deny previous knowledge of a fact. The term most often refers to the denial of blame in chains of command, where upper rungs quarantine the blame to the lower rungs, and the lower rungs are often inaccessible,...

." The term stealth

Stealth technology

Stealth technology also termed LO technology is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive electronic countermeasures, which cover a range of techniques used with personnel, aircraft, ships, submarines, and missiles, to make them less visible to radar, infrared, sonar and other detection...

refers both to a broad set of tactics

Military tactics

Military tactics, the science and art of organizing an army or an air force, are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating an enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology over time have been reflected in changes to military tactics. In...

 aimed at providing and preserving the element of surprise and reducing enemy resistance and to a set of technologies

Technology

Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 (stealth technology

Stealth technology

Stealth technology also termed LO technology is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive electronic countermeasures, which cover a range of techniques used with personnel, aircraft, ships, submarines, and missiles, to make them less visible to radar, infrared, sonar and other detection...

) to aid in those tactics. While secrecy and stealthiness are often desired in clandestine and covert operations, the terms secret and stealthy are not used to formally describe types of missions.

Covert operations are employed in situations where openly operating against a target would be disadvantageous. These operations are generally illegal in the target state and are frequently in violation of the laws of the sponsoring country. Operations may be directed at or conducted with allies and friends to secure their support for controversial components of foreign policy

Foreign policy

A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...

 throughout the world. Covert operations may include sabotage

Sabotage

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...

, assassination

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

s, support for coups d'état

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

, or support for subversion

Subversion (politics)

Subversion refers to an attempt to transform the established social order, its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy; examples of such structures include the State. In this context, a "subversive" is sometimes called a "traitor" with respect to the government in-power. A subversive is...

. Tactics include the use of a false flag

False flag

False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own...

 or front group.

The activity of organizations engaged in covert operations is in some instances similar to, or overlaps with, the activity of front organization

Front organization

A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations...

s. While covert organizations are generally of a more official military or paramilitary nature, like the DVS German Air Transport School

Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule

The Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule , German Air Transport School, was a covert military-training organization operating as a flying school in Germany...

 in the Nazi era

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

, the line between both becomes muddled in the case of front organizations engaged in terrorist activities

Terrorist front organization

A terrorist front organization is created to conceal activities or provide logistical or financial support to the illegal activities.-See also:...

 and organized crime.

Examples

• Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group
• Operation Wrath of God
  Operation Wrath of God
  Operation Wrath of God ,This title was an invention of later writers, and was most likely not used by the Mossad itself. also called Operation Bayonet, was a covert operation directed by Israel and the Mossad to assassinate individuals alleged to have been directly or indirectly involved in the...
  
  
• Operation Anthropoid
  Operation Anthropoid
  Operation Anthropoid was the code name for the targeted killing of top German SS leader Reinhard Heydrich. He was the chief of the Reich Main Security Office , the acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and a chief planner of the Final Solution, the Nazi German programme for the genocide of the...
  
  
• Huston Plan
  Huston Plan
  The Dolphin Plan was a 43 page report and outline of proposed security operations put together by White House aide Tom Charles Huston in 1970. It first came to light during the 1973 Watergate hearings headed by Senator Sam Ervin ....
  
  
• Iran-Contra affair
  Iran-Contra Affair
  The Iran–Contra affair , also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or Iran-Contra-Gate, was a political scandal in the United States that came to light in November 1986. During the Reagan administration, senior Reagan administration officials and President Reagan secretly facilitated the sale of...
  
  
• Project MKULTRA
  Project MKULTRA
  Project MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a covert, illegal CIA human experimentation program, run by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. This official U.S. government program began in the early 1950s, continued at least through the late 1960s, and used U.S...
  
  
• Operation CHAOS
  Operation CHAOS
  ]Operation CHAOS or Operation MHCHAOS was the code name for a domestic espionage project conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency. A department within the CIA was established in 1967 on orders from President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson and later expanded under President Richard Nixon...
  
  
• CIA Project Cherry

Notable covert operators

The following persons are known to have participated in covert operations, as distinct from clandestine intelligence gathering (espionage

Espionage

Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...

) either by their own admission or by the accounts of others:

• Robert Baer
  Robert Baer
  Robert "Bob" Booker Baer is an American author and a former CIA case officer assigned to the Middle East. He is TIME.com's intelligence columnist and has contributed to Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Baer is a frequent commentator and author about issues related to...
  
  
• Jozef Gabčík
  Jozef Gabcík
  Jozef Gabčík was a Slovak soldier of Czechoslovak army involved in Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of acting Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich....
  
   and Jan Kubiš
  Jan Kubiš
  Jan Kubiš was a Czech soldier, one of a team of Czechoslovak British-trained soldiers sent to assassinate acting Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, in 1942 as part of Operation Anthropoid.- Biography :Jan Kubiš was born in 1913 in Dolní Vilémovice,...
  
  , Czechoslovak British-trained agents sent to assassinate one of the most important Nazis, Reinhard Heydrich
  Reinhard Heydrich
  Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
  
  , in 1942 as part of Operation Anthropoid
  Operation Anthropoid
  Operation Anthropoid was the code name for the targeted killing of top German SS leader Reinhard Heydrich. He was the chief of the Reich Main Security Office , the acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and a chief planner of the Final Solution, the Nazi German programme for the genocide of the...
  
  .
• Aaron Franklin, World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
   US Office of Strategic Services
  Office of Strategic Services
  The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
  
   (OSS) officer who created a fake group of the German Army, made up of POWs, with the mission of killing Hitler. As a colonel
  Colonel
  Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
  
  , he was the first commander of United States Army Special Forces
  United States Army Special Forces
  The United States Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets because of their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force tasked with six primary missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, hostage rescue, and...
  
  .
• Charles Beckwith, US Army colonel who was an early exchange officer with the British Special Air Service
  Special Air Service
  Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
  
   (SAS), and created the Delta Force
  Delta Force
  1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta is one of the United States' secretive Tier One counter-terrorism and Special Mission Units. Commonly known as Delta Force, Delta, or The Unit, it was formed under the designation 1st SFOD-D, and is officially referred to by the Department of Defense...
  
   (1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta) based on the SAS.
• Gary Berntsen
  Gary Berntsen
  Gary Berntsen is a decorated former Central Intelligence Agency career officer who served in the Directorate of Operations between October 1982 and June 2005...
  
  , CIA field officer and team leader during Operation Enduring Freedom
• Wendell Fertig
  Wendell Fertig
  Wendell Fertig was an American civil engineer, in the American-administered Commonwealth of the Philippines, who organized and commanded an American-Filipino guerrilla force on the Japanese-occupied, southern Philippine island of Mindanao during World War II.Fertig held a U.S...
  
  , United States Army Reserve
  United States Army Reserve
  The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
  
   officer who organized large Filipino guerrilla forces against the Japanese in World War II
• Virginia Hall
  Virginia Hall
  Virginia Hall, MBE, DSC was an American spy during World War II. She was also known by many aliases: "Marie Monin", "Germaine", "Diane", "Marie of Lyon" and "Camille". The Germans gave her the nickname Artemis...
  
  , American who first worked for the British Special Operations Executive
  Special Operations Executive
  The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
  
  , then for the American Office of Strategic Services
  Office of Strategic Services
  The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
  
   in German-occupied France. Only U.S. woman to receive the Distinguished Service Cross
  Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
  The Distinguished Service Cross is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army, for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. Actions that merit the Distinguished Service Cross must be of such a high degree...
  
  .
• Eric Haney, founding member of Delta Force
  Delta Force
  1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta is one of the United States' secretive Tier One counter-terrorism and Special Mission Units. Commonly known as Delta Force, Delta, or The Unit, it was formed under the designation 1st SFOD-D, and is officially referred to by the Department of Defense...
  
  .
• Michael Harari
  Michael Harari
  Michael "Mike" Harari was an Israeli intelligence officer in the Mossad. Harari was involved in several notable operations, including the failed Lillehammer affair and the rescue of hostages at Entebbe....
  
  , Israeli Mossad officer who led assassination operations (Operation Wrath of God
  Operation Wrath of God
  Operation Wrath of God ,This title was an invention of later writers, and was most likely not used by the Mossad itself. also called Operation Bayonet, was a covert operation directed by Israel and the Mossad to assassinate individuals alleged to have been directly or indirectly involved in the...
  
  ) against PLO members accused of the 1972 Munich Massacre
  Munich massacre
  The Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Members of Black September...
  
  .
• Bruce Rusty Lang, commander of a mixed United States Army Special Forces
  United States Army Special Forces
  The United States Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets because of their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force tasked with six primary missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, hostage rescue, and...
  
   & Montagnard (Degar
  Degar
  The Degar are the indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The term Montagnard means "mountain people" in French and is a carryover from the French colonial period in Vietnam. In Vietnamese, they are known by the term thượng - this term can also be applied to other minority ethnic...
  
  /Bru people
  Bru people
  The Bru are an ethnic group living in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. They speak Bru, a Mon–Khmer language, which has several dialects...
  
  ) commando
  Commando
  In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
  
   Recon
  Special reconnaissance
  Special reconnaissance is conducted by small units of highly trained military personnel, usually from special forces units or military intelligence organisations, who operate behind enemy lines, avoiding direct combat and detection by the enemy. As a role, SR is distinct from commando operations,...
  
   Team (RT Oklahoma) of Command and Control North, Studies and Observations Group. Previously served on Project 404
  Project 404
  Project 404 was the code name for a covert United States Air Force advisory mission to Laos during the later years of the Second Indochina War, which would eventually become known in the United States as the Vietnam War...
  
  , U.S. Embassy Laos, Assistant Army Attaché ("Secret War" in Laos
  Laos
  Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
  
   1970).
• Edward Lansdale
  Edward Lansdale
  Edward Geary Lansdale was a United States Air Force officer who served in the Office of Strategic Services and the Central Intelligence Agency. He rose to the rank of Major General and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1963. He was an early proponent of more aggressive US actions in...
  
  , United States Air Force officer (and eventually major general
  Major General
  Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
  
  ) seconded to the CIA, and noted for his work with Ramon Magsaysay
  Ramon Magsaysay
  Ramón del Fierro Magsaysay was the third President of the Republic of the Philippines from December 30, 1953 until his death in a plane crash in 1957. He was elected President under the banner of the Nacionalista Party.-Early life:Ramon F...
  
   against the Hukbalahap
  Hukbalahap
  The Hukbalahap , was the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines , formed in 1942 to fight the Japanese Empire's occupation of the Philippines during World War II. It fought a second war from 1946 to 1954 against the pro-Western leaders of their newly independent country...
  
   insurgency in Philippines
  Philippines
  The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
  
   during the early 1950s, and later involved in Operation Mongoose against Cuba.
• T. E. Lawrence
  T. E. Lawrence
  Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO , known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916–18...
  
  , British "Lawrence of Arabia" who organized Arab forces during World War I
  World War I
  World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
  
  .
• Alain Mafart
  Alain Mafart
  Alain Mafart is a French military officer best known for his part in the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.Mafart was a DGSE agent and deputy commander of the French Navy Training Centre in Corsica...
  
  , French DGSE officer convicted, in New Zealand
  New Zealand
  New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
  
  , for sinking the Greenpeace
  Greenpeace
  Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
  
   ship Rainbow Warrior
  Rainbow Warrior (1978)
  The Rainbow Warrior was a former UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food trawler later purchased by the environmental organisation Greenpeace...
  
  .
• Richard Meadows, United States Army
  United States Army
  The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
  
   Special Forces officer known for many operations, including the POW rescue attempt at Son Tay
  Son Tay
  Sơn Tây is an urban district and city in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It was the capital of Son Tay province before merging with Ha Dong province in 1965...
  
  , North Vietnam, and for deep operations in support of Operation Eagle Claw
  Operation Eagle Claw
  Operation Eagle Claw was an American military operation ordered by President Jimmy Carter to attempt to put an end to the Iran hostage crisis by rescuing 52 Americans held captive at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran on 24 April 1980...
  
  .
• Richard Meinertzhagen
  Richard Meinertzhagen
  Colonel Richard Henry Meinertzhagen CBE DSO was a British soldier, intelligence officer and ornithologist.- Background and youth :Meinertzhagen was born into a socially connected, wealthy British family...
  
  , British officer who engaged in deceptive operations against Turkish forces in World War I
  World War I
  World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
  
  , although falsifying later operations.
• Ramon Mercader
  Ramón Mercader
  Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río Hernández was a Spanish communist who became famous as the murderer of Russian Communist ideologist Leon Trotsky in 1940, in Mexico...
  
  , NKVD operator who assassinated Leon Trotsky
  Leon Trotsky
  Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
  
   under the direction of Pavel Sudoplatov
  Pavel Sudoplatov
  Lieutenant General Pavel Anatolyevich Sudoplatov was a member of the intelligence services of the Soviet Union who rose to the rank of lieutenant general...
  
  .
• Omar Nasiri
  Omar Nasiri
  Omar Nasiri is the pseudonym of a Moroccan spy who infiltrated al-Qaeda, attending training camps in Afghanistan and passing information to the UK and French intelligence services...
  
  
• Noor Inayat Khan
  Noor Inayat Khan
  Assistant Section Officer Noor Inayat Khan / Nora Baker, GC, MBE , usually known as Noor Inayat Khan was of Indian Muslim origin...
  
  , Anglo-Indian Special Operations Executive
  Special Operations Executive
  The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
  
   radio operator in World War II Occupied France, killed in Nazi captivity with three other SOE agents, Yolande Beekman
  Yolande Beekman
  Yolande Beekman was a World War II spy.-Early life:...
  
  , Eliane Plewman
  Eliane Plewman
  Eliane Plewman was a French SOE agent and member of French resistance.Plewman was born Eliane Browne-Bartroli in Marseille. The daughter of an English father and Spanish mother, she was educated in England and in Spain...
  
   and Madeleine Damerment.
• Chuck Pfarrer
  Chuck Pfarrer
  Charles Patrick "Chuck" Pfarrer, III is an American novelist, screenwriter, and former U.S. Navy SEAL from Biloxi, Mississippi.-Biography:...
  
  , former Navy SEAL.
• Dominique Prieur
  Dominique Prieur
  Dominique Prieur is a French military officer who was convicted of manslaughter over her part in the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior....
  
  , French DGSE officer convicted, in New Zealand
  New Zealand
  New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
  
  , for sinking the Greenpeace
  Greenpeace
  Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
  
   ship Rainbow Warrior
  Rainbow Warrior (1978)
  The Rainbow Warrior was a former UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food trawler later purchased by the environmental organisation Greenpeace...
  
  
• Richard Quirin, German World War II saboteur landed by German submarine in the US, as part of Operation Pastorius
  Operation Pastorius
  Operation Pastorius was a failed plan for sabotage via a series of attacks by Nazi German agents inside the United States. The operation was staged in June 1942 and was to be directed against strategic U.S. economic targets...
  
  . Captured and executed. ex parte Quirin
  Ex parte Quirin
  Ex parte Quirin, , is a Supreme Court of the United States case that upheld the jurisdiction of a United States military tribunal over the trial of several Operation Pastorius German saboteurs in the United States...
  
   was a Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of execution of unlawful combatants.
• Ali Hassan Salameh
  Ali Hassan Salameh
  Ali Hassan Salameh was the chief of operations—code name Abu Hassan—for Black September, the organization responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre and other attacks. He was also the founder of Force 17...
  
  , chief of operations of Black September
  Black September (group)
  The Black September Organization was a Palestinian paramilitary group, founded in 1970. It was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes and officials, and fatal shooting of a West German policeman, during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, their most publicized event...
  
  .
• Mike Spann, CIA field officer and the first Agency operative to be killed in action during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
• Gary Schroen
  Gary Schroen
  Gary C. Schroen is a former Central Intelligence Agency field officer who was in charge of the initial CIA incursion into Afghanistan in September 2001 to topple the Taliban regime and to destroy Al Qaeda....
  
  , CIA field officer who led the first CIA team into Afghanistan
  Afghanistan
  Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
  
   during the opening stages of Operation Enduring Freedom.
• Otto Skorzeny
  Otto Skorzeny
  Otto Skorzeny was an SS-Obersturmbannführer in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he was chosen as the field commander to carry out the rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity...
  
  , German commando who led the rescue of Benito Mussolini
  Benito Mussolini
  Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
  
  , and operated in US uniform during the Battle of the Bulge
  Battle of the Bulge
  The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
  
  .
• Pavel Sudoplatov
  Pavel Sudoplatov
  Lieutenant General Pavel Anatolyevich Sudoplatov was a member of the intelligence services of the Soviet Union who rose to the rank of lieutenant general...
  
  , major general in Soviet state security (under many organizational names), with roles ranging from assassin to director of field operations.
• Jesús Villamor, Filipino Air Force officer that helped organize World War II guerilla movements.
• Billy Waugh
  Billy Waugh
  Sergeant Major William "Billy" Waugh , is a highly decorated American Special Forces soldier and a Central Intelligence Agency Paramilitary Operations Officer who served in the United States military and CIA special operations for more than fifty years. SGM Waugh served in the U.S...
  
  , former United States Special Forces soldier who later worked as a contractor with the CIA.
• Sarowar Hasan, former United States Air Force
  United States Air Force
  The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
  
   officer who later worked as a contractor with the CIA.

Representations in popular culture

Covert operations have often been the subject of popular novels, films, TV series, comics, etc. The Company

The Company (Prison Break)

The Company is a fictional covert organization featured in the American television drama/thriller series Prison Break. It is a secret group of multinationals known almost exclusively by those who work for them . Its influence and power over individuals stretches to the White House, influencing...

 is a fictional covert organization featured in the American television drama/thriller series Prison Break

Prison Break

Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...

. Also other series that deal with covert operations are Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...

, Alias

Alias (TV series)

Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...

, Burn Notice

Burn notice

A burn notice is an official statement issued by one intelligence agency to other agencies. It states that an individual or a group is unreliable for one or more reasons...

, The Unit

The Unit

The Unit is an American action-drama television series that focuses on a top-secret military unit modeled after the real-life U.S. Army special operations unit commonly known as Delta Force...

, The State Within

The State Within

The State Within is a 2006 Seven-episode British television political drama, written by Lizzie Mickery and Daniel Percival, produced by Grainne Marmion as a joint BBC–BBC America production, that was broadcast by BBC1 in the United Kingdom from Thursday, 2 November 2006.The protagonist of The State...

, Covert Affairs

Covert Affairs

Covert Affairs is a USA Network television series starring Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham. The one-hour drama premiered on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. The show concluded its first season on September 14, 2010 and was renewed for a second season on August 19, 2010. The second season began airing on...

and 24

24 (TV series)

24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...

.

See also

• Spy fiction
  Spy fiction
  Spy fiction, literature concerning the forms of espionage, was a sub-genre derived from the novel during the nineteenth century, which then evolved into a discrete genre before the First World War , when governments established modern intelligence agencies in the early twentieth century...
  
  
• Spy film
  Spy film
  The spy film genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy . Many novels in the spy fiction genre have been adapted as films, including works by John Buchan, John Le Carré, Ian Fleming and Len Deighton...
  
  
• HUMINT
  HUMINT
  HUMINT, a syllabic abbreviation of the words HUMan INTelligence, refers to intelligence gathering by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the more technical intelligence gathering disciplines such as SIGINT, IMINT and MASINT...
  
   (clandestine
  Clandestine HUMINT
  Clandestine HUMINT includes a wide range of espionage sources. This includes the classic spy who collects intelligence, but also couriers and other personnel, who handle their secure communications...
  
   (operational techniques
  Clandestine HUMINT operational techniques
  The Clandestine HUMINT page deals with the functions of that discipline, including espionage and active counterintelligence. This page deals with Clandestine HUMINT operational techniques, also called "tradecraft". It applies to clandestine operations for espionage, and for a clandestine phase...
  
  ))
• Counter-intelligence
  Counter-intelligence
  Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
  
  
• Military intelligence
  Military intelligence
  Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
  
  
• Black operation
  Black operation
  A black operation or black op is a covert operation typically involving activities that are highly clandestine and often outside of standard military protocol or even against the law.-Origins:...
  
  
• False flag
  False flag
  False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own...
  
  
• SO10
  SO10
  SO10 was the former designation of the Metropolitan Police's Covert Operations Group.-History:The group's origins can be traced back to 1960, with the formation of what was known as the Criminal Investigation Branch, which later evolved and was merged into SO10 and the Public Order Unit...
  
  
• Counterintelligence Field Activity
  Counterintelligence Field Activity
  Counterintelligence Field Activity was a United States Department of Defense agency whose size and budget were classified. The CIFA was created by a directive from the Secretary of Defense on February 19, 2002...
  
  
• Covert Warfare
  Covert Warfare (book)
  Covert Warfare: Intelligence, Counterintelligence and Military Deception During the World War II Era is an eighteen volume book edited by John Mendelsohn and published in 1989 by Garland....
  
  
• Task Force Falcon
  Task Force Falcon
  Task Force Falcon may refer to:*Task Force Falcon , a US Army Task Force*Task Force Falcon , a bounty-hunting company...
  
  
• Manhunt (military)
  Manhunt (military)
  Manhunting is the deliberate identification, capturing, or killing of senior or otherwise important enemy combatants, classified as high-value targets, usually by special operations forces and intelligence organizations...
  
  
• Church Committee
  Church Committee
  The Church Committee is the common term referring to the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church in 1975. A precursor to the U.S...
  
  
• Covert United States foreign regime change actions

External links

• http://www.defencejournal.com/2000/feb/raw.htm
• Statutory Procedures Under Which Congress Is To Be Informed of U.S. Intelligence Activities, Including Covert Actions by Alfred Cumming, January 18, 2006 (HTML) - Congressional Research Service via thewall.civiblog.org
• Richard Hersh Statement to House Judiciary Democratic Congressional Briefing, January 20, 2006 (HTML) via thewall.civiblog.org
• Full Transcript, House Judiciary Democratic Membership Briefing "Constitution in Crisis: Domestic Surveillance and Executive Power" January 20, 2006 (HTML) via thewall.civiblog.org
• "Big Brother is Watching You Part 1 - 902 MI Group TALON Project Summary, Spreadsheet, Rep. Wexler response, and News Coverage collection (includes Shane Harris's "TIA Lives On") via thewall.civiblog.org
• Steath Network Operations Centre - Covert Communication Support System