The Exploding Envelope Series: What’s in a name?
Leading up to the release of Take the Bai Road, and the re-release of Bai Tide, I’ve started a blog series about various espionage terms. Today’s installment? Uncovering the all-important Cover Identity!
If you’re a fan of spy fiction (in either written or film form), you’re familiar with the outset of a mission. Your favorite undercover operative receives a thick dossier of materials, one of which is a shiny new forged passport with a different name on it. A fake name, or cover identity, is absolutely critical for a field operative, not just for their own protection, but for the safety of their friends and loved ones as well.
The Clandestine branch of the CIA employs the officers who are responsible for recruiting sources (a.k.a. agents), performing covert missions, and collecting intelligence.
These employees are typically assigned to overseas posts with what is known as “official cover.” Official cover is a legitimate job that justifies their presence on foreign soil and grants them diplomatic immunity. In some cases, these posts are fairly public and the officer becomes well-known in local diplomatic circles. Others, usually in a subordinate role, avoid attention as much as possible while they cultivate assets and collect information.
As you can imagine, any area with information worth collecting will be rife with people trying to collect it. Spies on top of spies on top of spies (sometimes literally, wink wink). This means the best protection for an operative is a fake name with a fake background, a sham identity that will hold up under casual scrutiny and keep the operative’s true name (and employer) a secret.
Why? Well, imagine you’re a very powerful government and you’ve just caught someone snooping in your backyard, trying to drum up information they can use to cripple and/or hinder your aims. What is the first thing you do? Figure out who sent the snoop, and what they want. You can’t just ask the spy (they lie for a living), so you try to look them up.
If they won’t talk, all you have is a suspected nationality and a fake name. If, somehow, you had the person’s real name, imagine what you could do with it. If you were a ruthless sort of person, it wouldn’t be difficult to apply pressure to said snoop by threatening friends, family members, pets, former teachers, etc.
If, however, you end up capturing someone with diplomatic immunity who’s there with the permission of your own government and has a perfectly legitimate reason for being there? Well, you’re kind of out of luck. The best you can do is politely insist they leave.
There are four levels of cover:
No cover. Publicly acknowledged employees of the CIA. Think upper management, recruiters, and government liaisons.
Light cover. Their friends and family might know who they really work for, but for anyone else the answer is vague at best and usually given as a harmless division of the government. This kind of cover requires no work, and will not stand up after even the most casual digging. Think analysts, scientists, and other headquarters-based employees.
Official cover. See above. Essential for all overseas employees. To “out” someone’s official cover is actually a felony so, um, don’t do it. (Bai utilizes this kind of cover in Bai Tide, and in Blood Money).
Nonofficial cover. Dangerous stuff. NOCs (pronounced like knocks) are the most covert operatives. These spies operate without diplomatic immunity, which means, if caught, they risk disownment by their own government and are left at the mercy of their captors. Inciting insurrections, recruiting guerilla fighters, breaking laws on foreign soil to get the job done, etc. would all be performed by NOCs. (Bai will have be a NOC in Take the Bai Road and, yes, it’s really freaking dangerous).
So when James Bond goes brooding around bars telling everyone his real name because he’s cool like that and just doesn’t give a damn? Well, in reality he’d be doing his brooding while posing as an Embassy liaision or something, with a perfectly ordinary name like Charles Montgomery.
“Montgomery. Charles Montgomery,” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, though, does it?
Pick up Bai Tide today to find out what ridiculous name Bai picked as his cover name for his supposedly easy assignment…
Did you enjoy this post? If so, be sure to order a copy of one of my books for more in-depth looks at the fascinating world of espionage!
