Agent handler is a generic term common to many intelligence organizations which can be applied to Case Officers, those who aspire to be Case officers, "controllers", contacts, couriers and other assorted trainees.

Intelligence

The objectives of intelligence work are many. There is no single job for operatives: each has a particular position within an organization. At the high end, it may be to penetrate and infiltrate a target organization: either with one's own personnel, or to gain an "agent in place". If the job is to handle an agent in place, a Case Officer may be required to oversee the agent.

Sometimes the oversight is done indirectly, through lower level "handlers", "controllers", and contacts. The CIA customarily uses "agents of influence": secondary sources connected with a target, like the maid to an ambassador who digs through the trash. This recognizes its weakness at the direct approach of recruitment. Such agents may be easier to find, but do not substitute for having the actual target in your employ. The CIAs seal features an eagle atop a sixteen-point compass. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Other operative positions are support functions: maintenance and operation of "safe houses", couriers, etc.

Agent

An "agent" by definition acts on behalf of another, the "another", in this case, being an organization or government. Agents can be either witting or unwitting, willing or unwilling. Agents are typically under the direction of an agent handler or controller. In the case of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, this handler is known as a Case Officer. Motto: E pluribus unum (1789 to 1956) (Latin: Out of Many, One) In God We Trust (1956 to present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at federal level; English de facto Government • President • Vice President Federal Republic George... The CIAs seal features an eagle atop a sixteen-point compass. ...

A potential recruit is often identified by skimming of trade journals and professional proceedings for subject experts names and affiliations, vulnerable political and technical delegation members, trade conferences attendees, and foreign travellers whose activities make them potential subjects for coercion or inducement. The assessment of a potential agent includes verification of their credentials and bona fides or true identities. An approach is either done 'cold,' where the recruiter has no prior contact with the target, or 'warm,' in which the handler and the target are prior acquaintances. Recruitment of an agent can take many months or even years to accomplish, and is risky. Blackmail - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... In law, good faith (in Latin, bona fides) is the mental and moral state of honest, even if objectively unfounded, conviction as to the truth or falsehood of a proposition or body of opinion, or as to the rectitude or depravity of a line of conduct. ...

KGB recruiting practices show a record of success. The Soviet Union recovered from a defeat in the Polish-Soviet War in 1920 to become one of the worlds' only two superpowers armed with nuclear weapons within 30 years, in part based on skilled espionage. The first step was obtaining permission from the Moscow (or 'the Center'). Next came a formal recruitment interview by an experienced operative or officer. Topic number one in the interview was the person's motivation for spying for the USSR, with the attendant issue of whether the person was a provocateur of another intelligence service. Often the language of "contracts" was used, with reference to "signing on". Following the recruitment meeting the recruiting officer submitted a comprehensive report to the Center. The KGB emblem and motto: The sword and the shield KGB (transliteration of КГБ) is the Russian-language abbreviation for State Security Committee, (Russian: ; Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti). ... Combatants Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic Second Polish Republic Commanders Mikhail Tukhachevsky Józef Piłsudski Edward Rydz-Śmigły Strength 950,000 including reserves 5 million 360,000 including reserves 738,000 Casualties Unknown, dead estimated at 100,000 - 150,000 Unknown, dead estimated at 60,000 The Polish... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ...

Case Officer

The relationship between Case Officer and agent might be compared to psychiatrist and patient. A person willing to become involved in espionage, and the betrayal of his country, is often someone with emotional problems, or subject to the stress of the work. The Case Officer is mentor and must exhibit characteristics such as professionalism in the operational field, a cool head, and control of the emotions. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that studies and treats mental and emotional disorders (see mental illness). ...

After a source (agent) has been exploited, he is in practice often no longer handled well (historical examples from BND, MI6 and others). Promises are made but broken. Case officers may privately lack respect for an agent who is risking his life. Every agent runs the risk of being exposed by penetration of his employers, for example by a defection from within his handler's organization. The Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service, BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of the German government, under the control of the Bundeskanzleramt (Federal Chancellery). ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6 (originally Military Intelligence Section 6), or the Secret Service, is the United Kingdom external security agency. ...

Training

After recruitment, agents are given the training required to conduct espionage activities safely and effectively. CIA training often includes various tradecraft such as clandestine communications, elicitation, surveillance and counter-surveillance, photographic and audio recording, concealment device construction, demolitions, use of small arms, all depending on the persons fitness and skills. Tradecraft are the techniques used in modern espionage. ... American dollar coin used for concealment Concealment devices, as the term suggests, are used to hide things for the purpose of secrecy. ...

In some forms of infiltration, the agent may be provided with a false identity, which CIA calls a cover or legend, that might aid in their access and operability in regards to the target. This may depend on false or reproduced documentation, disguises, and other identity support techniques. See: espionage, urban exploration, entryism, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. ...

Agent in place

An agent in place refers to a subject known within a society, known to his friends, who may even have a position inside a government, and is willing to cooperate or assist. Case handling in these instances require much more caution, security, and training. It is extremely dangerous for both the Case officer and agent to publicly meet and have face to face contact, though initially this may be necessary to establish bona fides and some training regarding contacts. Usually the agent in place is then handed off to an innocuous cutout, or series of cutouts, who act as go-betweens and courier, delivering instructions and retrieving material.

 It has also been known that agents are given training in the art of invisibility(Stealth tactics of Ninjistu art). 

Unwitting agent

Examples are Stephen S. Attwood and Walter Lippmann. In Attwood's case someone connected with the university he taught at was working for Soviet intelligence; in Lippmann's case his personal stenographer had knowledge of all his Washington D.C. contacts and their conversations. Stephen Stanley Attwood (1897-1965) was an American academic. ... Cover of Time Magazine, March 30, 1930 Walter Lippmann (September 23, 1889 - December 14, 1974), was an influential United States writer, journalist, and political commentator. ...

Wen Ho Lee, it appears now, through sloppy work habits and carelessness on both his part and Los Alamos National Laboratory's, unwittingly passed vital information to the Chinese Communist Government. Wen Ho Lee (Chinese: 李文和; pinyin: Lǐ Wénhé; born December 21, 1939) is a Taiwanese American scientist who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory and was accused of stealing secrets about the U.S.s nuclear arsenal for China. ... Los Alamos National Laboratory, aerial view from 1995. ... Communist Party of China flag The Communist Party of China (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党; Traditional Chinese: 中國共産黨; pinyin: Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng) is the ruling party of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Fronts and cutouts

A front organization in espionage functions within a system of "cutouts". The extensive use of cutouts, so long as they are trusted and reliable persons, can become a long chain of individuals. A front organization (or organisation), also known as a front group (if it is structured to look like a voluntary association); a front company, a shell corporation or simply a front (if it is structured to look like a company), is any entity set up by and controlled by another...

A "ring" within a penetrated bureau consists of several collectors of information from different areas within the penetrated bureau. The most valuable source must be protected; so often the least "productive" infiltrator, i.e. the person lowest on the totem pole within the penetrated target, functions as the head of the group and cutout.

Historical reconstruction and its limitations

Intelligence and counter-intelligence are two different fields. Intelligence (abbreviated or ) is the process and the result of gathering information and analyzing it to answer questions or obtain advance warnings needed to plan for the future. ... Counter Intelligence A uk label started and owned by John Machielsen. ...

What can be learned from a successful espionage operation usually comes from counter-espionage files, which may give a distorted or opaque view. For example, what is known about the CPUSA's secret apparatus, which operated a very large and successful organization in the United States from about 1921 to 1945, comes largely from FBI and SIS counter-intelligence files. These files, however, are fragmentary. While counter-intelligence agents successfully identified perhaps a third of CPUSA and Soviet operatives between 1945 and 1950, memoirs of the operatives, testimony (if credible), or archival documents, and these alone, can document the entire organization's mission and methods. The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is one of several Marxist-Leninist groups in the United States. ... // Browder, Golos and Peters By the mid to late 1920s, there were three elements of Soviet power operating in the United States, despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations, the Comintern, military intelligence or GRU, and the forerunner of the KGB, the GPU. The Comintern was the dominant arm, though... 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... Arlington Hall Arlington Hall was the headquarters of the US Armys Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) cryptography effort during World War II. It was named for its location in Arlington Hall Station, Arlington, Virginia—a private girls school which was commandeered during the War. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Counter-intelligence

The objective of counter-intelligence is to identify hostile intelligence operatives. Once identification has been made, the operative is not necessarily arrested immediately. A decision must be made, and hostile operatives can be left alone for a period of time so as not to reveal the existence of counter-intelligence operations. Counter Intelligence A uk label started and owned by John Machielsen. ...

Nonetheless, an identified operative must be cut off from access to further secure information, without letting them know their cover is blown. They might then be given disinformation, either directly or indirectly. An assessment must be made as to the extent of the damage caused by that operative. Eventually, the operative and his handlers will realize their operation has been compromised if useless disinformation is being passed, but this creates time for the difficult process of "walking the dog backwards" to determine what has been compromised within the target organization. That is the point at which an arrest is usually made. Sometimes the process of feeding disinformation can be useful, and a hostile operative may be left in place for years. Under cover work means infiltrating suspect nations, criminal or terrorist underworld groups and individuals. ... Disinformation, in the context of espionage, military intelligence, and propaganda, is the spreading of deliberately false information to mislead an enemy as to ones position or course of action. ...

Occasionally attempts are made to "turn" a mole; that is, gain his cooperation without exposing to his controllers that his cover has been blown. Turning a mole can make him an unwilling agent of either side, either to continue the feed of disinformation, or being coerced at threat of imprisonment to betray his compatriot organization. In the famous case of Arkady Shevchenko, a Soviet diplomat to the United Nations who asked to defect, rather than accept his defection the CIA required he remain in place and engage in espionage. Shevchenko was a professional diplomat, not a spy, and he found the stressful work nerve-wracking. Arkady Nikolayevich Shevchenko (Russian: October 11, 1930 – February 28, 1998), a Ukrainian born Soviet diplomat, was the highest-ranking Soviet official to defect to the west. ... The United Nations, with its headquarters in New York City, is the largest international diplomatic organization. ... United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. ...

MICE

The concept of "MICE" was originated by American counterintelligence in an effort to understand what motivates a person to be willing to betray their own country. It can be regarded as one of America's contributions to the art and science of the business, now that both intelligence and counterintelligence agencies worldwide rely upon this simple mnemonic, to spot potential recruits or identify potential agents in the service of a foreign organization. The concept is simple: it is either Money, Ideology, Coercion, or Excitement, that causes a person to be willing to betray their friends and neighbours, or their whole country, and go into the service of a foreign espionage organization. Sometimes "intrigue" is substituted for ideology, or "ego" for excitement, but the end result is the same. It is claimed that no one has produced a better summary of traitors' motivations. There are many suggested motives for spying that an individual may have. ... A mnemonic (pronounced in American English, in British English) is a memory aid. ... An example of Money. ... An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ... Coercion is the practice of compelling a person to act by employing threat of harm (usually physical force, sometimes other forms of harm). ... eGO is a company that builds electric motor scooters which are becoming popular for urban transportation and vacation use. ...

Individuals who are motivated to betray their country for money, out of greed, tend to be persons who feel life has cheated them out of their just rewards, so they have no qualms about being fairly compensated, in their own eyes, for their worth. At the same they can get back at the society which has misunderstood and not appreciated their talents. When Aldrich Ames bought an $80,000 Jaguar, there was not the slightest pretense of hiding the fruit of his labors. Aldrich Ames Aldrich Hazen Ames (born June 16, 1941 in River Falls, Wisconsin) is a former Central InteIIigence Agency counter-intelligence officer and analyst, who in 1994 was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. ...

Ideology, however is the opposite end of the spectrum. People with this motivation are deeply committed to a system of beliefs that they perceive sustains them, their families, communities, and their friends. Such people will risk their lives for no payment, service to the cause being their reward. Both Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were "patsies", or fall guys, for a much larger conspiracy, most of whom walked away unscathed. But the Rosenbergs were willing patsies, martyrs to a cause for which Julius was willing to see his own wife executed rather than implicate others, and Ethel was willing to orphan her own children, in service to the cause. As to intrigue, Kim Philby rose to the number two spot in British intelligence and was poised to become head, and assisted the United States to establish a peacetime espionage organization, but in doing so compromised the CIA from its founding. He originally was recruited into Soviet intelligence to spy on his father, St. John Philby. The Rosenbergs Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens and Communist Party members who were thrust into the world spotlight when they were tried, convicted and executed for spying for the Soviet Union. ... Harold Adrian Russell Kim Philby or H.A.R. Philby (1 January 1912 – 11 May 1988) was a high ranking member of British intelligence who led a lifelong career as a spy for the Soviet Union. ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6 (originally Military Intelligence Section 6), or the Secret Service, is the United Kingdom external security agency. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... Harry St. ...

Coercion can be used against an unwilling participant, homosexuality-related blackmail and bribery being two of the most common forms. The classic example of homosexuality is Donald Maclean who was compromised by Guy Burgess. As to bribery, once a government official takes a bribe, he is forever in the possession of those who paid him. He must continue taking money, whether he wants to or not, for fear of exposure. Coercion can also be used against a loved one, in forms ranging from fear of exposure to violence and even murder. The word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings over time. ... Bribery is a crime defined by Blacks Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions as an official or other person in discharge of a public or legal duty. ... Donald Duart Maclean Donald Duart Maclean (25 May 1913- 6 March 1983) was one of the Cambridge Five, members of MI5 and MI6 who acted as spies for the Soviet Union in the Second World War. ... Guy Francis De Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British-born intelligence officer and double agent who worked for the Soviet Union and was part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed allied secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War. ...

Elizabeth Bentley is perhaps the classic study of excitement being the motivating factor. Bentley began her espionage career with a fascist organization, but quickly joined a communist entity, so ideology does not seem too apparent. Bentley then became the lover of a high-level CPUSA underground operative who had been a chekist. When he died, Bentley took over his operations but her personal loss had a huge impact on her work. Excitement, romance, and sex were the original reasons she got involved, and when she lost those things she defected back to her home country. Elizabeth Terrill Bentley (1905-1963) was an American former spy for the Soviet Union who eventually defected to the United States and provided the Truman administration and the House Committee on Un-American Activities with the names of several people she claimed were spies for the USSR. Bentley was studying... The Cheka (ЧК in Russian) was the first (of many) Soviet secret police organizations. ...

Residuals

Valuable spies are sometimes not hanged but exchanged for spies from the opposite country. Many agencies tell their spies that they will not be forgotten in a foreign prison, but this is not always the case. During the Cold War many exchanges with eastern-bloc agents were made on the Glienicke bridge between East Berlin and West Berlin. The Cold War (Russian: Холодная война , Kholodna-ya voina) was the protracted geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged after World War II between the global superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States, supported by their alliance partners. ... The Glienicke bridge is a bridge in Berlin that was used by the superpowers to exchange captured spies. ... East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. ... Boroughs of West Berlin West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. ...