View source for Espionage

{{Short description|Clandestine acquisition of confidential information}}
{{Other uses}}
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{{Redirect-multi|2|Spy|Secret agent}}
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{{Use American English|date=March 2018}}
{{OR1|date=September 2025}}

{{Intelligence}}{{Criminal law}}

'''Espionage''', '''spying''', or '''intelligence gathering''', as a subfield of the [[intelligence field]], is the act of obtaining secret, [[Confidentiality|confidential]], or in some way valuable information. Such information is also referred to as [[Intelligence (information)|intelligence]]. A professional trained in conducting intelligence operations by their government may be employed as an [[intelligence officer]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Language of Espionage |url=https://www.spymuseum.org/education-programs/spy-resources/language-of-espionage/ |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=International Spy Museum |language=en}}</ref> Espionage may be conducted in a foreign country, domestically or remotely. The practice is [[Clandestine operation|clandestine]], as it is by definition unwelcome. In some circumstances, it may be a legal tool of [[law enforcement]] and in others, it may be [[Crime|illegal]] and punishable by law.

Espionage is often part of an institutional effort by a government or commercial concern. The term is frequently associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies for [[Military intelligence|military]] purposes. However, there are many types of espionage. [[Industrial espionage]], for example, involves spying on civilians and their respective [[business]] or [[corporate]] interests.

One way spies gather data and information about a targeted military organization is by infiltrating its ranks. They can then return information such as the size and strength of the [[enemy force|enemy forces]]. They can also find [[collaborationism|collaborators]] and [[dissidents]] within the organization and influence them to provide further information or defect.<ref>Fischbacher-Smith, D., 2011. "The enemy has passed through the gate: Insider threats, the dark triad, and the challenges around security". ''Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance'', 2(2), pp. 134–156.</ref> Spies can steal technology and [[sabotage]] the enemy in various ways. [[Counterespionage]], also known as counterintelligence or [[Counterintelligence#Theory of offensive counterintelligence|offensive countertintelligence]], is the practice of thwarting enemy espionage and intelligence gathering. Almost all [[sovereign state|sovereign states]] have laws concerning espionage and the penalties for being caught spying are often severe.[[File:Wolkowski-Craucher.jpg|thumb|Madame [[Minna Craucher]] (''right''), a Finnish [[socialite]] and spy, with her chauffeur Boris Wolkowski (''left'') in 1930s]]
== History ==
{{Main|History of espionage}}

=== Ancient world ===
Espionage has been recognized as of importance in military affairs since ancient times.

The oldest known classified document was a report made by a spy disguised as a [[Envoy (title)|diplomatic envoy]] in the court of [[King Hammurabi]], who died in around 1750 BC. The [[ancient Egypt]]ians had a developed secret service, and espionage is mentioned in the ''[[Iliad]]'', the [[Bible]], and the [[Amarna letters]].<ref name="foo">{{cite web |title=Espionage Facts |url=https://www.spymuseum.org/education-programs/spy-resources/espionage-facts/ |website=International Spy Museum |access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref> Espionage was also prevalent in the [[Greco-Roman world]], when spies employed illiterate subjects in [[civil service]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Richmond |first=J. A. |date=1998 |title=Spies in Ancient Greece |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/643204 |journal=Greece & Rome |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1093/gr/45.1.1 |jstor=643204 |issn=0017-3835|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ñaco del Hoyo |first=Toni |date=November 2014 |title=Roman and Pontic Intelligence Strategies: Politics and War in the Time of Mithradates VI |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26098615 |journal=War in History |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=401–421 |doi=10.1177/0968344513505528 |jstor=26098615 |s2cid=220652440 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=ehoward |date=2006-06-12 |title=Espionage in Ancient Rome |url=https://www.historynet.com/espionage-in-ancient-rome/ |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=HistoryNet |language=en-US}}</ref>

The thesis that espionage and intelligence has a central role in [[war]] as well as [[peace]] was first advanced in ''[[The Art of War]]'' and in the ''[[Arthashastra]]''. "The Art of War," identifies five types of spies that are essential for gathering intelligence and achieving victory: ''local spies'' (citizen [[informants]] within the enemy's territory), ''inward spies'' (recruited [[double agent]]s within the enemy ranks), converted spies (recruited [[Defection|defectors]] converted to serve your side), doomed spies (expendable [[Fabricator (intelligence)|fabricators]] used to spread disinformation; acts as decoy for counter-intelligence), and surviving spies (spies that provide accurate intelligence after gathering information from the enemy).

=== Middle Ages ===
In the [[Middle Ages]] European states excelled at what has later been termed counter-[[subversion]] when Catholic [[inquisition]]s were staged to annihilate [[heresy]]. Inquisitions were marked by centrally organised mass [[interrogation]]s and detailed record keeping. Western espionage changed fundamentally during the Renaissance when Italian [[city-state]]s installed resident [[ambassador]]s in [[capital cities]] to collect intelligence.

=== Feudal Asia ===
In Asia, the [[Mongol Empire]] relied on a state-sponsored network of spies, often disguised as merchants, who gathered intelligence on enemy strengths, weaknesses and potential allies in a series of conquests. [[Feudal Japan]] utilized specialized covert agents called [[shinobi]] (ninja), who were mercenaries hired by feudal lords for espionage, sabotage and infiltration, often operating outside the code of the [[samurai]].

=== The Renaissance ===
Renaissance [[Venice]] became so obsessed with espionage that the [[Council of Ten]], which was nominally responsible for [[security]], did not even allow the [[Doge (title)|doge]] to consult government [[archive]]s freely. In 1481 the Council of Ten barred all Venetian government officials from making contact with ambassadors or foreigners. Those revealing [[official secret]]s could face the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]]. Venice became obsessed with espionage because successful [[international trade]] demanded that the city-state could protect its [[trade secret]]s.

Under Queen [[Elizabeth I]] of England ({{reign | 1558 | 1603}}), [[Francis Walsingham]] ({{circa}} 1532–1590) was appointed foreign secretary and intelligence chief.<ref>{{Cite book | last= Andrew | first= Christopher | title= The Secret World: A History of Intelligence | date= 28 June 2018 | publisher= Penguin Books Limited | isbn= 9780241305225}}</ref> The novelist and journalist [[Daniel Defoe]] (died 1731) not only spied for the British government, but also developed a theory of espionage foreshadowing modern [[police-state]] methods.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Ulfkotte
 |first1               = Udo
 |author-link1         = Udo Ulfkotte
 |year                 = 1997
 |title                = Verschlusssache BND
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=V_oEAQAAIAAJ
 |language             = de
 |edition              = 2
 |location             = Munich
 |publisher            = Koehler & Amelang
 |page                 = 38
 |isbn                 = 9783733802141
 |access-date          = 6 January 2023
 |quote                = Ein neuer Typ des Spions War Daniel Defoe (1650–1731), der Autor des weltberühmten Romans "Robinson Crusoe" ... Zudem verfaßte Defoe eine Theorie der Spionage, in der er der Regierung die Spitzelmethoden des Polizeistaates empfahl.
}}
</ref>

=== United States ===
During the [[American Revolution]], [[Nathan Hale]] and [[Benedict Arnold]] achieved their fame as spies, and there was considerable use of [[American Civil War spies|spies on both sides during the American Civil War]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Allen|first=Thomas|title=Intelligence in the Civil War|url=https://irp.fas.org/cia/product/civilwar.pdf|access-date=September 3, 2021|publisher=Intelligence Resource Program, Central Intelligence Agency}}</ref> Though not a spy himself, [[George Washington]] was America's first [[wikt:spymaster|spymaster]], utilizing espionage tactics against the British.<ref name="foo" />

=== World War I, World War II ===
In the 20th century, at the height of [[World War I]], all [[great power]]s except the [[United States]] had elaborate civilian espionage systems, and all national military establishments had intelligence units. In order to protect the country against foreign agents, the [[U.S. Congress]] passed the [[Espionage Act of 1917]]. [[Mata Hari]], who obtained information for Germany by seducing French officials, was the most noted espionage agent of World War I. Prior to [[World War II]], [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] and [[Empire of Japan|Imperial Japan]] established elaborate espionage nets. In 1942 the [[Office of Strategic Services]] was founded by Gen. [[William J. Donovan]]. However, the British [[Special Operations Executive]] was the keystone of Allied intelligence. Numerous resistance groups such as the Austrian [[Heinrich Maier|Maier]]-Messner Group, the [[French Resistance]], the [[Witte Brigade]], [[Milorg]] and the Polish [[Home Army]] worked against Nazi Germany and provided the Allied secret services with information that was very important for the war effort.

=== Cold War ===
Since the end of [[World War II]], the activity of espionage has enlarged, much of it growing out of the [[Cold War]] between the United States and the [[Former Soviet Union|former USSR]]. The [[Russian Empire]] and its successor, the [[Soviet Union]], have had a long tradition of espionage ranging from the [[Okhrana]] to the [[KGB]] (Committee for State Security), which also acted as a secret police force. In the United States, the 1947 National Security Act created the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) to coordinate intelligence and the National Security Agency for research into codes and electronic communication. In addition to these, the United States has 13 other intelligence gathering agencies; most of the U.S. expenditures for intelligence gathering are budgeted to various Defense Dept. agencies and their programs. Under the intelligence reorganization of 2004, the director of national intelligence is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the activities and budgets of the U.S. intelligence agencies.

In the [[Cold War]], espionage cases included [[Alger Hiss]], [[Whittaker Chambers]] and the Rosenberg Case. In 1952 the Communist Chinese captured two CIA agents and in 1960 [[Francis Gary Powers]], [[1960 U-2 incident|flying a U-2 reconnaissance mission]] over the Soviet Union for the CIA, was shot down and captured. During the Cold War, many Soviet intelligence officials defected to the West, including Gen. [[Walter Krivitsky]], [[Victor Kravchenko (defector)|Victor Kravchenko]], [[Vladimir Petrov (diplomat)|Vladimir Petrov]], Peter Deriabin, Pawel Monat and [[Oleg Penkovsky]] of the [[GRU (Soviet Union)|GRU]]. Among Western officials who defected to the Soviet Union are [[Guy Burgess]] and [[Donald Maclean (spy)|Donald D. Maclean]] of Great Britain in 1951, [[Otto John]] of West Germany in 1954, [[William Hamilton Martin|William H. Martin]] and [[Bernon F. Mitchell]], U.S. cryptographers, in 1960, and Harold (Kim) Philby of Great Britain in 1962. U.S. acknowledgment of its U-2 flights and the exchange of Francis Gary Powers for [[Rudolf Abel]] in 1962 implied the legitimacy of some espionage as an arm of foreign policy.

[[China]] has a very cost-effective intelligence program that is especially effective in monitoring neighboring countries such as [[Mongolia]], [[Russia]] and [[India]]. Smaller countries can also mount effective and focused espionage efforts. For instance, the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Vietnamese communists]] had consistently superior intelligence during the [[Vietnam War]]. Some Islamic countries, including [[Libya]], [[Iran]] and [[Syria]], have highly developed operations as well. [[SAVAK]], the secret police of the [[Pahlavi dynasty]], was particularly feared by Iranian dissidents before the 1979 [[Iranian Revolution]].

== Modern day ==
Today, spy agencies target the [[illegal drug trade]] and [[terrorism|terrorists]] as well as state actors.<ref>Arrillaga, Pauline. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/07/ap/national/main20060765.shtml "China's spying seeks secret US info."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519102542/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/07/ap/national/main20060765.shtml |date=May 19, 2011 }} ''AP'', 7 May 2011.</ref>

Intelligence services value certain intelligence collection techniques over others. The former Soviet Union, for example, preferred [[Human intelligence (intelligence gathering)|human sources]] over [[Open-source intelligence|research in open sources]], while the United States has tended to emphasize technological methods such as [[Signals intelligence|SIGINT]] and [[Imagery intelligence|IMINT]]. In the Soviet Union, both political ([[KGB]]) and [[military intelligence]] ([[GRU (Soviet Union)|GRU]])<ref>{{cite book| first = Victor| last = Suvorov| author-link = Victor Suvorov| title = Inside the Aquarium| publisher = Berkley| year = 1987| isbn = 978-0-425-09474-7}}</ref> officers were judged by the number of agents they recruited.<!-- This is financial intelligence (FININT), not espionage. If it can be sourced, this should move to FININT. Since January of 2000, a long list of agencies have been data mining the world's stock exchanges; for the US, this program was formalized on October 26, 2001, in the form of the [[Patriot Act]]. This helps track the financing of people who might be laundering money. This is done without warrants. The PATRIOT Act is by no means the only legislation involved here. See, for example, the [[Bank Secrecy Act]], the Right to Financial Privacy Act, and, to some extent, the [[Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act]] and the [[Sarbanes-Oxley Act]]-->

== Targets of espionage ==
Espionage agents are usually trained experts in a targeted field so they can differentiate mundane information from targets of value to their own organizational development. Correct identification of the target at its execution is the sole purpose of the espionage operation.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

Broad areas of espionage targeting expertise include:{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}
* [[Natural resource]]s: strategic production identification and assessment (food, energy, materials). Agents are usually found among bureaucrats who administer these resources in their own countries
* [[Public opinion|Popular sentiment]] towards domestic and foreign policies (popular, middle class, elites). Agents often recruited from field journalistic crews, exchange postgraduate students and sociology researchers
* Strategic economic strengths (production, research, manufacture, infrastructure). Agents recruited from science and technology academia, commercial enterprises, and more rarely from among military technologists
* [[Military capability]] intelligence (offensive, defensive, manoeuvre, naval, air, space). Agents are trained by military espionage education facilities and posted to an area of operation with covert identities to minimize prosecution
* [[Counterintelligence]] operations targeting opponent's intelligence services themselves, such as breaching the confidentiality of communications and recruiting defectors or [[Mole (espionage)|mole]]s

== Methods and terminology ==

=== How the United States defines espionage ===
Although the news media may speak of "spy satellites" and the like, espionage is not a synonym for all intelligence-gathering disciplines. It is a specific form of human source intelligence ([[Human intelligence (intelligence gathering)|HUMINT]]). Codebreaking ([[cryptanalysis]] or [[Signals intelligence#Communications intelligence|COMINT]]), aircraft or satellite photography ([[Imagery intelligence|IMINT]]), and analysis of publicly available data sources ([[Open-source intelligence|OSINT]]) are all intelligence gathering disciplines, but none of them is considered espionage. Many HUMINT activities, such as prisoner [[interrogation]], reports from military [[reconnaissance]] patrols and from diplomats, etc., are not considered espionage. Espionage is the disclosure of sensitive information (classified) to people who are not cleared for that information or access to that sensitive information.

Unlike other forms of [[List of intelligence gathering disciplines|intelligence collection disciplines]], espionage usually involves accessing the place where the desired information is stored or accessing the people who know the information and will divulge it through some kind of [[Deception|subterfuge]]. There are exceptions to physical meetings, such as the [[Oslo Report]], or the insistence of [[Robert Hanssen]] in never meeting the people who bought his information.

The US defines espionage towards itself as "the act of obtaining, delivering, transmitting, communicating, or receiving information about the national defence with an intent, or reason to believe, that the information may be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation". ''[[Black's Law Dictionary]]'' (1990) defines espionage as: "...&nbsp;gathering, transmitting, or losing&nbsp;... information related to the [[defense (military)|national defense]]". Espionage is a violation of United States law, {{UnitedStatesCode|18|792|798}} and Article 106a of the [[Uniform Code of Military Justice]].<ref>{{cite web|last=US Department of Defense |author-link=U.S. Department of Defense |title=Joint Publication 1-02 Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms |date=2007-07-12 |url=http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/new_pubs/jp1_02.pdf |access-date=2007-10-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091108082044/http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/new_pubs/jp1_02.pdf |archive-date=2009-11-08 }}</ref> The United States, like most nations, conducts espionage against other nations, under the control of the [[National Clandestine Service]].{{Update|reason=What about the Defense Department, and the Director of National Intelligence?|date=December 2021}} Britain's espionage activities are controlled by the [[Secret Intelligence Service]].

=== Technology and techniques ===
{{See also|Tradecraft|List of intelligence gathering disciplines}}
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[Agent handling]]
* [[Biographic leverage]]
* [[Concealment device]]
* [[Covert agent]]
* [[Covert listening device]]
* [[Cut-out (espionage)|Cut-out]]
* [[Cyber spying]]
* [[Dead drop]]
* [[False flag]] operations
* [[Front organisation]]
* [[Gate-crashing (espionage)|Gate-crashing]]
* [[Human intelligence (intelligence gathering)|Human intelligence]] (HUMINT)
* [[Sexpionage|Honeypot]]
* [[Impersonator|Impersonation]]
* [[Impostor]]
* [[Interrogation]]
* [[Non-official cover]]
* [[Numbers station|Numbers messaging]]
* [[Official cover]]
* [[Open-source intelligence]] (OSINT)
* [[One-way voice link]]
* [[Sabotage]]
* [[Safe house]]
* [[Side channel attack]]
* [[Signals intelligence]] (SIGINT)
* [[Spy ship]]
* [[Steganography]]
* [[Surveillance]]
* [[Surveillance aircraft]]
* [[Surveillance balloon]]
{{div col end}}

'''Source:'''<ref name=PROTOCOL />

== Organization ==
A spy is a person employed to seek out secret information from a source.<ref name="bar">{{cite web |title=Language of Espionage |url=https://www.spymuseum.org/education-programs/spy-resources/language-of-espionage/ |website=International Spy Museum |access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref> Within the [[United States Intelligence Community]], "[[Asset (intelligence)|asset]]" is more common usage. A [[case officer]] or [[Special Agent]], who may have [[diplomatic protection|diplomatic status]] (i.e., [[official cover]] or [[non-official cover]]), supports and directs the human collector. Cut-outs are [[courier]]s who do not know the agent or case officer but transfer messages. A [[safe house]] is a refuge for spies. Spies often seek to obtain secret information from another source.

In larger networks, the organization can be complex with many methods to avoid detection, including [[clandestine cell system]]s. Often the players have never met. Case officers are stationed in foreign countries to recruit and supervise intelligence agents,<ref name="bar" /> who in turn spy on targets in the countries where they are assigned. A spy need not be a citizen of the target country and hence does not automatically commit [[treason]] when operating within it. While the more common practice is to recruit a person already trusted with access to sensitive information, sometimes a person with a well-prepared synthetic identity (cover background), called a ''legend''<ref name="bar" /> in [[tradecraft]], may attempt to infiltrate a target organization.

These agents can be moles (who are recruited before they get access to secrets), [[Defection|defectors]] (who are recruited after they get access to secrets and leave their country) or [[Clandestine HUMINT#Defector in place|defectors in place]] (who get access but do not leave).

A ''legend'' is also employed for an individual who is not an illegal agent, but is an ordinary citizen who is "relocated", for example, a "protected witness". Nevertheless, such a non-agent very likely will also have a case officer who will act as a controller. As in most, if not all synthetic identity schemes, for whatever purpose (illegal or legal), the assistance of a controller is required.

Spies may also be used to spread disinformation in the organization in which they are planted, such as giving false reports about their country's military movements, or about a competing company's ability to bring a product to market. Spies may be given other roles that also require infiltration, such as [[sabotage]].

Many governments spy on their allies as well as their enemies, although they typically maintain a policy of not commenting on this. Governments also employ private companies to collect information on their behalf such as [[SCG International Risk]], [[International Intelligence Limited]] and others.

Many organizations, both national and non-national, conduct espionage operations. It should not be assumed that espionage is always directed at the most secret operations of a target country. National and terrorist organizations and other groups are also targeted.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cyber Espionage to Combat Terrorism|url=https://www.utep.edu/liberalarts/nssi/_Files/docs/Theses1/Utilizing-Cyber-Espionage-to-Combat-Terrorism-Adkins.pdf}}</ref> This is because governments want to retrieve information that they can use to be proactive in protecting their nation from potential terrorist attacks.

Communications both are necessary to espionage and [[clandestine operation]]s, and also a great vulnerability when the adversary has sophisticated SIGINT detection and interception capability. Spies rely on COVCOM or covert communication through technically advanced spy devices.<ref name="foo" /> Agents must also transfer money securely.

== Industrial espionage ==
{{Main|Industrial espionage}}

'''Industrial espionage''', also known as '''economic espionage''', '''corporate spying''', or '''corporate espionage''', is a form of espionage conducted for [[Commerce|commercial]] purposes instead of purely [[national security]].<ref>{{cite news |date=25 May 2013 |title=Unusual suspects: Cyber-spying grows bigger and more boring |url=https://www.economist.com/news/international/21578383-cyber-spying-grows-bigger-and-more-boring-unusual-suspects |access-date=25 May 2013 |newspaper=[[The Economist]]}}</ref> While political espionage is conducted or orchestrated by governments and is international in scope, industrial or corporate espionage is more often national and occurs between companies or [[corporation]]s. It may include the acquisition of [[intellectual property]], such as information on industrial manufacture, ideas, techniques and processes, recipes and formulas. Or it could include sequestration of proprietary or operational information, such as that on customer datasets, pricing, sales, marketing, research and development, policies, prospective bids, planning or marketing strategies or the changing compositions and locations of production. It may describe activities such as theft of [[trade secrets]], [[bribery]], [[blackmail]] and technological surveillance. As well as orchestrating espionage on commercial organizations, governments can also be targets – for example, to determine the terms of a tender for a government contract.

Reportedly [[Canada]] is losing $12 billion<ref>"[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/defectors-say-china-running-1-000-spies-in-canada-1.557085 Defectors say China running 1,000 spies in Canada]". CBC News. June 15, 2005.</ref> and [[Germany|German]] companies are estimated to be losing about €50 billion ($87 billion) and 30,000 jobs<ref>"[http://www.smh.com.au/world/beijings-spies-cost-german-firms-billions-says-espionage-expert-20090724-dw73.html Beijing's spies cost German firms billions, says espionage expert]". The Sydney Morning Herald. July 25, 2009.</ref> to industrial espionage every year.

== Types of agent ==
In espionage jargon, an "agent" is the person who does the spying. They may be a citizen of a country recruited by that country to spy on another; a citizen of a country recruited by that country to carry out [[false flag]] assignments disrupting his own country; a citizen of one country who is recruited by a second country to spy on or work against his own country or a third country, and more.

In popular usage, this term is sometimes confused with an ''[[intelligence officer]]'', ''intelligence operative'', or ''case officer'' who recruits and handles agents.

Among the most common forms of agent are:
* [[Agent provocateur]]: instigates trouble or provides information to gather as many people as possible into one location for an arrest.
* Intelligence agent: provides access to [[Information sensitivity|sensitive information]] through the use of special privileges. If used in ''corporate intelligence'' gathering, this may include gathering information of a corporate business venture or [[Portfolio (finance)|stock portfolio]]. In ''economic intelligence'', "Economic Analysts may use their specialized skills to analyze and interpret economic trends and developments, assess and track foreign financial activities, and develop new econometric and modelling methodologies."<ref name="Economic_intelligence">Cia.gov</ref> This may also include information of trade or tariff.
* [[Agent of influence|Agent-of-influence]]: provides political influence in an area of interest, possibly including [[Propaganda|publications]] needed to further an intelligence service agenda.<ref name="bar" /> The use of the media to print a story to [[Disinformation|mislead]] a foreign service into action, exposing their operations while under surveillance.
* [[Double agent]]: engages in clandestine activity for two intelligence or security services (or more in joint operations), who provides information about one or about each to the other, and who wittingly withholds significant information from one on the instructions of the other or is unwittingly manipulated by one so that significant facts are withheld from the adversary. [[Peddler]]s, [[Fabricator (intelligence)|fabricators]], and others who work for themselves rather than a service are not double agents because they are not agents. The fact that double agents have an agent relationship with both sides distinguishes them from penetrations, who normally are placed with the target service in a staff or officer capacity."<ref name="double_agent">{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol6no1/html/v06i1a05p_0001.htm |title=Double Agent |publisher=cia.gov |access-date=2010-05-14 |archive-date=2019-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701161536/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol6no1/html/v06i1a05p_0001.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
** [[Re-doubled agent|Redoubled agent]]: forced to mislead the foreign intelligence service after being caught as a double agent.
** Unwitting double agent: offers or is forced to recruit as a double or redoubled agent and in the process is recruited by either a third-party intelligence service or his own government without the knowledge of the intended target intelligence service or the agent. This can be useful in capturing important information from an agent that is attempting to seek allegiance with another country. The '''double agent''' usually has knowledge of both intelligence services and can identify operational techniques of both, thus making third-party recruitment difficult or impossible. The knowledge of operational techniques can also affect the relationship between the operations officer (or case officer) and the agent if the case is transferred by an operational targeting officer] to a new operations officer, leaving the new officer vulnerable to attack. This type of transfer ''may'' occur when an officer has completed his term of service or when his ''cover'' is blown.
** [[Triple agent]]: works for three intelligence services.{{How|Please give an example of how this would work and be balanced.|date=July 2020}}
* [[Fabricator (intelligence)|Fabricator]]: used to spread disinformation.
* [[Sleeper agent]]: recruited to ''wake up'' and perform a specific set of tasks or functions while living undercover in an area of interest. This type of agent is not the same as a ''deep cover operative'', who continually contacts a case officer to file intelligence reports. A sleeper agent is not in contact with anyone until ''activated''.

Less common or lesser known forms of agent include:
* '''Access agent''': provides access to other potential agents by providing [[offender profiling]] information that can help lead to recruitment into an intelligence service.
* '''<span class="anchor" id="Confusion agent">Confusion agent</span>''': an individual who is dispatched for the primary purpose of confounding the intelligence or [[counterintelligence]] apparatus of another country, rather than for the purpose of collecting and transmitting information. Such an individual may provide misleading information, among other confusion tactics.<ref>{{cite book |title=Race against evil: the secret missions of the Interpol agent who tracked the world's most sinister criminals : a real life drama |last=Bannon |first=David Race |year=2003 |publisher=New Horizon Press |isbn=0882822314 |page=326 |accessdate=June 12, 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-X_aAAAAMAAJ&q=%22confusion+agent%22+technique}}</ref>
* '''Facilities agent''': provides access to buildings, such as [[Garage (residential)|garages]] or offices used for [[Staging area|staging]] operations, resupply, etc.
* [[Cover (intelligence gathering)#Non-official cover|Illegal agent]]: lives in another country under [[Identity document forgery|false credentials]] and does not report to a local station. A nonofficial cover operative can be dubbed an "illegal"<ref name="Illegal">[https://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/how-do-spies-operate.html Illegal] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106175822/https://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/how-do-spies-operate.html |date=January 6, 2011 }} Mi5.gov. "How spies operate".</ref> when working in another country without diplomatic protection.
* '''Principal agent''': functions as a [[Agent handling|handler]] for an established network of agents, usually considered "blue chip".

== Private espionage ==
{{See also| Private intelligence agency| Private military company}}
Private espionage is a large scale industry involving a vast array of different companies and individuals who provide a variety of services. These companies may be employed to act independently without any connection to a state agency or they may be hired to work in an integrated manner with a state agency, or agencies, in order to provide the specific services which are required. 

In terms of scale, the writer Frederic Lemieux states that 'In 2010. it was estimated that 1,931 private intelligence firms were working within the intelligence community in the United States, employing approximately 265, 000 contractors with top-secret clearances.'<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lemieux |first1=Frederic |title=Intelligence and State Surveillance in Modern Societies |date=2024 |publisher=Emerald Publishing |location=Leeds |isbn=978-1-83549-099-0 |edition=2 |chapter=Private Intelligence Actors and Services}}</ref> He goes on to state, however, that only about 110 of them represent 90% of the market. These include: [[Aegis Defense Services|AEGIS]], [[BAE Systems]], [[Booz Allen Hamilton]] (BAH), [[CACI International Inc.]], [[CSRA Inc.]], [[General Dynamics]], [[Leidos]], [[Northrop Grumman]], and [[Science Applications International Corporation]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lemieux |first1=Frederic |title=Intelligence and State Surveillance in Modern Societies |date=2024 |publisher=Emerald Publishing |location=Leeds |isbn=978-1-83549-099-0 |edition=2 |chapter=Private Intelligence Actors and Services}}</ref>

== Law ==
{{Main|Intelligence law}}
{{Globalize|date=August 2024}}
Espionage against a nation is a crime under the [[legal code]] of many world states.

=== Espionage law in the United States ===
In the United States, it is covered by the [[Espionage Act of 1917]]. The risks of espionage vary. A spy violating the host country's laws may be deported, imprisoned, or even executed. A spy violating its own country's laws can be imprisoned for espionage or/and [[treason]] (which in the United States and some other jurisdictions can only occur if they take up arms or aids the enemy against their own country during wartime), or even executed, as the [[Rosenbergs]] were. For example, when [[Aldrich Ames]] handed a stack of dossiers of U.S. [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) agents in the [[Eastern Bloc]] to his KGB-officer "handler", the KGB "rolled up" several networks, and at least ten people were secretly shot. When Ames was arrested by the U.S. [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI), he faced life in prison; his contact, who had [[diplomatic immunity]], was declared ''[[persona non grata]]'' and taken to the airport. Ames' wife was threatened with life imprisonment if her husband did not cooperate; he did, and she was given a five-year sentence. [[Hugh Francis Redmond]], a CIA officer in China, spent nineteen years in a Chinese prison for espionage—and died there—as he was operating without diplomatic cover and immunity.<ref>{{cite web|title=CIA Status Improves Contractor's Case for Immunity|url=http://newamericamedia.org/2011/02/cia-status-improves-contractors-case-for-immunity.php|publisher=New America Media|access-date=2013-08-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102085259/http://newamericamedia.org/2011/02/cia-status-improves-contractors-case-for-immunity.php|archive-date=2013-11-02|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

In United States law, treason,<ref>[http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t17t20+1130+29++%28treason%29 treason] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203024319/http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t17t20+1130+29++%28treason%29 |date=December 3, 2012 }}</ref> espionage,<ref>{{cite web |url = http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t17t20+486+45++%28espionage%25 |title = espionage |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203024325/http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t17t20+486+45++%28espionage%25 |archive-date=3 December 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and spying<ref>[http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t09t12+600+1++%28spying%29%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20 spying] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203024508/http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t09t12+600+1++%28spying%29%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20 |date=December 3, 2012 }}</ref> are separate crimes. Treason and espionage have graduated punishment levels.

The United States in [[World War I]] passed the Espionage Act of 1917. Over the years, many spies, such as the [[Soble spy ring]], [[Robert Lee Johnson (spy)|Robert Lee Johnson]], [[Julius and Ethel Rosenberg|the Rosenberg ring]], [[Aldrich Hazen Ames]],<ref name=jyaames /> [[Robert Philip Hanssen]],<ref name=fashans /> [[Jonathan Pollard]], [[John Anthony Walker]], [[James Hall III]], and others have been prosecuted under this law.

In modern times, many people convicted of espionage have been given penal sentences rather than execution. For example, [[Aldrich Hazen Ames]] is an American CIA analyst, turned KGB mole, who was convicted of espionage in 1994; he is serving a [[life sentence]] without the possibility of parole in the high-security [[United States Penitentiary, Allenwood|Allenwood U.S. Penitentiary]].<ref name="Federal Bureau of Prisons">{{cite web |url=http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&LastName=Ames&Middle=&FirstName=Aldrich+&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=23&y=24 |title=Aldrich Hazen Ames Register Number: 40087-083 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons |work=Bop.gov |access-date=2014-01-03 |archive-date=2012-09-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919121009/http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&LastName=Ames&Middle=&FirstName=Aldrich+&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=23&y=24 |url-status=dead }} ''(Search result)''</ref> Ames was formerly a 31-year [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] [[counter-intelligence|counterintelligence]] officer and analyst who committed espionage against his country by [[spying]] for the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Russia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/aldrich-hazen-ames|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013065115/http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/aldrich-hazen-ames|url-status=dead|archive-date=2010-10-13|title= Aldrich Hazen Ames|publisher=FBI}}</ref> So far as it is known, Ames compromised the second-largest number of CIA agents, second only to [[Robert Hanssen]], who also served a prison sentence until his death in 2023.<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Hanssen, F.B.I. Agent Exposed as Spy for Moscow, Dies at 79 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/us/robert-hanssen-spy-dead.html |website=The New York Times |date=5 June 2023 |access-date=5 June 2023 |last1=Baker |first1=Peter }}</ref>

=== Use against non-spies ===
Espionage laws are also used to prosecute non-spies. In the United States, the Espionage Act of 1917 was used against socialist politician [[Eugene V. Debs]] (at that time the Act had much stricter guidelines and amongst other things banned speech against military recruiting). The law was later used to suppress publication of periodicals, for example of [[Father Coughlin]] in [[World War II]]. In the early 21st century, the act was used to prosecute [[whistleblower]]s such as [[Thomas Andrews Drake]], [[John Kiriakou]], and [[Edward Snowden]], as well as officials who communicated with journalists for innocuous reasons, such as [[Stephen Jin-Woo Kim]].<ref name=josh_gerstein1 /><ref>See the article on [[John Kiriakou]]</ref>

{{as of|2012}}, India and Pakistan were holding several hundred prisoners of each other's country for minor violations like trespass or visa overstay, often with accusations of espionage attached. Some of these include cases where Pakistan and India both deny citizenship to these people, leaving them [[statelessness|stateless]].{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} The BBC reported in 2012 on one such case, that of Mohammed Idrees, who was held under Indian police control for approximately 13 years for overstaying his 15-day visa by 2–3 days after seeing his ill parents in 1999. Much of the 13 years were spent in prison waiting for a hearing, and more time was spent homeless or living with generous families. The Indian [[People's Union for Civil Liberties]] and [[Human Rights Law Network]] both decried his treatment. The BBC attributed some of the problems to tensions caused by the [[Kashmir conflict]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/43/ws-nowhereman.html Your World: The Nowhere Man] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190915061632/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/43/ws-nowhereman.html |date=2019-09-15 }}, Rupa Jha, October 21, 2012, BBC (retrieved 2012-10-20) (Program link: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00z57wt The Nowhere Man])</ref>

=== Espionage law in the UK ===
From ancient times, the penalty for espionage in many countries was execution. This was true right up until the era of [[World War II]]; for example, [[Josef Jakobs]] was a Nazi spy who parachuted into Great Britain in 1941 and was executed for espionage.

Espionage is illegal in the UK under the [[National Security Act 2023]], which repealed prior Official Secrets Acts and creates three separate offences for espionage. A person is liable to be imprisoned for life for committing an offence under Section 1 of the Act, or 14 years for an offence under Sections 2 and 3

==== Government intelligence law and its distinction from espionage ====
Government intelligence is very much distinct from espionage, and is not illegal in the UK, providing that the organisations of individuals are registered, often with the ICO, and are acting within the restrictions of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). 'Intelligence' is considered legally as "information of all sorts gathered by a government or organisation to guide its decisions. It includes information that may be both public and private, obtained from much different public or secret sources. It could consist entirely of information from either publicly available or secret sources, or be a combination of the two."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mi5.gov.uk/home/the-threats/espionage/what-is-espionage.html |title=What is espionage? |website=MI5 - the Security Service |access-date=2013-08-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101174455/https://www.mi5.gov.uk/home/the-threats/espionage/what-is-espionage.html |archive-date=2013-11-01 }}</ref>

However, espionage and intelligence can be linked. According to the MI5 website, "foreign intelligence officers acting in the UK under diplomatic cover may enjoy immunity from prosecution. Such persons can only be tried for spying (or, indeed, any criminal offence) if diplomatic immunity is waived beforehand. Those officers operating without diplomatic cover have no such immunity from prosecution".

There are also laws surrounding government and organisational intelligence and surveillance. Generally, the body involved should be issued with some form of warrant or permission from the government and should be enacting their procedures in the interest of protecting national security or the safety of public citizens. Those carrying out intelligence missions should act within not only RIPA but also the Data Protection Act and Human Rights Act. However, there are spy equipment laws and legal requirements around intelligence methods that vary for each form of intelligence enacted.

=== Military intelligence and military justice ===
[[File:L'espion - Alphonse de Neuville - 1880.jpg|thumb|Painting of French spy captured during the [[Franco-Prussian War]] by [[Alphonse de Neuville]], 1880]]

In war, espionage is considered permissible as many nations recognize the inevitability of opposing sides seeking intelligence each about the dispositions of the other. To make the mission easier and successful, [[combatant]]s wear [[disguise]]s to conceal their true identity from the enemy while penetrating enemy lines for intelligence gathering. However, if they are caught behind enemy lines in disguises, they are not entitled to [[prisoner-of-war]] status and subject to [[prosecution]] and punishment—including [[execution]].

The [[Hague Convention of 1907]] addresses the status of wartime spies, specifically within "Laws and Customs of War on Land" (Hague IV); October 18, 1907: Chapter II Spies".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icrc.org/ihl/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/1d1726425f6955aec125641e0038bfd6?OpenDocument |title=Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land. The Hague, 18 October 1907. |publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]]}}</ref> Article 29 states that a person is considered a spy who, acts clandestinely or on false pretences, infiltrates enemy lines with the intention of acquiring intelligence about the enemy and communicate it to the [[belligerent]] during times of war. Soldiers who penetrate enemy lines in proper uniforms for the purpose of acquiring intelligence are not considered spies but are [[Combatant#Privileged combatants|lawful combatants]] entitled to be treated as prisoners of war upon capture by the enemy. Article 30 states that a spy captured behind enemy lines may only be punished following a trial. However, Article 31 provides that if a spy successfully rejoined his own military and is then captured by the enemy as a lawful combatant, he cannot be punished for his previous acts of espionage and must be treated as a prisoner of war. This provision does not apply to citizens who committed [[treason]] against their own country or co-belligerents of that country and may be captured and prosecuted at any place or any time regardless whether he rejoined the military to which he belongs or not or during or after the war.<ref>{{cite book |title=Crime Wars: The Global Intersection of Crime, Political Violence, and International Law |author1=Paul Battersby |author2=Joseph M. Siracusa |author3=Sasho Ripiloski |year=2011 |page=125 |publisher=[[Praeger Publishers|Greenwood Publishing Group]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=2 SAS Regiment, War Crimes Investigations, and British Intelligence: Intelligence Officials and the ''Natzweiler Trial'' |first=Lorie |last=Charlesworth |journal=The Journal of Intelligence History |volume=6 |issue=2 |date=2006 |page=41 |doi=10.1080/16161262.2006.10555131 |s2cid=156655154 }}</ref>

The ones that are excluded from being treated as spies while behind enemy lines are escaping prisoners of war and downed [[airmen]] as [[international law]] distinguishes between a disguised spy and a disguised escaper.<ref name="PROTOCOL">{{cite book |title=New Rules for Victims of Armed Conflicts: Commentary on the Two 1977 Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (Nijhoff Classics in International Law) |date=August 15, 2013 |author=Igor Primoratz |page=214 |publisher=[[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]]}}</ref> It is permissible for these groups to wear enemy uniforms or civilian clothes in order to facilitate their escape back to friendly lines so long as they do not attack enemy forces, collect military intelligence, or engage in similar military operations while so disguised.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_us_rule62 |title=United States of America, Practice Relating to Rule 62. Improper Use of Flags or Military Emblems, Insignia or Uniforms of the Adversary |publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBTul-duLEYC&q=escaping%20POWs%20civilian%20clothes%20enemy%20uniforms&pg=PA24|title=2006 Operational Law Handbook|isbn=9781428910676|year=2010|publisher=DIANE }}</ref> Soldiers who are wearing enemy uniforms or civilian clothes simply for the sake of warmth along with other purposes rather than engaging in espionage or similar military operations while so attired are also excluded from being treated as unlawful combatants.<ref name="PROTOCOL" />

[[Sabotage|Saboteurs]] are treated as spies as they too wear disguises behind enemy lines for the purpose of waging destruction on an enemy's vital targets in addition to intelligence gathering.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Contemporary Law Of Armed Conflict 2nd Edition |author=Leslie C. Green |date=2000 |page=142 |publisher=Juris Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-1-929446-03-2 }}<!--|access-date=25 July 2013--></ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Romantics at War: Glory and Guilt in the Age of Terrorism |url=https://archive.org/details/romanticsatwar00geor |url-access=registration |author=George P. Fletcher |page=[https://archive.org/details/romanticsatwar00geor/page/106 106] |date=September 16, 2002 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|isbn=9780691006512 }}</ref> For example, during [[World War II]], eight German agents entered the U.S. in June 1942 as part of [[Operation Pastorius]], a sabotage mission against U.S. economic targets. Two weeks later, all were arrested in civilian clothes by the [[FBI]] thanks to two German agents betraying the mission to the U.S. Under the Hague Convention of 1907, these Germans were classified as spies and tried by a [[Military justice|military tribunal]] in [[Washington D.C.]]<ref>{{cite book |title=International Law in Historical Perspective: The laws of war. Part IX-A |author= J. H. W. Verziji |year=1978 |page=143 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |isbn=978-90-286-0148-2}}</ref> On August 3, 1942, all eight were found guilty and sentenced to death. Five days later, six were executed by [[electric chair]] at the District of Columbia jail. Two who had given evidence against the others had their sentences reduced by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] to prison terms. In 1948, they were released by President [[Harry S. Truman]] and deported to the [[American Zone of Occupation#American Zone of Occupation|American Zone of occupied Germany]].

Eighteen German soldiers were shot by the [[United States Army]] after being caught in American uniform as part of [[Operation Greif]] during the [[Battle of the Bulge]] in 1944.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/operation-greif-and-otto-scarface-skorzeny/#:~:text=One%20unit%20requested%20%E2%80%9Cpetrol%E2%80%9D%20instead,'m%20a%20retired%20kidnapper.%E2%80%9D |title=Operation Greif and Otto "Scarface" Skorzeny |website=Warfare History Network |last=Hollway |first=Don |date=November 2014|access-date=5 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/german-commandos-captured-american-uniform-1944/|title=German commandos captured in American uniform are prepared for execution, 1944 - Rare Historical Photos|date=27 January 2017}}</ref> In June 1945, after Germany had been occupied by the allies, the US Army executed six individuals, including two German youths aged 16 and 17, for espionage committed against American forces during the final stages of [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emsgm31rpQI |title=The Execution Of The Teenage Hitler Youth Spies |website=The Untold Past |date=26 March 2023 |access-date=20 July 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/217696/ |title=Execution of Spies by Firing Squad |website=British Pathe |access-date=21 August 2025}}</ref> {{about||further discussion|Capital punishment by the United States military}}

The U.S. codification of enemy spies is Article 106 of the [[Uniform Code of Military Justice]]. This provides a mandatory death sentence if a person captured in the act is proven to be "lurking as a spy or acting as a spy in or about any place, vessel, or aircraft, within the control or jurisdiction of any of the armed forces, or in or about any shipyard, any manufacturing or industrial plant, or any other place or institution engaged in work in aid of the prosecution of the war by the United States, or elsewhere".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/mcm/bl106.htm|title=UCMJ – Article 106 – Spies|work=About.com US Military|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515214735/http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/mcm/bl106.htm|archive-date=2013-05-15}}</ref>

== Spy fiction ==
{{Main|Spy fiction}}

Spies have long been favorite topics for novelists and filmmakers.<ref>Brett F. Woods, ''Neutral Ground: A Political History of Espionage Fiction'' (2008) [https://www.questia.com/library/120076034/neutral-ground-a-political-history-of-espionage online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327091232/https://www.questia.com/library/120076034/neutral-ground-a-political-history-of-espionage |date=2019-03-27 }}</ref> An early example of espionage literature is ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]'' by the English novelist [[Rudyard Kipling]], with a description of the training of an intelligence agent in the [[Great Game]] between the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|UK]] and [[Russia]] in 19th century [[Central Asia]]. An even earlier work was [[James Fenimore Cooper]]'s classic novel, ''[[The Spy (Cooper novel)|The Spy]],'' written in 1821, about an American spy in New York during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].

During the many 20th-century spy scandals, much information became publicly known about national spy agencies and dozens of real-life secret agents. These sensational stories piqued public interest in a profession largely off-limits to [[Human interest story|human interest news reporting]], a natural consequence of the secrecy inherent in their work. To fill in the blanks, the popular conception of the secret agent has been formed largely by 20th and 21st-century fiction and film. Attractive and sociable real-life agents such as [[Valerie Plame]] find little employment in serious fiction, however. The fictional secret agent is more often a loner, sometimes amoral—an [[existentialism|existential]] hero operating outside the everyday constraints of society. Loner spy personalities may have been a stereotype of convenience for authors who already knew how to write loner [[private investigator]] characters that sold well from the 1920s to the present.<ref>Miller, Toby, ''Spyscreen: Espionage on Film and TV from the 1930s to the 1960s'' (Oxford University Press, 2003).</ref>

[[Johnny Fedora]] achieved popularity as a fictional agent of early [[Cold War espionage]], but [[James Bond]] is the most commercially successful of the many spy characters created by intelligence insiders during that struggle. Other fictional agents include Le Carré's [[George Smiley]], and [[Harry Palmer]] as played by [[Michael Caine]].

Jumping on the spy bandwagon, other writers also started writing about spy fiction featuring female spies as protagonists, such as ''[[The Baroness (novels)|The Baroness]]'', which has more graphic action and sex, as compared to other novels featuring male protagonists.

Spy fiction has permeated the [[video game]] world as well, in games such as ''[[Perfect Dark]]'', ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|GoldenEye 007]]'', ''[[The Operative: No One Lives Forever|No One Lives Forever]]'', ''[[Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell]]'' and the [[Metal Gear|''Metal Gear'' series]].

Espionage has also made its way into comedy depictions. The 1960s TV series ''[[Get Smart (TV series)|Get Smart]]'', the 1983 Finnish film ''[[Agent 000 and the Deadly Curves]]'', and ''[[Johnny English (film series)|Johnny English]]'' film trilogy portrays an inept spy, while the 1985 movie ''[[Spies Like Us]]'' depicts a pair of none-too-bright men sent to the Soviet Union to investigate a missile.

The historical novel ''The Emperor and the Spy'' highlights the adventurous life of U.S. Colonel [[Sidney Mashbir|Sidney Forrester Mashbir]], who during the 1920s and 1930s attempted to prevent war with Japan, and when war did erupt, he became General MacArthur's top advisor in the Pacific Theater of World War Two.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theemperorandthespy.com/books/the-emperor-and-the-spy/overview/|title=The Emperor and the Spy|last=Katz|first=Stan S.|date=2019|website=TheEmperorAndTheSpy.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926154509/https://theemperorandthespy.com/books/the-emperor-and-the-spy/overview/|archive-date=2019-09-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Emperor and the Spy|last=Katz|first=Stan S.|publisher=Horizon Productions|year=2019|isbn=978-0-9903349-4-1}}</ref>

Black Widow is also a fictional agent who was introduced as a [[Russia]]n spy, an antagonist of the superhero [[Iron Man]]. She later became an agent of the fictional spy agency [[S.H.I.E.L.D.]] and a member of the superhero team the [[Avengers (comics)|Avengers]].

Unlike much of the spy fiction, real life espionage is described as routine and boring work.<ref name="y100">{{cite book | last=Penzler | first=Otto | title=The Big Book of Espionage | publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group | date=2020 | isbn=978-1-9848-9806-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SfbDwAAQBAJ&dq=espionage+boring&pg=PR11 | access-date=21 October 2025 | page=xi}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Liulevicius |first1=Vejas Gabriel |date=October 2011 |title=Espionage and Covert Operations: A Global History |chapter=1. Introducing the Secret World |chapter-url=https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/espionage-and-covert-operations-a-global-history |url-access= |trans-title= |format= |language= |location= |publisher=[[The Great Courses]] |access-date= |via= |quote=Like the old adage about war, real espionage is most often made up of vast stretches of boredom punctuated by sharp moments of fear. [...] It has been said, with some justice that good tradecraft keeps espionage, routine, and boring, which is good, because excitement actually means that something has gone terribly wrong.}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[American espionage in China]]
* [[Central Intelligence Agency]]
* [[Chinese espionage in the United States]]
* [[Clandestine operation]]
* [[Cover (intelligence gathering)]]
* [[Covert operation]]
* [[Detective]]
* [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]
* [[Foreign agent]]
* [[History of Soviet espionage]]
* [[Human intelligence (intelligence gathering)]]
* [[Intelligence assessment]]
* [[James Gannon (author)]]
* [[List of intelligence agencies]]
* [[List of intelligence gathering disciplines]]
* [[MI5]]
* [[Military intelligence]]
* [[Secret identity]]
* [[Secret service]]
* [[Sleeper agent]]
* [[Special agent]]
* [[Spying on United Nations leaders by United States diplomats]]
* [[Undercover operation]]

{{div col end}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name=josh_gerstein1>{{cite web  | url = https://www.politico.com/story/2011/03/obamas-hard-line-on-leaks-050761
 | title = Obama's hard line on leaks
 | access-date = 2011-03-19
 | date = 2011-03-07
 | first = Josh
 | last = Gerstein
 | publisher = politico.com }}</ref>

<ref name=fashans>{{cite web  | url = https://fas.org/irp/ops/ci/hanssen_affidavit.html
 | title = USA v. Robert Philip Hanssen: Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint, Arrest Warrant and Search Warrant
 | access-date = 2011-03-19
 | publisher = fas.org }}</ref>

<ref name=jyaames>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.jya.com/ames.htm
 |title       = Aldrich Ames Criminal Complaint
 |access-date  = 2011-03-19
 |publisher   = John Young Architect
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110513222808/http://www.jya.com/ames.htm
 |archive-date = 2011-05-13
}}</ref>

}}

=== Works cited ===
* {{cite book |title=The Evolution of British Sigint, 1653–1939 |last=Johnson |first=John |year=1997 |publisher=[[HMSO]] |location=London |oclc=52130886 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Winkler |first=Jonathan Reed |date=July 2009 |journal=The Journal of Military History |title=Information Warfare in World War I |volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=845–867 |issn=1543-7795 |doi=10.1353/jmh.0.0324|s2cid=201749182 }}

===Sources===
{{Source-attribution|[[Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms]], 12 April 2001 (As Amended Through 31 October 2009) [aka Join Publication 1-02]}}
== Further reading ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Aldrich, Richard J., and Christopher Andrew, eds. ''Secret Intelligence: A Reader'' (2nd ed. 2018); focus on the 21st century; reprints 30 essays by scholars. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415705681/  excerpt]
* [[Christopher Andrew (historian)|Andrew, Christopher]], ''The Secret World: A History of Intelligence'', 2018.
* [[Frederick Russell Burnham|Burnham, Frederick Russell]], ''Taking Chances'', 1944.
* Felix, Christopher [pseudonym for James McCarger] {{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/Fearless-Fascinating-Story-Secret-Medieval-ebook/dp/B072BM8WQ1/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011135100/https://www.amazon.com/Fearless-Fascinating-Story-Secret-Medieval-ebook/dp/B072BM8WQ1|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 11, 2022|title=Intelligence Literature: Suggested Reading List|publisher=US CIA|access-date=September 2, 2012}} ''A Short Course in the Secret War, 4th Edition''. Madison Books, November 19, 2001.
* Friedman, George. ''America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between the United States and Its Enemies'' 2005
* [[Adam Gopnik|Gopnik, Adam]], "Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy: How valuable is espionage?", ''[[The New Yorker]]'', 2 September 2019, pp.&nbsp;53–59. "There seems to be a paranoid paradox of espionage: the better your intelligence, the dumber your conduct; the more you know, the less you anticipate.... Hard-won information is ignored or wildly misinterpreted.... [It] happens again and again [that] a seeming national advance in intelligence is squandered through cross-bred confusion, political rivalry, mutual bureaucratic suspicions, intergovernmental competition, and fear of the press (as well as leaks to the press), all seasoned with dashes of sexual jealousy and adulterous intrigue." (p.&nbsp;54.)
* Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri. ''In Spies, We Trust: The Story of Western Intelligence'' (2013), covers U.S. and Britain
* Jenkins, Peter. ''Surveillance Tradecraft: The Professional's Guide to Surveillance Training'' {{ISBN|978-0-9535378-2-2}}
* [[David Kahn (writer)|Kahn, David]], ''The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet'', 1996 revised edition. First published 1967.
* [[John Keegan|Keegan, John]], ''Intelligence in War: Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda'', 2003.
* [[Phillip Knightley|Knightley, Phillip]], ''The Second Oldest Profession: Spies and Spying in the Twentieth Century'', Norton, 1986.
* [[Paul Krugman|Krugman, Paul]], "The American Way of Economic war: Is Washington Overusing Its Most Powerful Weapons?" (review of [[Henry Farrell (political scientist)|Henry Farrell]] and [[Abraham L. Newman|Abraham Newman]], ''Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy'', Henry Holt, 2023, 288 pp.), ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'', vol. 103, no. 1 (January/February 2024), pp. 150–156. "The [U.S.] dollar is one of the few currencies that almost all major banks will accept, and... the most widely used... As a result, the dollar is the currency that many companies must use... to do international business." (p. 150.) "[L]ocal banks facilitating that trade... normally... buy U.S. dollars and then use dollars to buy [another local currency]. To do so, however, the banks must have access to the U.S. financial system and... follow rules laid out by Washington." (pp. 151–152.) "But there is another, lesser-known reason why the [U.S.] commands overwhelming economic power. Most of the world's [[fiber-optic cables]], which carry data and messages around the planet, travel through the United States." (p. 152.) "[T]he U.S. government has installed 'splitters': [[prism (optics)|prism]]s that divide the beams of light carrying information into two streams. One... goes on to the intended recipients, ... the other goes to the [[National Security Administration|National Security Agency]], which then uses high-powered [[computation]] to analyze the data. As a result, the [U.S.] can monitor almost all international communication." (p. 154) This has allowed the U.S. "to effectively cut [[Iran]] out of the world financial system... Iran's economy stagnated... Eventually, Tehran agreed to cut back its [[nuclear reactor|nuclear]] programs in exchange for relief." (pp. 153–154.) "[A] few years ago, American officials... were in a panic about [the Chinese company] [[Huawei]]... which... seemed poised to supply [[5G]] equipment to much of the planet [thereby possibly] giv[ing] China the power to eavesdrop on the rest of the world – just as the [U.S.] has done.... The [U.S.] learned that Huawei had been dealing surreptitiously with Iran – and therefore violating U.S. sanctions. Then, it... used its special access to information on international bank data to [show] that [Huawei]'s [[chief financial officer]], [[Meng Wanzhou]] (... the founder's daughter), had committed [[bank fraud]] by falsely telling the British [[financial services company]] [[HSBC]] that her company was not doing business with Iran. Canadian authorities, acting on a U.S. request, arrested her... in December 2018. After... almost three years under house arrest... Meng... was allowed to return to China... But by [then] the prospects for Chinese dominance of 5G had vanished..." (pp. 154–155.) Farrell and Newman, writes Krugman, "are worried about the possibility of [U.S. ''Underground Empire''] overreach. [I]f the [U.S.] weaponizes the dollar against too many countries, they might... band together and adopt alternative methods of international payment. If countries become deeply worried about U.S. spying, they could lay fiber-optic cables that bypass the [U.S.]. And if Washington puts too many restrictions on American exports, foreign firms might turn away from U.S. technology." (p. 155.)
* Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth & K. Lee Lerner, eds. ''Terrorism: essential primary sources''  Thomas Gale 2006  {{ISBN|978-1-4144-0621-3}}
* Lerner, K. Lee and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, eds.  ''Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security''  (2003), worldwide recent coverage 1100 pages.
* May, Ernest R. (ed.).  ''Knowing One's Enemies: Intelligence Assessment Before the Two World Wars''  (1984).
* O'Toole, George. ''Honorable Treachery: A History of U.S. Intelligence, Espionage, Covert Action from the American Revolution to the CIA''  1991
* Murray, Williamson, and Allan Reed Millett, eds. ''Calculations: net assessment and the coming of World War II'' (1992).
* Owen, David. ''Hidden Secrets: A Complete History of Espionage and the Technology Used to Support It''
* Richelson, Jeffery T.  ''A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century'' (1977)
* Richelson, Jeffery T.  ''The U.S. Intelligence Community''  (1999, fourth edition)
* Shaw, Tamsin, "Ethical Espionage" (review of Calder Walton, ''Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West'', Simon and Schuster, 2023, 672 pp.; and [[Cécile Fabre]], ''Spying Through a Glass Darkly: The Ethics of Espionage and Counter-Intelligence'', Oxford University Press, 251 pp., 2024), ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', vol. LXXI, no. 2 (8 February 2024), pp. 32, 34–35. "[I]n Walton's view, there was scarcely a US [[covert operation|covert action]] that was a long-term strategic success, with the possible exception of intervention in the [[Soviet–Afghan War]] (a disastrous military fiasco for the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]]) and perhaps support for the anti-Soviet [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity movement]] in [[Poland]]." (p. 34.)
* Smith, W. Thomas Jr. ''[[Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency]]'' (2003)
* [[Barbara Tuchman|Tuchman, Barbara W.]], ''The Zimmermann Telegram'', New York, Macmillan, 1962.
* Warner, Michael. ''The Rise and Fall of Intelligence: An International Security History'' (2014)
* Zegart, Amy B. ''Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence'' (2022), university textbook. [https://issforum.org/to/ir14-5  online reviews]

{{refend}}

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