Developing A Cover As A CIA Spy
What is a 'Cover' for a CIA spy?
How is a cover established?
Sometimes you have a long time to establish your cover, but sometimes you only have a few minutes or hours. For instance, sometimes I would travel in alias and I would be using alias documents that I hadn't seen or had in over a year. So I would have a few hours where I would be able to look at the alias documents and try to memorize my name, birth date and my mother's name and birth date. I will then try to commit to memory in a very short period of time a whole different identity.
Does a cover change your whole identity?
What happens if you forget your cover?
Does your family know your cover name?
Why is a cover needed for the CIA?
A lot of people think that a cover is necessary to be a good CIA officer, and that's not really the case. A cover is more one of the tools you use to be an effective spy. But you should be able to do your job, even if someone suspects you of being a CIA officer. That is, you should be able to conduct your operations without ever being caught, and with having some degree of plausibility to what your story is. But a cover is very helpful in that it gives you a story to tell someone, to explain why you're interested in what you're interested in. It also, particularly if you're using an alias name or a pseudonym, enables you to do something, and then later there will be no trace of that interaction, or no trace of you doing that, no link between your cover identity and who you actually are: the CIA officer.
How often is a cover used in the CIA?
A cover is used by a CIA spy on a daily basis, in that you're not telling everyone that you're a CIA spy, unless you're deliberately breaking cover with them. You're always posing as something, whether it be a diplomat or a businessman, a writer, a photographer. You always have some cover story. But sometimes there are, beneath that one cover story, different layers of cover stories. You're living your cover. When you're a CIA spy, you're living a double life, which is basically living your cover and then also living your secret life among your CIA colleagues.
What is an example of a typical cover?
A typical cover for a CIA spy and probably the most commonly used is to pose as a diplomat. One of the reasons the CIA likes to use diplomatic cover is because it is the least risky for it's officers and also because you have an ostensible reason to be overseas, and you have an ostensible reason to be meeting with foreigners and asking them some probing questions. You are an American diplomat, of course you are interested in the nuclear infrastructure of their country. However, one of the problems is that because the CIA has used diplomatic cover so much and because all of these other countries relied on diplomatic cover particularly during the Cold War, it is not really as effective in today's environment where we are specifically seeking out contacts with people who might have contacts with terrorists. They are usually not going to be on the diplomatic cocktail circuit. They are not going to be the kind of people who fraternize with diplomats. The CIA is at a crossroads now in trying to come up with more innovative covers and more innovative ways of conducting human intelligence.
Have you ever known anyone who's blown their cover?
In terms of blowing your cover, I blew my cover by writing a book. I didn't actually blow my cover, because I had had that cleared with the CIA beforehand. That is, I asked the CIA, "Now that I'm resigning, can I actually say that I worked for you?" The CIA complied, but they don't always do that. I have known people who have had their cover blown, either by a foreign government, or sometimes by a colleague who was in a different branch of the government but knew that they were working for the CIA. If your cover's blown, it doesn't mean that your career is over. You should still be able to do your job as a spy, even if your cover has been blown. It naturally erodes over time. As you spend time all over the world, there are going to be enough people who know that you work for the CIA that your cover has eroded.
Does your cover change for different missions?
Your cover definitely changes for different missions. That is, you might be posted overseas and have one cover that you're living as a diplomat, and then have to travel to a whole other part of the world using an alias name and posing as something entirely different, like a business person.
