Double agent

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Double agent is a counterintelligence term for someone who pretends to spy on a target organization on behalf of a controlling organization, but in fact is loyal to the target organization. Double agents may be agents of the target organization who infiltrate the controlling organization, or may be previously loyal agents of the controlling organization who have been captured and turned by the target; the threat of execution is the most common method of turning a captured agent (working for an intelligence service) into a double agent (working for an foreign intelligence service) or a double agent into a re-doubled agent. Compare to defector. Defectors are not considered agents as agents are in place to function for an intelligence service and defectors are not, however some consider that defectors in place are agents as long as they have not yet defected.

Double agents are often used to transmit disinformation or to identify other agents as part of counter-espionage operations. They are often very trusted by the controlling organization, since the target organization will give them true, but useless, information to pass along. Sometimes a double agent may be one who works for both sides of two separate organizations.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Double agents 1.1 Pre-twentieth century 1.2 World War I 1.3 World War II 1.4 Cold War 1.5 Ireland 1.6 Other 2 Re-doubled agent 3 Triple agent 4 Events in which double agents played an important role 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Double agents

Some people listed here are not true double agents (as defined above), but rather (single) agents working as a mole within an intelligence organization.

[edit] Pre-twentieth century

• Samuel Morland, seventeenth century Englishman
• Richard Willis, seventeenth century Englishman
• Yoshira, sixteenth century Japanese
• Benedict Arnold

[edit] World War I

• Mata Hari (a nickname for her real name, Margaretha Geertruida "Grietje" Zelle)

[edit] World War II

• Mathilde Carré
• Roman Czerniawski ("Brutus")
• Eddie Chapman ("ZigZag") infiltrated the German Abwehr during World War II whilst feeding intelligence to MI5. He was so trusted by the Germans that he is reportedly the only British citizen to have ever been awarded the Iron Cross.
• Christiaan Lindemans
• Arthur Owens ("Snow")
• Dusan Popov ("Tricycle")
• Mutt and Jeff, Norwegians working for the British.
• Juan Pujol Garcia ("Garbo")
• Johann Wenzel, a member of Red Orchestra who, after being unmasked by the Germans, fed false information to the Soviet Union
• William G. Sebold, German agent working for the FBI

[edit] Cold War

• Aldrich Ames, worked for the CIA and worked for the Soviet by selling information to the KGB.
• Cambridge Five: British agents working for the Soviets.
  • John Cairncross, British agent working for the Soviets; worked at Bletchley Park and gave information to the KGB.
  • Anthony Blunt, British agent working for the Soviets.
  • Guy Burgess, British agent working for the Soviets; Worked for MI5 and gave information to the KGB, later defected.
  • Donald Duart Maclean, British agent working for the Soviets.
  • Kim Philby, British agent working for the Soviets.
• George Blake, British agent working for the Soviets.
• Oleg Gordievsky, later defected to the United Kingdom.
• Matei Pavel Haiducu, Romanian secret agent who defected to France.
• Robert Hanssen, worked for the FBI and sold information to the Soviet Union as a mole.
• Oleg Kalugin, longtime head of KGB operations in the United States. Loyal to the CIA. Provided disinformation regarding American involvement in Prague Spring; and also played a role in the establishment of Yeltsin as post-USSR leader. Convicted in absentia in 2002 by Russian authorities, sentenced to 15 years imprisonment; the US refuses to extradite him.
• Oleg Penkovskiy ("Hero")

[edit] Ireland

• Denis Donaldson, infiltrated the Sinn Féin on behalf the British government. He was found dead in his cottage after a Northern Ireland newspaper revealed this.
• Kevin Fulton (real name Peter Keeley), infiltrated the IRA for British Intelligence. He was allegedly betrayed by his employers and nearly sacrificed to cement Stakeknife's cover in the IRA (see below).
• Freddie Scappaticci ("Stakeknife"), infiltrated the IRA for British Intelligence. Allegedly, the British government ordered him to expose Fulton to increase his own standing in the IRA.

[edit] Other

• April Fool, allegedly an American officer who provided false information to Saddam Hussein.
• Iyman Faris, worked for the FBI, but was loyal to Al-Qaeda.
• Mikel Lejarza ("El Lobo"), Spanish agent working for the Basque separatist ETA.
• Katrina Leung, worked for both China and the FBI.
• Ashraf Marwan, an Egyptian businessman and an alleged spy for Israel, or possibly an Egyptian double agent. Managed to become celebrated as a hero in each country for his alleged work against the other.

[edit] Re-doubled agent

A re-doubled agent is an agent who gets caught as a double agent and is forced to mislead the foreign intelligence service.

F. M. Begoum describes the redoubled agent as "one whose duplicity in doubling for another service has been detected by his original sponsor and who has been persuaded to reverse his affections again".^[1]

[edit] Triple agent

A triple agent is an agent who works for three intelligence services. Usually confused with re-doubled agent.

Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi was, according to Western intelligence officials, a Jordanian doctor and a double agent loyal to Islamist extremists. He was identified as the perpetrator of the Forward Operating Base Chapman attack, a suicide attack against a CIA base near Khost city in Afghanistan on December 30, 2009.^[2]

[edit] Events in which double agents played an important role

• Babington plot
• Battle of Normandy
• Stormontgate
• Cold War
• Battle of Lexington
• Vietnam War
• War on Terrorism
• 1973 Yom Kippur War
• Duquesne Spy Ring

[edit] See also

• List of fictional double agents
• Espionage
• Mole (espionage)
• Double Cross System
• Dangle
• Clandestine HUMINT
• Clandestine HUMINT operational techniques
• Counterintelligence
• Treason
• Undercover

[edit] References

1. ^ Begoum, F.M.. "Observations on the Double Agent". Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol6no1/html/v06i1a05p_0001.htm. Retrieved January 5, 2010. 
2. ^ BBC News, Triple Agent story

[edit] External links

• F. M. Begoum: Observations on the Double Agent