What are the different covers that the CIA uses for operatives? Do they all have diplomatic immunity?

There are two basic categories of covers used by the CIA for Case Officers: Official Cover (OC) and Non-Official Cover (NOC). OC is a cover with some connection to the US Government such as State Department cover, Department of Defense Cover, Department of the Army, Navy or Air Force or numerous other agencies of the US government that have a presence overseas. OC carries varying degrees of diplomatic immunity or immunity under a status of forces agreement that the US government may have with foreign country where the US has a diplomatic or military presence. Most covers used by the CIA to provide cover for its personnel overseas is OC. Foreigners dealing with CIA officers under OC know they are dealing with a representative of the US government unless the CIA officer is using an alias and a temporary devised facility (DF) cover to conduct a clandestine assignment. NOC is a cover that does not have any affiliation with the US government nor does it provide any form of diplomatic immunity. This is the deepest form of cover assignment a CIA operative may have and is usually provided by a US company or some non-government organization. NOC cover is often called "deep commercial cover" when a US company integrates a CIA officer into its corporate ranks overseas. Foreigners talking with a CIA officer under NOC do not know they are dealing with a deep cover CIA officer. There are only several hundred NOC Case Officers in the CIA ranks and only about half of them are assigned abroad at any one time. The rest are in the US in training or working at one of the many CIA domestic offices. NOC Case Officers may at times use an alias identification and a DF to conduct an operation or handle an agent.

DF's are usually throw-away covers created and backstopped by the CIA to provide temporary covers to Case Officers to conduct some specific activity or spot, develop, recruit and handle an agent. DF's are usually lightly backstopped commercial "businesses" that will not withstand a great deal of scrutiny. Normally, the CIA hires an attorney or retired former employee to establish and man a DF with a legal address, email, telephone, fax, etc to answer any communications that may arise from anyone trying to check out the DF or contact the CIA Case Officer using the DF as a cover.

Within these two cover categories there are three types of cover: Cover for Action, Cover for Status and Cover for Access. This refers to the particular utility the cover provides.

This is just a highlight on covers. We will cover these in much more detail in a future posting.