Anonymous asked about making Cold Contacts

Q. Is there usually any (abnormal) risk associated with making Cold Contact? If there are risks associated with making Cold Contact, are there typically any steps that are taken after contact is made to ensure the risks are minimal? If for whatever reason, the opportunity is lost and the case officer is unsuccessful in creating an opportunity for follow up (i.e. the target sees no reason to follow up, etc), does this usually lead to a second contact with the target to create a new opportunity or is the target usually dropped? Or perhaps picked up by another officer? Finally, how much is generally known about the target prior to making cold contact?


A. Yes, because there can be risks to making cold contacts, especially for a NOC, such contacts are usually made in alias with a throw-away cover though there are exceptions. The nature of the cold contact will drive the extend and degree of cover. If the reason for the cold contact is to make a “cold recruitment pitch” then, of course, more layers of security are provided. If the reason for cold contact is to elicit information, either intelligence, biographical or operational information then there is less reason for concern. Case Officers, both inside officers and NOCs, make cold contacts frequently. Such contacts at diplomatic functions are done by official cover officers in true name virtually all the time. NOCs may also make cold contacts in true name and true cover at social, commercial and scientific forums all the time.

After the initial cold contact, the Case Officers usually prepares an operational cable on the person if he/she believes there may be further interest in the contact as a “target”. The cable will usually request name traces from headquarters to see if the target has been previously contacted or has otherwise previously come to the attention to the agency.

There are times when the Company may determine that the contact should be further assessed by a second officer but does not want any association to be given to the initial contacting officer, who may have made the initial contact in true name. Thus an unattributable spin-off or turnover is made to a second Case Officer perhaps in alias. This then becomes a Cold Contact for the second Case Officer who has an agenda in contacting the “target”.

There are a wide range of options available to making cold contacts and sustaining the contact as a development contact with a view toward future recruitment. Contact with the target could be continuous or intermittent, over a period of months or years. On each occasion of contact the Case Officer should prepare operational cables which will go into the target’s 201 file, which maintains a historical record on the target.

During my career, I made about a dozen cold pitch recruitment attempts in alias but unfortunately only one of these turned into a bond fide agent. The recruitment attempt was made in commercial alias to “hire” the target as a “confidential commercial consultant” for my devised facility cover. After some time another Case Officer turned the asset into a witting asset, meaning he then knew he was reporting to the CIA. Another cold pitch target that turned down commercial recruitment, later was contacted by an official cover officer and recruited as a witting agent. I guess as cold pitches go, two out of about 12 isn’t bad. I outlined one incident in the stories section of the blog. Several other cold pitch commercial recruitments were accepted by the target but since they later did not provide information of intelligence interest, they were amicably terminated without ever knowing they had been reporting to the CIA.

Of course, the more you know about the target the more likely will be the success of a cold contact. You may be so fortunate to have information about the target from public sources or from other agents or friendly contacts. If, however, you have zero information on the target, you may have to make social and professional assumptions about the target and make your initial approach somewhat generic as you elicit information about him/her to able to developed a tailored approach.