Double agent
{{Short description|Type of special intelligence service}}
{{Other uses}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2010}}
In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organization for the target organization.{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/double%20agent|title=Definition of DOUBLE AGENT|publisher=merriam-webster.com|access-date=21 February 2018}}
Double agentry may be practiced by spies of the target organization who infiltrate the controlling organization or may result from the turning (switching sides) of previously loyal agents of the controlling organization 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 a foreign intelligence service) or a double agent into a re-doubled agent. It is unlike a defector, who is not considered an agent as agents are in place to function for an intelligence service and defectors are not, but some consider that defectors in place are agents until they have 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 or even counterproductive, information to pass along.
Double agents
| class="wikitable" style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto"
|+ Examples of known double agents and moles |
| Context
!Agent / Code name !Nationality !Loyal to !Spying on !width="30%" |Comments !References |
|---|
| rowspan="2" | Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1639 – 1651 |{{flagicon|England|1625|size=23px}} English |{{flagicon|England|1648|size=23px}} Restoration |{{flagicon|Commonwealth of England|1649|size=23px}} Commonwealth of England | | |
| Richard Willis
|{{flagicon|England|1614|size=23px}} English |{{flagicon|Commonwealth of England|1649|size=23px}} Commonwealth of England |{{flagicon|England|1648|size=23px}} Restoration | | |
| rowspan="1" | World War I 1914 – 1918 |{{flagicon|Netherlands|size=23px}} Dutch |{{flagicon|German Empire|1917|size=23px}} German Empire |{{flagicon|France|1917|size=23px}} French Third Republic | | |
| rowspan="16" | World War II 1939 – 1945 !Mathilde Carré "La Chatte" |{{flagicon|France|1908|size=23px}} French |colspan="2" |{{flagicon|United Kingdom|1940|size=23px}} Double-Cross System | | |
| Roman Czerniawski "Brutus"
|{{flagicon|Poland|1910|size=23px}} Polish |colspan="2" |{{flagicon|United Kingdom|1940|size=23px}} Double-Cross System | | |
| Eddie Chapman "ZigZag"
|{{flagicon|England|1914|size=23px}} English |colspan="2" |{{flagicon|United Kingdom|1940|size=23px}} Double-Cross System |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. | |
| Walter Dicketts "Celery"
|{{flagicon|England|1914|size=23px}} English |colspan="2" |{{flagicon|United Kingdom|1940|size=23px}} Double-Cross System (1940-1943) |Ex-RNAS officer sent to Lisbon and Germany to infiltrate the Abwehr, report on invasion plans for Britain, and establish the bona fides of Snow (subsequently imprisoned until the end of war). Subjected to an intensive five-day interrogation in Hamburg and survived.{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pp. 182-186 Later sent back to Lisbon to persuade Abwehr officer, George Sessler, to defect and worked undercover in Brazil. | |
| Roger Grosjean "Fido"
|{{flagicon|France|1920|size=23px}} French |colspan="2" |{{flagicon|United Kingdom|1940|size=23px}} Double-Cross System |French Air Force pilot who worked for the British | |
| Christiaan Lindemans "King Kong"
|{{flagicon|Netherlands|1912|size=23px}} Dutch |{{flagicon|Nazi Germany|1939|size=23px}} Abwehr (1944) |{{flagicon|Netherlands|1941|size=23px}} {{flagicon|United Kingdom|1940|size=23px}} SOE (1940-1944) | | |
| Arthur Owens "Snow"
|{{flagicon|Wales|1807|size=23px}} Welsh |colspan="2" |{{flagicon|United Kingdom|1940|size=23px}} Double-Cross System | | |
| Johann-Nielsen Jebsen "Jonny" "Artist"
|{{flagicon|German Empire|1899|size=23px}} German |{{flagicon|Nazi Germany|1939|size=23px}} Abwehr (1939-1941) |{{flagicon|Nazi Germany|1939|size=23px}} Abwehr (1941-1945) | Anti-Nazi German intelligence officer and British double agent. Jebsen recruited Dušan Popov. | |
| Ivan Popov "LaLa" "Aesculap" "Dreadnought" "Hans"
|{{flagicon|Kingdom of Yugoslavia|naval|size=23px}} Serbian |{{flagicon|Kingdom of Yugoslavia|naval|size=23px}} VOA (1939-1945) |{{flagicon|Nazi Germany|1939|size=23px}} Abwehr (1941-1945) |Worked for the Yugoslavian agency VOA, as well as the British MI6 and the German Abwehr. Held the rank of Obersturmbannführer in the Gestapo. Brother of Dušan Popov. | |
| Dušan Popov "Duško" "Tricycle" "Ivan"
|{{flagicon|Kingdom of Yugoslavia|naval|size=23px}} Serbian |{{flagicon|Kingdom of Yugoslavia|naval|size=23px}} VOA (1939-1945) |{{flagicon|Nazi Germany|1939|size=23px}} Abwehr (1941-1945) |Worked for the Yugoslavian agency VOA, as well as the British MI6 and the German Abwehr. Held the rank of colonel in the British Army. Brother of Ivan Popov. | |
| John Herbert Neal Moe "Mutt and Jeff"
|{{flagicon|Norway|1919|size=23px}} Norwegian |colspan="2" |{{flagicon|United Kingdom|1940|size=23px}} Double-Cross System | | |
| Tor Glad "Mutt and Jeff"
|{{flagicon|Norway|1916|size=23px}} Norwegian |colspan="2" |{{flagicon|United Kingdom|1940|size=23px}} Double-Cross System | | |
| Juan Pujol García "Garbo"
|{{flagicon|Spain|1938|size=23px}} Spanish{{Cite book|first1=Juan Pujol|last1=García|author-link1=Joan Pujol Garcia|first2=Nigel|last2=West|author-link2=Rupert Allason|title=Operation Garbo: The Personal Story of the Most Successful Spy of World War II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KgOuAwAAQBAJ|publisher=Biteback Publishing|year=2011|chapter=Childhood|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KgOuAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT10|isbn=9781849546256}} |colspan="2" |{{flagicon|United Kingdom|1940|size=23px}} Double-Cross System |British double agent in German spy service; awarded both an MBE and an Iron Cross | |
| Johann Wenzel
|{{flagicon|German Empire|1902|size=23px}} German | ;Before 1942: {{flagicon|Soviet Union|1942|size=23px}} Red Orchestra ;During 1942: {{flagicon|Nazi Germany|1942|size=23px}} Gestapo | ;Before 1942: {{flagicon|Nazi Germany|1942|size=23px}} Nazi Germany ;During 1942: {{flagicon|Soviet Union|1942|size=23px}} Soviet Union |Member of Red Orchestra spy ring who, after being unmasked by the Gestapo in 1942, fed false information to the Soviet Union from August until his escape in November. Later joined the Belgian Resistance. | |
| William Sebold "Tramp"
|{{flagicon|German Empire|1899|size=23px}} German |{{flagicon|United States|1939|size=23px}} FBI (1939) |{{flagicon|Nazi Germany|1939|size=23px}} Abwehr (1939) |Coerced by the Abwehr into becoming a spy, exposed the Duquesne Spy Ring to the FBI. | |
| Larissa Swirski "Queen of Hearts"
|{{flagicon|Russian Empire||size=23px}} Russian |{{flagicon|Nazi Germany|1939|size=23px}} Abwehr |{{flagicon|Nazi Germany|1942|size=23px}} Nazi Germany |Recruited by the Nazis in Ceuta; changed alliances after learning about the concentration camps. Role in preventing the Nazis from taking Gibraltar. | |
| rowspan="14" | Cold War 1947 – 1991 |{{flagicon|United States|1941|size=23px}} American |{{flagicon|Soviet Union|1985|size=23px}} KGB |{{flagicon|United States|1957|size=23px}} CIA (1957-1994) | | |
| John Cairncross "Liszt"
|{{flagicon|Scotland|1913|size=23px}} Scottish |{{flagicon|Soviet Union|1941|size=23px}} MGB |{{flagicon|UK|1941|size=23px}} MI5 (1941-1944) | | |
| Anthony Blunt "Johnson"
|{{flagicon|England|1907|size=23px}} English |{{flagicon|Soviet Union|1941|size=23px}} NKVD |{{flagicon|UK|1940|size=23px}} MI5 | | |
| Guy Burgess "Hicks"
|{{flagicon|England|1911|size=23px}} English |{{flagicon|Soviet Union|1941|size=23px}} MGB |{{flagicon|UK|1939|size=23px}} MI5 (1939-1941) | | |
| Donald Maclean "Homer"
|{{flagicon|England|1913|size=23px}} English |{{flagicon|Soviet Union|1941|size=23px}} MGB |{{flagicon|UK|1961|size=23px}} MI5 | | |
| Kim Philby "Stanley"
|{{flagicon|England|1912|size=23px}} English |{{flagicon|Soviet Union|1941|size=23px}} MGB |{{flagicon|UK|1941|size=23px}} MI6 | | |
| George Blake
|{{flagicon|Netherlands|1922|size=23px}} Dutch |{{flagicon|Soviet Union|1953|size=23px}} KGB |{{flagicon|UK|1944|size=23px}} MI6 | | |
| Oleg Gordievsky "Sunbeam" "Nocton" "Pimlico" "Ovation"
|{{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1938|size=23px}} Russian |{{flagicon|UK|1968|size=23px}} MI6 (1968-2008) |{{flagicon|Soviet Union|1963|size=23px}} KGB (1963-1985) |Abducted in Moscow in 1985; escaped to the United Kingdom two months later. | |
| Sjam Kamaruzaman
|{{Flagicon|Indonesia}} Indonesia |{{Flagicon|Indonesia}} Indonesia Communist Party |{{Flagicon|Indonesia}} Indonesian Army |Head of the Indonesian Communist Party Special Bureau which was tasked to gathering information and intelligence and was the mastermind of 30th September Movement.{{Cite web |last=Rizal |first=M. |title=Misteri Sjam, Pengendali Operasi G30S |url=https://news.detik.com/x/detail/intermeso/20230929/Misteri-Sjam-Pengendali-Operasi-G30S/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=detikx}} | |
| Matei Pavel Haiducu
|{{flagicon|Romania|1948|size=23px}} Romanian |{{flagicon|France|1981|size=23px}} DST (1981) |{{flagicon|Romania|1948|size=23px}} DIE (1975-1982) |Defected to France in 1981. | |
| Dmitri Polyakov
|{{flagicon|Ukrainian SSR|1921|size=23px}} Ukrainian |{{flagicon|United States|1988|size=23px}} FBI |{{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1988|size=23px}} GRU |Executed in 1988. | |
| Robert Hanssen
|{{flagicon|United States|1944|size=23px}} American |{{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1979|size=23px}} GRU |{{flagicon|United States|1976|size=23px}} FBI |Worked for the FBI and sold information to the Soviet Union as a mole. | |
| Oleg Penkovskiy "Hero"
|{{flagicon|Russian Empire|1919|size=23px}} Russian |{{flagicon|United States|1950|size=23px}} CIA |{{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1950|size=23px}} GRU |A colonel with GRU informed the U.K. and the U.S. about the Soviet emplacement of missiles in Cuba; executed by the Soviets in 1963. | |
| Stig Bergling
|{{flagicon|Sweden|1937|size=23px}} Swedish |{{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1979|size=23px}} GRU |{{flagicon|Sweden|1979|size=23px}} SÄPO |Among other things, handed over the entire Swedish "FO-code", a top secret list of Sweden's defence establishments, coastal artillery fortifications and mobilization stores. Convicted in 1979 and sentenced to life imprisonment for treason. | |
| rowspan="1" | Basque conflict 1959 – 2011 !Mikel Lejarza "El Lobo" |{{flagicon|Basque Country|1947|size=23px}} Basque |{{flagicon|Spain|1975|size=23px}} CESID |{{flagicon|Basque Country|1975|size=23px}} ETA | | |
| rowspan="4" | Northern Ireland conflict 1968 – 1998 |{{flagicon|Northern Ireland|1950|size=23px}} Northern Irish |{{flagicon|UK|2005|size=23px}} MI5 |{{flagicon|Ireland|2005|size=23px}} Provisional IRA |Assassinated at his cottage in County Donegal after being exposed by a Northern Ireland newspaper, The Derry Journal. | |
| "Kevin Fulton"
|{{flagicon|Northern Ireland|size=23px}} Northern Irish |{{flagicon|UK|army|size=23px}} Royal Irish Rangers |{{flagicon|Ireland|size=23px}} Provisional IRA | | |
| Freddie Scappaticci "Stakeknife"
|{{flagicon|Ireland|size=23px}} Irish |{{flagicon|UK|army|size=23px}} FRU |{{flagicon|Ireland|1974|size=23px}} Provisional IRA | | |
| Robert Nairac
|{{flagicon|England|1948|size=23px}} English |{{flagicon|UK|army|size=23px}} British Army |{{flagicon|Ireland|1974|size=23px}} Provisional IRA |Murdered by the Provisional IRA in County Louth in 1977. | |
| rowspan="5" |South African espionage in Zimbabwe and the Gukurahundi 1980 – 1987 |{{Flagicon|Zimbabwe}} Zimbabwean |{{Flagicon|South Africa|variant=1928}} NIS |{{Flagicon|Zimbabwe}} CIO | |
| Philip Conjwayo
|{{Flagicon|Zimbabwe}} Zimbabwean {{Flagicon|South Africa|variant=1928}} South African citizen |{{Flagicon|South Africa|variant=1928}} NIS |{{Flagicon|Zimbabwe}} CIO | |
| Geoffrey Price
|{{Flagicon|Zimbabwe}} Zimbabwean |{{Flagicon|South Africa|variant=1928}} NIS |{{Flagicon|Zimbabwe}} CIO | |
| Michael Smith
|{{Flagicon|Zimbabwe}} Zimbabwean {{Flagicon|South Africa|variant=1928}} South African citizen |{{Flagicon|South Africa|variant=1928}} NIS |{{Flagicon|Zimbabwe}} CIO | |
| Kevin Woods
|{{Flagicon|Zimbabwe}} Zimbabwean {{Flagicon|South Africa|variant=1928}} South African citizen |{{Flagicon|South Africa|variant=1928}} NIS |{{Flagicon|Zimbabwe}} CIO | |
| rowspan="3" | Global War on Terrorism 2001 – |{{flagicon|United Kingdom|1950|size=23px}} United Kingdom (born Bahraini) |{{flagicon|United Kingdom|1950|size=23px}} Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) |{{flagicon image|Flag_of_al-Qaeda.svg}} al-Qaeda |Dean's cover was reportedly blown by Ron Suskind who, using CIA sources who had received intelligence under the Five Eyes UKUSA Agreement, disclosed his identity with details that could only be sourced to Dean in an excerpt of The One Percent Doctrine for Time.{{Cite news|last=Windrem|first=Robert|date=17 June 2018|title=He spied on al Qaeda from inside, until he had to run for his life|work=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/he-spied-al-qaeda-inside-until-he-had-run-his-n883681|access-date=12 June 2021}} | |
| "April Fool"
|{{flagicon|United States|2003|size=23px}} American |{{flagicon|United States|2003|size=23px}} United States |{{flagicon|Iraq|2003|size=23px}} Iraq |Allegedly, an American officer who provided false information to Saddam Hussein | |
| Iyman Faris
| {{flagicon|United States|1999|size=23px}} U.S. citizen | {{flagicon image|Flag_of_al-Qaeda.svg}} al-Qaeda | {{flagicon|United States|2003|size=23px}} FBI | | |
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 re-doubled 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".{{cite web|last=Begoum|first=F.M.|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|title=Observations on the Double Agent|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol6no1/html/v06i1a05p_0001.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109184409/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol6no1/html/v06i1a05p_0001.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 9, 2008|access-date=January 5, 2010}}
Triple agent
{{redirect|Triple agent|the 2004 French thriller film|Triple Agent}}
A triple agent is a spy who pretends to be a double agent for one side while they are truthfully a double agent for the other side. Unlike a re-doubled agent, who changes allegiance due to being compromised, a triple agent usually has always been loyal to their original side. It may also refer to a spy who works for three opposing sides, such that each side thinks the spy works for them alone.
Notable triple agents include:
Events in which double agents played an important role
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |title=How to Catch a Russian Spy: The True Story of an American Civilian Turned Double Agent |author1=Naveed Jamali |author2=Ellis Henican |year=2015 |isbn=978-1476788821 |publisher=Scribner}}
- {{cite book |title=The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945 |first=J.C. |last=Masterson |year=1972 |publisher=Yale University Press |ISBN=0-300-01496-1}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080109184409/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol6no1/html/v06i1a05p_0001.htm F. M. Begoum: Observations on the Double Agent]
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{{intelligence cycle management}}
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