Double agent

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.[1]

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.[2]

Double agents

Examples of known double agents and moles
Context Agent / Code name Nationality Loyal to Spying on Comments References
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
1639 – 1651
Samuel Morland England English England Restoration Commonwealth of England Commonwealth of England  
Richard Willis England English Commonwealth of England Commonwealth of England England Restoration  
World War I
1914 – 1918
Mata Hari Netherlands Dutch German Empire German Empire France French Third Republic  
World War II
1939 – 1945
Mathilde Carré "La Chatte" France French United Kingdom Double-Cross System
Roman Czerniawski "Brutus" Poland Polish United Kingdom Double-Cross System
Eddie Chapman "ZigZag" England English United Kingdom 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" England English United Kingdom 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.[3] Later sent back to Lisbon to persuade Abwehr officer, George Sessler, to defect and worked undercover in Brazil.
Roger Grosjean "Fido" France French United Kingdom Double-Cross System French Air Force pilot who worked for the British
Christiaan Lindemans "King Kong" Netherlands Dutch Nazi Germany Abwehr (1944) Netherlands United Kingdom SOE (1940-1944)
Dutch resistance (1941-1944)
 
Arthur Owens "Snow" Wales Welsh United Kingdom Double-Cross System  
Johann-Nielsen Jebsen "Jonny" "Artist" German Empire German Nazi Germany Abwehr (1939-1941)
United Kingdom MI6 (1941-1945)
Nazi Germany Abwehr (1941-1945) Anti-Nazi German intelligence officer and British double agent. Jebsen recruited Dušan Popov.
Ivan Popov "LaLa" "Aesculap" "Dreadnought" "Hans" Kingdom of Yugoslavia Serbian Kingdom of Yugoslavia VOA (1939-1945)
Nazi Germany Abwehr (1940-1944)
United Kingdom MI6 (1941-1945)
Nazi Germany 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" Kingdom of Yugoslavia Serbian Kingdom of Yugoslavia VOA (1939-1945)
Nazi Germany Abwehr (1940-1941)
United Kingdom MI6 (1940-1945)
Nazi Germany 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" Norway Norwegian United Kingdom Double-Cross System  
Tor Glad "Mutt and Jeff" Norway Norwegian United Kingdom Double-Cross System  
Juan Pujol García "Garbo" Spain Spanish[4] United Kingdom Double-Cross System British double agent in German spy service; awarded both an MBE and an Iron Cross
Johann Wenzel German Empire German
Before 1942

Soviet Union Red Orchestra

During 1942

Nazi Germany Gestapo

Before 1942

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany

During 1942

Soviet Union 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" German Empire German
United States U.S. citizen
United States FBI (1939) Nazi Germany Abwehr (1939) Coerced by the Abwehr into becoming a spy, exposed the Duquesne Spy Ring to the FBI.
Cold War
1947 – 1991
Aldrich Ames United States American Soviet Union KGB United States CIA (1957-1994)  
John Cairncross "Liszt" Scotland Scottish Soviet Union MGB
Soviet Union Cambridge Five
United Kingdom MI5 (1941-1944)
United Kingdom GC&CS (1942-1943)
United Kingdom MI6 (1944-1945)
 
Anthony Blunt "Johnson" England English Soviet Union NKVD
Soviet Union Cambridge Five
United Kingdom MI5  
Guy Burgess "Hicks" England English Soviet Union MGB
Soviet Union Cambridge Five
United Kingdom MI5 (1939-1941)
United Kingdom Foreign Office (1944-1956)
 
Donald Maclean "Homer" England English Soviet Union MGB
Soviet Union Cambridge Five
United Kingdom MI5
United Kingdom MI6
 
Kim Philby "Stanley" England English
British Raj Born in India
Soviet Union MGB
Soviet Union Cambridge Five
United Kingdom MI6  
George Blake Netherlands Dutch Soviet Union KGB United Kingdom MI6  
Oleg Gordievsky "Sunbeam" "Nocton" "Pimlico" "Ovation" Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Russian United Kingdom MI6 (1968-2008) Soviet Union KGB (1963-1985) Abducted in Moscow in 1985; escaped to the United Kingdom two months later.
Sjam Kamaruzaman Indonesia Indonesia Indonesia Indonesia Communist Party 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.[5]
Matei Pavel Haiducu Romania Romanian France DST (1981) Romania DIE (1975-1982) Defected to France in 1981.
Dmitri Polyakov Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Ukrainian United States FBI
United States CIA
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic GRU Executed in 1988.
Robert Hanssen United States American Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic GRU United States FBI Worked for the FBI and sold information to the Soviet Union as a mole.
Oleg Penkovskiy "Hero" Russian Empire Russian United States NSA
United Kingdom MI6
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic 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 Sweden Swedish Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic GRU Sweden 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.
Arab–Israeli conflict
1948 –
Ashraf Marwan Egypt Egyptian Israel Mossad Egypt Egypt 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.
Basque conflict
1959 – 2011
Mikel Lejarza "El Lobo" Basque Country (autonomous community) Basque Spain CESID Basque Country (autonomous community) ETA  
Northern Ireland conflict
1968 – 1998
Denis Donaldson Northern Ireland Northern Irish United Kingdom MI5
Northern Ireland PSNI
Ireland Provisional IRA
Ireland Sinn Féin
Assassinated at his cottage in County Donegal after being exposed by a Northern Ireland newspaper, The Derry Journal.
"Kevin Fulton" Northern Ireland Northern Irish United Kingdom Royal Irish Rangers
United Kingdom Int Corps
Republic of Ireland Provisional IRA
Freddie Scappaticci "Stakeknife" Republic of Ireland Irish United Kingdom FRU Ireland Provisional IRA
Ireland ISU
Robert Nairac England English
Mauritius born in Mauritius
United Kingdom British Army Ireland Provisional IRA Murdered by the Provisional IRA in County Louth in 1977.
South African espionage in Zimbabwe and the Gukurahundi
1980 – 1987
Matt Calloway Zimbabwe Zimbabwean South Africa NIS Zimbabwe CIO [6]
Philip Conjwayo Zimbabwe Zimbabwean

South Africa South African citizen

South Africa NIS Zimbabwe CIO [7]
Geoffrey Price Zimbabwe Zimbabwean South Africa NIS Zimbabwe CIO [6]
Michael Smith Zimbabwe Zimbabwean

South Africa South African citizen

South Africa NIS Zimbabwe CIO [7]
Kevin Woods Zimbabwe Zimbabwean

South Africa South African citizen

South Africa NIS Zimbabwe CIO [6][7]
Global War on Terrorism
2001 –
Aimen Dean United Kingdom United Kingdom (born Bahraini) United Kingdom Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)  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.[8]
"April Fool" United States American United States United States Iraq Iraq Allegedly, an American officer who provided false information to Saddam Hussein
Iyman Faris United States U.S. citizen  al-Qaeda United States 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".[2]

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

  1. "Definition of DOUBLE AGENT". merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  2. Begoum, F.M. "Observations on the Double Agent". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on January 9, 2008. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
  3. Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 182-186
  4. García, Juan Pujol; West, Nigel (2011). "Childhood". Operation Garbo: The Personal Story of the Most Successful Spy of World War II. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 9781849546256.
  5. Rizal, M. "Misteri Sjam, Pengendali Operasi G30S". detikx. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
  6. Berkeley, Bill (1989-10-22). "Apartheid's Spies". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-10-18.
  7. Dube, Benson (2014-02-21). "Philip Conjwayo dies". Southern Eye. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
  8. Windrem, Robert (17 June 2018). "He spied on al Qaeda from inside, until he had to run for his life". NBC News. Retrieved 12 June 2021.

Further reading

  • Naveed Jamali; Ellis Henican (2015). How to Catch a Russian Spy: The True Story of an American Civilian Turned Double Agent. Scribner. ISBN 978-1476788821.
  • Masterson, J.C. (1972). The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-01496-1.
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