Free A Guide for the Aspiring Spy (The Anonymous Spy Series) by Anonymous Spy

reports safely and securely to CIA headquarters and the Station. So the old time-consuming MLI and SPR film systems are now nearly a bygone technology for the NOC case officer. As a result, the NOC officer today has more free time to devote to operational activities such as agent spotting, vetting, and development, and, of course, agent handling.
     
    These advances have enabled the NOC case officer to become more competitive with his inside counterparts who have always had the advantage in terms of access to information and technology. These new electronic communications and reporting systems have also been beneficial to the NOC case officer’s operational security since it reduces the frequency of contacts between the NOC officer and his inside contact. This lowers the case officer’s potential for exposure to a hostile security service.
     
    These are just a few techniques now available to NOC case officers. There are numerous others that the Company has deleted from the original manuscript, so out of concern for my fellow officers I will not discuss these. The main point, however, is that of productivity. Having personally used both the old system and some of the newer technology based systems, I believe that NOC case officer productivity has increased threefold between the 1970s and 1990s. What this means in terms of manpower is that a contingent of one hundred NOC officers in 1970 would equal three hundred officers in 1990.
     
    As for promotions, NOC officers (“outside” officers) and OC officers (“inside” officers) have completely different promotion systems within the CIA. NOC officers are only compared with other NOC officers of the same grade level for promotions. Separate promotion panels evaluate NOC officers and inside officers. A senior NOC officer is assigned to the promotion panel to evaluate other NOC officers.

Mixing Your Personal and Professional Life
     
    Working Both Sides
     
    The NOC officer is expected to perform cover duties for the cover company. In some cases, the NOC will be the only American employee for the cover company in the country, so he will be able to establish his own work schedule. His immediate supervisor would then be assigned back in the corporate or regional HQs and the immediate supervisor is always witting of the NOC’s true affiliations and very rarely will make time demands on the NOC. I found supervisors to be most supportive of the NOC’s true mission and would work with the NOC to ensure a smooth cooperative relationship.
     
    In other cases, the NOC will have an American supervisor inside the country, but this supervisor will be witting of the NOC’s true affiliation and real duties. In such cases, the NOC is expected to work together with his supervisor to maintain cover duties while performing his true CIA duties. This is rarely a problem. In the old days, the Company and the cover company had a memorandum of understanding outlining precisely what duties the NOC was expected to perform for the cover company and outlining approximately how many hours per week the NOC was expected to put in for the cover company.
     
    When I worked as a NOC, I averaged perhaps twenty to twenty-five hours a week for the cover company. There were times when I would travel regionally for the company and work forty to fifty hours a week for the cover company and there were times when I would work as little as five to ten hours a week. There were also times when my cover company and CIA duties would overlap and I would be performing a service for both at the same time. This may happen if you are so fortunate to work for a cover company that provides access to targets of interest to the CIA.
     
    You will find that your cover supervisor may go all out to support you in your CIA duties and will even front for you and create excuses for you. He may do so to protect the interests of the cover company, but it’s more likely he loves feeling a part of something that is