Cover (intelligence gathering)

Operatives under non-official cover do not have this "safety net", and if captured and charged as spies are subject to severe criminal punishments, up to and including execution.

An agent sent to spy on a foreign country might, for instance, work as a businessperson, a worker for a non-profit organization (such as a humanitarian group), or an academic.

[citation needed] Other times, entire front companies can be established in order to provide false identities for agents.

Fictional notable examples include Chuck Barris, who made a satirical claim to have been a NOC with 33 kills in his book and movie Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

Other examples are featured in the books Debt of Honor and The Eleventh Commandment; the films Mission: Impossible, Spy Game, The Bourne Identity, Safe House, and The Recruit; and the television shows The Americans, Burn Notice, Spooks, The Night Manager, Covert Affairs, The Spy, and Patriot.