Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Inside the CIA, the “nonofficial cover” program is run by the curiously titled Office of Central Cover, in coordination with the Office of External Development.

CIA recruiters refer candidates to the OED for evaluation as potential deep-cover NOCs. Other NOCs are recruited by blind “Help Wanted” ads placed in newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal by headhunter firms like Stackig, Sanderson & White in McLean, Va.

A typical NOC recruitment ad reads: “Our international client offers professionals challenging opportunities in a number of foreign countries that require no selling from representatives.. . .We are seeking men and women with college degrees and education/work experience in a variety of areas: advanced technologies, investment and international finance, research, marketing and public relations, business administration.. . .Successful applicants will be provided full details of employment.”

The Office of External Development also helps identify and recruit U.S. corporations to participate in the NOC program. Using the type of approach it might use to recruit an overseas agent, the CIA first–without the knowledge of the target firm–prepares a detailed profile of the company and its chief executives. Then the CIA extends quiet feelers to the company’s CEO, to gauge the company’s willingness to lend its overseas offices to a NOC. Finally, when the CIA is satisfied that the company will be receptive, it makes the pitch.

“Above all, they’re looking for some CEO who’s not a liberal, who is not going to holler ‘Help! Police!’ if he is approached by the CIA,” said a former CIA officer.

If the company agrees to participate, only the company’s CEO and perhaps one or two other people will ever be aware of the arrangement. The CIA asks the company to sign a nondisclosure agreement to maintain the secrecy of the program.

Because of this secrecy and the potential for embarrassment, no company is willing to confirm its participation in the CIA’s NOC program. Companies contacted about their reported involvement issued denials or refused comment. A Procter & Gamble spokesman, after checking with senior executives, declared that his company was not involved.

Asked whether Prentice-Hall supports the CIA’s NOC program, a spokesman replied, “If we did and we told you, it wouldn’t be very good cover, would it?”–and then called back to say that all Prentice-Hall employees are employees of the company, not the CIA. Similarly, a Ford Motor Co. spokesman said, “If it were true, do you think we’d tell you?” At Rockwell International, a public affairs representative declined comment, saying “I’m giving you a Rockwell-type answer.”

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate