Writing a good novel should always include extensive research on various aspects that are addressed in the story line. When it comes to spy novels, specifically those relating to the United States of America, a reference to the National Clandestine Service, the CIA’s clandestine arm, is almost inevitable.

In my newest novel “The Eleventh Incarnation” I refer to the NCS’s “Operation Epitome” which is, of course, a product of my vivid imagination. Operation Epitome takes place in the People’s Republic of China in the near future.

The first, obvious choice for research activities is, of course, the CIA’s website (See: https://www.cia.gov/offices-of-cia/clandestine-service/index.html). However, profound information about their operation and structure is, for very obvious reasons, extremely sparse.

I did not attempt to check with Wikileaks, because I don’t approve of their recent activities that, in all consequence, jeopardize the lives of American military personnel abroad. The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a valuable source of information, but readability suffers from too many links and bookmarks. I took the liberty of copying, pasting, and editing to improve readability.

National Clandestine Service

The National Clandestine Service (NCS) (formerly known as the Directorate of Operations), a semi-independent directorate-level service within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is the main United States intelligence agency for coordinating human intelligence (HUMINT) services. The organization absorbed the entirety of the CIA’s one-time Directorate of Operations and also coordinates HUMINT between the CIA and other agencies, including, but not limited to, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Diplomatic Security Service, Defense Intelligence Agency, Air Force ISR Agency, Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), Marine Corps Intelligence Activity, and Office of Naval Intelligence. The Director of the NCS reports to the CIA Director.

The creation of the NCS was officially announced in a press release on October 13, 2005. The NCS was created by a bill from US Senator Pat Roberts in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The investigation by the 9/11 Commission reported that HUMINT had been severely degraded in the past two decades, principally because of the end of the Cold War and because of startling revelations about CIA operations uncovered by the investigations of the Church Committee of the US Senate.

Officers

The National Clandestine Service consists of four different types of officers:

1. Collection Management Officers: the connection between the operations officer in the field and the U.S. foreign policy community, both in the United States and abroad. They guide the collection of intelligence and direct the dissemination of that intelligence. Managing the collection effort requires contact with US policymakers to determine what they need to know, and then communicating those requirements to the operations officers in the field for collection. They must understand operations and local operating environments, as well as maintain substantive knowledge about the countries and issues against which the Agency is collecting information.
2. Staff Operations Officers: These officers contribute to the Clandestine Service mission primarily from the CIA’s Washington, D.C. area headquarters, providing fast-paced research and case management in support of colleagues overseas. This includes monitoring counterintelligence issues and providing support needed to deal with foreign contacts in the field. Staff operations officers must be knowledgeable on both operational tradecraft and international issues in order to enhance their interaction with field-based officers.
3. Operations Officers: Also known as “case officers,” they are responsible for the actual recruitment of sources (also known as agents, assets, or sources) or collecting intelligence themselves. They work undercover with either diplomatic or non-official cover. The job is described on the CIA’s website as follows:
   

   For the extraordinary individual who wants more than a job, this is a way of life that will challenge the deepest resources of your intelligence, self-reliance and responsibility. It demands an adventurous spirit, a forceful personality, superior intellectual ability, toughness of mind and the highest degree of integrity. It takes special skills and professional discipline to produce results and to deal with fast-moving, ambiguous and unstructured situations that will test your resourcefulness to the utmost. The Clandestine Service is the vital human element of intelligence collection – on the cutting edge of American intelligence. This is an elite corps that gathers the vital information needed by our policymakers to make critical foreign policy decisions. The Central Intelligence Agency’s Clandestine Service Trainee Program (CST) is the gateway to a unique overseas experience.

4. Paramilitary Operations Officers: The National Clandestine Service’s primary action arm is the Special Activities Division (SAD), which conducts direct action-like raids, ambushes, sabotage, assassinations, unconventional warfare (e.g. training and leading guerrillas), and deniable psychological operations, the latter also known as “covert influence.” While special reconnaissance may be either a military or intelligence operation, these usually are executed by SAD officers in denied areas. Paramilitary operations officers are chosen mainly from the ranks of: the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group and other SEAL teams; the U.S. Army’s Combat Applications Group (Delta Force), Army special forces, and U.S. Army Rangers; the United States Marine Corps Forces Special Operations battalions (MARSOC); and the Air Force Combat Controllers and Air Force Pararescuemen. SAD operatives are the most specialized because they combine the best special operations and clandestine intelligence (spy) capabilities in one individual. They operate in any environment (sea, air, or ground) and with limited to no support. They originate in the Special Operations Group (SOG) of SAD, considered one of the most elite special operations units in the world. Paramilitary operations officers are the primary recipients of the coveted Distinguished Intelligence Cross and the Intelligence Star, the two highest medals for valor in the CIA. Not surprisingly, the majority of those memorialized on the Wall of Honor at CIA headquarters were covert operatives.

Mission definitions

Covert action is defined as an operation planned and executed to conceal the identity of or permit plausible denial by the sponsor. A covert operation differs from a clandestine operation in that emphasis is placed on concealment of identity of sponsor rather than on concealment of the operation.

Covert operations include paramilitary and psychological activities. See Psychological Operations (United States) for a more general discussion of US psychological operations, including those operations for which the CIA is responsible and those that belong to other agencies. Some of the policy for guiding the overall strategy is detailed there, as well as in the citation starting this section. Even for the IC, the Department of State generally guides the message.

Clandestine operations are sponsored or conducted by governmental departments or agencies in such a way as to assure secrecy or concealment. A clandestine operation differs from a covert operation in that emphasis is placed on concealment of the operation rather than on concealment of the identity of the sponsor. In special operations, an activity may be both covert and clandestine and may focus equally on operational considerations and intelligence-related activities.

Clandestine HUMINT: Human-source intelligence HUMINT is mentioned in this section, since the classic HUMINT technique is espionage. The CIA is the principal US agency for collecting clandestine human-source intelligence, by espionage. They develop and train their staff in clandestine tradecraft.

Clandestine technical collection: The Agency also may be responsible for developing communications systems appropriate for clandestine operations. In 1962, the Central Intelligence Agency, Deputy Directorate for Research (now the Deputy Directorate for Science and Technology), formally took on ELINT and COMINT responsibilities. ”The consolidation of the ELINT program was one of the major goals of the reorganization… it is responsible for:

• ELINT support peculiar to the penetration problems associated with the Agent’s reconnaissance program under NRO.
• Maintain a quick reaction capability for ELINT and COMINT equipment.”

“CIA’s Office of Research and Development was formed to stimulate research and innovation testing leading to the exploitation of non-agent intelligence collection methods….All non-agent technical collection systems will be considered by this office and those appropriate for field deployment will be so deployed. The Agency’s missile detection system, Project [deleted] based on backscatter radar is an example. This office will also provide integrated systems analysis of all possible collection methods against the Soviet antiballistic missile program is an example.”

Sometimes in cooperation with technical personnel at other agencies such as NSA when the collection discipline is SIGINT, or DIA when the techniques come MASINT, or other appropriate agencies such as the United States Department of Energy for nuclear information, CIA may work to place technical collection equipment in denied territory. They have also cooperated in placing such equipment into US embassies. Emplacing and servicing such equipment is another form of clandestine operation, of which the adversary should not be aware.These include:

• Research, development, testing, and production of ELINT and COMINT collection equipment for all Agency operations.
• Technical operation and maintenance of CIA deployed non-agent ELINT systems.
• Training and maintenance of agent ELINT equipments
• Technical support to the Third Party Agreements.
• Data reduction of Agency-collected ELINT signals.

Organization

The current structure of the National Clandestine Service, under the Director of the NCS, is as follows, according to the Official CIA Organizational Chart:

• Deputy Director of the NCS
  • Counterproliferation Division
  • Counterterrorism Center
  • Counterintelligence Center
  • Regional & Transnational Issues Divisions
  • Technology Support Divisions
• Deputy Director of the NCS for Community HUMINT
  • Community HUMINT Coordination Center

For more detailed information log on to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Clandestine_Service.

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The Bleeding Hills

A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

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