| If one wants to work for such an Agency like the | | | | persona non-grata (Person not welcome) and get |
| CIA, there are two processes. Either they can either | | | | shipped home. |
| apply formally, or be spotted and recruited to work | | | | There are however members of the Clandestine |
| for them. People who work for Intelligence Agencies | | | | Services that have Non-Official Cover (NOC). These |
| as "spies" (and that's a very confusing term in the | | | | are referred to as NOCs (it rhymes with "rocks.") |
| Intelligence community) are known as Intelligence | | | | When a NOC is caught, their government denies they |
| Officers. | | | | ever worked for them. The NOC is placed in a lot of |
| The process to get hired is similar to other | | | | danger, however they are also in the best position to |
| high-security government or military jobs. Depending | | | | gather information as they can claim to be a civilian |
| on the organization, Officers might move between | | | | and get much closer to people of interest than |
| several different departments, or might work in one | | | | someone with Official Cover. |
| for their entire career. | | | | A famous film example of this was in the 2002 |
| Where an Intelligence Agency has both overt and | | | | James Bond series film "Die Another Die." In this film, |
| clandestine or covert operatives (explained below), | | | | Pierce Brosnan, playing Bond is captured in North |
| the use of the word "spy" is normally reserved for | | | | Korea. He stays there (and is tortured) for 14 |
| Intelligence Officers in covert positions. | | | | months. |
| While Canada doesn't officially have spies, they do | | | | The British government denied he even existed, and |
| have an Intelligence Service that operates overtly. | | | | he was only released as part of a prisoner exchange; |
| This is called the Canadian Security Intelligence | | | | even then, they only did so because they thought he |
| Service, or CSIS. The application procedure for CSIS | | | | was giving up information and decided it was best if |
| is similar to that of the CIA. | | | | he was home. |
| Most members of Intelligence Services have Official | | | | If you'd like more information (including a complete |
| Cover. This means that they work (or its claimed | | | | blueprint of the entire process with insider tips), see |
| they work, rather) at Embassies, with Diplomatic | | | | my book, "Spy in Training", the complete spy training |
| Immunity. If they're caught, they are declared | | | | course. |