NOC

NO OFFICIAL COVER

THE STORY OF

LAZARUS

 I WAS A “NOC” Non-official cover (NOC). This is a term used in espionage (particularly by national intelligence services) for agents or operatives who assume covert roles in organizations without ties to the government for which they work. Such agents or operatives are typically abbreviated in espionage lingo as a NOC (pronounced "knock an agent sent to spy on a foreign country might for instance pose as a journalist, a businessperson, a worker for a non-profit organization (such as a humanitarian group), or an academic. Non-official cover is contrasted with official cover, where an agent assumes a position at a seemingly benign department of their government, such as the diplomatic service. If caught, agents under non-official cover are usually trained to deny any connection with their government, and do not have many of the protections offered to (for example) accredited diplomats who are caught spying. Some countries have regulations regarding the use of non-official cover: the CIA, for example, has at times been prohibited from disguising agents as members of certain aid organizations, or as members of the clergy.

My name is Robert Kelly, code named Lazarus by the FBI. In a carefully devised plan by the FBI, I was recruited by the DGI, the Cuban equivalent of the CIA to spy on the United States. For four years I was a double agent controlled by a unit of the FBI in Miami,working and living in San Jose, Costa Rica and Miami Beach.I traveled to Havana on a monthly basis to be debriefed and to receive new assignments as their agent in Central America and the United States.

I WAS A “NOC” Non-official cover (NOC). This is a term used in espionage (particularly by national intelligence services) for agents or operatives who assume covert roles in organizations without ties to the government for which they work. Such agents or operatives are typically abbreviated in espionage lingo as a NOC (pronounced "knock an agent sent to spy on a foreign country might for instance pose as a journalist, a businessperson, a worker for a non-profit organization (such as a humanitarian group), or an academic. Non-official cover is contrasted with official cover, where an agent assumes a position at a seemingly benign department of their government, such as the diplomatic service. If caught, agents under non-official cover are usually trained to deny any connection with their government, and do not have many of the protections offered to (for example) accredited diplomats who are caught spying. Some countries have regulations regarding the use of non-official cover: the CIA, for example, has at times been prohibited from disguising agents as members of certain aid organizations, or as members of the clergy.

I lived three different lives in three different places at this time:

  1. Costa Rica: as a business man married to a Costa Rican; as an agent of the Cuban government and an agent of the United States government.
  2. Miami: as a business man in Miami, involved with the Cuban business community working for both Havana and the United States.
  3. Havana: as its agent in Latin America and the United States.

 

 

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