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Robert Morton, M.Ed., Ed.S. is a member of the Association Of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and writes about the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) and foreign intelligence agencies. He authors the "Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster in the Caribbean and Florida Keys" spy thriller series.

Should the CIA conduct domestic spying inside the U.S.?

Click HERE to take the poll: Should the CIA operate inside the U.S. like the CSIS does in Canada? 

The FBI is spread thin and robust counterintelligence is needed inside America, but the CIA can only operate overseas. As White Supremacy, Nazi, and other hate groups grow inside America, perhaps CIA surveillance teams should operate domestically, too, like this video demonstrates how CSIS operates proactively and preemptively. It targets vulnerable, down and out suspects and offers them help BEFORE they become radicalized. 

The National Resources Division is the domestic wing of the CIA. Although the CIA is focused on gathering intelligence from foreign nations, it has performed operations within the United States to achieve its goals.

Robert Morton authors the spy thriller series "Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster in the Caribbean and Florida Keys".

CIA safe houses operate inside the U.S.

This photo is of a real-life CIA safe house run in Virginia. It was used to house Russian defectors, to keep them safe from GRU assassins. In the Penumbra Database spy thriller, the CIA operates 8 safe houses in Key West, one houses satellite image interpreters, who masquerade as drywallers and drive a van with a "KW Drywall" logo! A safe house is used often in Hollywood spy movies, and is a secret place that's suitable to hide persons from foreign intelligence, like Russia's GRU.

You may find this declassified article interesting about how CIA safe houses are actually run: Behind the doors of a CIA safe house.

In foreign countries, a safe house has the main function of allowing clandestine meetings between case officers and their agents (recruits), in addition to serving as a refuge for defectors and people being pursued. I enjoyed the movie Safe House, but the gadgets and equipment installed in the place was a bit much.

Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers and authors the Corey Pearson- CIA spymaster spy thriller series.

Who should update the public on the Corona Virus outbreak?

There are only 2 countries in the world that won't permit top health officials to talk directly to the public about the corona virus outbreak- North Korea and the U.S. Click HERE to take poll on who you feel should directly update the public on this virus. Comments are welcome.

Valerie Plame shows how being a CIA NOC is dangerous business

Valerie Plame worked as an undercover CIA NOC (Non-Official Cover). Being a NOC is dangerous business. This article shows the importance of the deep cover they use, since they lack official cover and have no diplomatic immunity to protect them, if caught. The precious, concealing commodity that the intelligence community calls “cover” is all they have. They rely on lies and props, from false names to phony front companies, to disguise their true identity and purpose.

     Although often cast in binary terms — an operative is either under cover or not — there are distinct categories of cover that CIA agents use, and an almost endless list of components. Some cover is tissue-thin and disposable. Other arrangements are so layered and deep that they anticipate hostile probing of every facet of a person’s life.

     Valerie Plame’s cover, in which she posed as a private energy consultant while actually working for a CIA department tracking weapons proliferation, was somewhere in the middle. Here’s an article I wrote on Valerie Plame some years back, but it explains the dangers, and importance, of NOCs: Karl Rove and Dick Cheney made all Americans ‘Fair Game’. 

Robert Morton is a member of the Association Of Former Intelligence Officers and writes the spy thriller series Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster.   

1963 spy swap with Castro

In April 21, 1963, three emaciated Americans walked out of Cuba’s La Cabana prison and flew to freedom, released in a prisoner exchange after being held for 949 days under brutal conditions. The three men were undercover CIA officers, who the Cuban authorities had caught seemingly red-handed in a bugging operation. The Fidel Castro regime put them on trial, convicted them of “activities against the security of the Cuban state” and threw them in jail. But throughout their ordeal the trio had clung grimly to their cover story that they were tourists, a cover that their alias documents—driver’s licenses, visas and credit cards—backed up. The Cubans never even discovered their real names: David L. Christ, Thornton J. Anderson, Jr., and Walter E. Szuminski.

     Click HERE to read more on this story.

Robert Morton writes about the intelligence community and is author of the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster in the Caribbean and Florida Keys spy thriller series. 

DEAD DROPS, a spycraft still used by CIA, FBI and our enemies

For almost three years starting in the fall of 2015, a 56-year-old Chinese-American tour guide named Xueha "Edward" Peng would periodically carry out a strange errand: Every few months, he'd book a room at a certain designated hotel—first in California and later in Georgia—and leave $10,000 or $20,000 in cash in the room, inside a dresser drawer or taped to the bottom of a desk or TV stand. Later, he'd come back to the room and search out an SD card similarly taped to the underside of a piece of furniture, sometimes in a package like a cigarette box. He'd pick it up, leave, and later board a flight to Beijing, where he'd personally deliver the card full of classified secrets to his handlers at China's Ministry of State Security. Click HERE to learn more about this story.

The CIA has used dead drops for years to pass items or information between two individuals (e.g., a case officer and an agent, or two agents) using a secret location, like Peng did in the hotel room. It did not require him to meet directly with a Chinese spy, thus reducing the chance of getting busted if either him, or his contact, was being tailed by the FBI.

Robert Morton is author of the Corey Pearson, CIA Spymaster in the Florida Keys, Key West and Caribbean spy series.