CIA Safe Houses protect spies and defectors from assassins

 

This home in Virginia used to be a CIA safe house

The CIA maintains safe houses, like this abandoned one in Virginia, to house Russian defectors and to keep them safe from GRU assassins while they are debriefed. Some are rented, some are owned by the Agency, but they blend well into the neighborhood.

   In my spy thrillers, 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! Safe houses are used often in Hollywood spy movies- my fav is Safe House, filmed in 2012 with Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington.

     Overseas, CIA safe houses enable clandestine meetings between case officers and their agents (recruits) to take place. Of course, like inside the U.S. they are also used as a refuge for defectors and people being pursued.

     CIA operatives are watchful of any suspicious activity going on near the safe house they are assigned to. Many of them are positioned in the rural areas, where houses are more distant from each other. They prefer easy access, privacy, parking, few nosy neighbors and a good view of the house and the surrounding landscape.

     In my MISSION OF VENGEANCE spy novel, CIA operative Corey Pearson actually lived with his wife and son in a safe house on Abaco, Bahamas. Parked in the coral and limestone driveway outside was a Land Rover with Natural World of Abaco inscribed on the sides. His wife was a CIA operative, too, and her tour guide business and bartender job at Sapodilly’s bar on Abaco made perfect cover. 

     No one would imagine their home on a remote Bahamian out island had been used to hide CIA operatives whose cover was blown, or for recruited spies who were in danger and needed protection until the exfiltration team arrived. Surveillance, communication equipment and firearms were locked in a state-of-the-art electronic safe in the basement. An eye/fingerprint scan was needed to open it.

     Yes, CIA safe houses do operate inside the U.S., and often hide in plain sight. One could be in your neighborhood! But things are different overseas. Normally a CIA officer works out of the US Embassy in the country he/she is deployed to.  If their cover is blown, they have diplomatic immunity and are usually thrown out of the country. Other CIA operatives are called NOCs, short for Non-Official Cover, and rely solely on their deep cover to survive. If caught, they face prison… or worse. They blend into the local mosaic of the deployed country, renting an on apartment/house in areas away from where fellow Americans or other ex-pats usually live. If their cover is blown, they seek sanctuary at a secret safe house until they can be exfiltrated out of the country.

     Lastly, here’s an informative video called CIA Safe Houses put out by the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Enjoy!

 

Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), enjoys writing about the U.S. Intelligence Community, and relishes traveling to the Florida Keys and Key West, the Bahamas and Caribbean. He combines both passions in his Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster series. Check out his latest spy thriller: MISSION OF VENGEANCE.