CIA Gray Men and Women become invisible

 

Gray Men/Women become invisible

A good counterintelligence (CI) agent becomes invisible by blending in, he/she follows a boring pattern each day that bores the hell out of any foreign government spies who placed them under surveillance… they become the Gray Man/Woman.

     The main mission of U.S. counterintelligence (CI) operatives is to gather information and conduct activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations, or other harmful activities that foreign intelligence may conduct against America.

     That’s quite a job description, and to accomplish it, CI operatives must blend in, to “see” but not be seen. CIA operative Jonna Mendez teaches CI recruits to determine a ‘baseline’ – identify what is ‘normal’ in order to fit into that environment. Example, you’re not going to wear a suit to the beach (or a bikini in the boardroom).

     Mendez teaches them to “Act as if”. If you want to look like a tourist, get out your map, have your travel guide in your hand and start taking photos. If you want to look like a local, use a branded shopping bag, pick up a newspaper or put on some headphones.

     She also recommends avoiding eye contact! It’s a simple thing – but making eye contact will trigger a stimulus in someone and cause them to register your presence. If you want to remain the grey man or grey woman, avoid making eye contact.

      In the MISSION OF VENGEANCE spy thriller, CIA spymaster Corey Pearson and his CI teams often become Gray Men/Women. Here’s a snippet:

     “Let’s just hope it works. Remember, we’re operating on the Obscure Transgression level. The FBI doesn’t know who the killers are, only you and I, your team, the Key West CIA operatives, General Morrison and POTUS know.”

     “We’ve gathered enough evidence to convict them all, right now, if we hand it over to law enforcement. The FBI and Dominican Republic National Police would raid Boris’ yacht and Bocharov’s estate and slap the cuffs on all of them.”

     “We’re not law enforcement; we’re counterintelligence. We don’t have the powers of arrest… we blend in, become Grey Men and Grey Women, observe, gather intelligence. We’re going to find out what their big plan is against the U.S., and after finding out what Boris and his Spetsnaz butchers are like, I’m sure it isn’t pretty. If the FBI sweeps in the real threat to America won’t be uncovered, their accomplices will go underground only to return later. No, the FBI must be kept in the dark, for now.”

End of snippet.

Lastly, this video First Person: The Little Gram Man features Antonio Mendez, the CIA operative who snuck into Iran and extricated the American diplomats back to America. Enjoy! 

 

Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and enjoys writing about the U.S. Intelligence Community. He authors the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster series. Check out his latest spy thriller: MISSION OF VENGEANCE.