triple agent
Spy's spy's spy
A triple agent is a spy who serves three intelligence agencies, or more precisely, one who pretends to serve two while actually loyal to a third.
The term describes layers of deception: an agent recruited by a foreign power, then "turned" by their home country, then turned again—or appearing to be.
The defector was suspected of being a triple agent, still working for Moscow.
The concept strains toward absurdity, since at some point the loyalties become impossible to verify.
- playing both sidesCovertly aiding opposing parties
- deep coverProlonged covert infiltration
- undercoverSecretly engaged in espionage
- deceptionIntentional misleading of others
- web of liesInterconnected deceptions forming structure
betrayal · infiltrate · cold war · intelligence · moral ambiguity · loyalty · espionage · counterspy · operative · false flag · double-crosser · trust · need to know · greed · fear · disinformation · surveillance · treason
- espionagespy, spies, spying, moles, tradecraft
- spiesJames Bond, spy, Jason Bourne, Ethan Hunt, Austin Powers
- Spycraftspy, asset, covert, handler, clandestine
triple agentcase officer
Intelligence operative supervisor
mole · handler · double agent · intelligence analyst · informant
triple, agent, triply, triplet, triplets, triplicate, triplication, agents, agency