turned agent
Spy switching sides
A turned agent is an intelligence operative who has been recruited or coerced into working against their original employer—typically a spy who switches allegiance to serve the enemy while maintaining their cover.
The turning may result from ideological disillusionment, blackmail, financial inducement, or capture: The CIA suspected a turned agent in their ranks.
Also called a double agent, though that term can imply the agent was planted from the start rather than converted.
- defectorOne who abandons allegiance
- traitorOne who betrays allegiance
- spyCovert information gatherer
- double lifeSecret parallel identity
- compromisedMade vulnerable to harm
flipped · turncoat · betrayal · intelligence · recruited · asset · sleeper · informant · loyalty · cover · blown cover · clandestine · dead drop · extraction · safe house · burned · operative · enemy lines
- espionagespy, spies, spying, moles, tradecraft
- Spycraftspy, asset, covert, handler, clandestine
turned agenttrue believer
Completely committed adherent
patriot · loyalist · company man · reliable source · diehard
turned agentmole
Subterranean insectivore
sleeper agent · plant · deep cover agent · infiltrator · legend
turn, turned, turning, turns, turner, turnable, return, returns, returned