4 ms·
I wish uninformed journalists could be bothered to get the terminology right. A CIA “agent” is a foreign national — a spy. A CIA officer is the American who is
by briandear 8y ago
I wish uninformed journalists could be bothered to get the terminology right.
A CIA “agent” is a foreign national — a spy. A CIA officer is the American who is “running” the agent.
FBI has Special Agents, CIA has officers.
It’s much like calling a police officer a “police agent.” The reason this bothers me is that it reveals an ignorance of CIA at a fundamental level — if writers can’t even get the basic terminology accurate, how could they possibly be trusted to get the non-trivial aspects correct?
- tomc1985 8y agoThe dictionary definition of "agent" is "a person who acts on behalf of another person or group." Industry terms of art notwithstanding, anyone acting on the CIA's behalf is technically an "agent", in the same way that an employee is an agent of their employer. Similarly, it also means that LEO are agents of their force, if not the government.
- jachee 8y agoAlso, it's not a difficult logic leap to call members of the Agency "agents".
- toomanybeersies 8y agoAlthough that would make members of the FBI bureaucrats.
- gweinberg 8y agoThe CIA has spooks.