The NOC structure gives the CIA a lot of flexibility internationally. You also have to realize that international anarchy is not just a buzzword, but is reality

The NOC structure gives the CIA a lot of flexibility internationally. You also have to realize that international anarchy is not just a buzzword, but is reality. When operating in weak states, cooperation with the CIA or taking NOC status is the cheapest source of security that you can get. The CIA also benefits from workarounds to its statutory limitations established by the CIA Act of 1949. It can do this through intermediaries. It can also grant individuals NOC status who are working internationally for a US corporation. As you might imagine, this provides a ton of flexibility. Most NOCs are not necessarily doing James Bond things, but they are forking over reports and other information to the CIA to help that agency to generate reports. The 'free press' is actually even worse than what you think, because so much of foreign reporting is just framed directly by the State Department's wires, press releases, and coverage. You don't even need to have Johnny N.Y. Times as an agent: just naturally they are ideologically sympathetic to what the State Department wants everyone to think by education, socialization, and active consumption of State Department propaganda. Johnny NYT then reads lots of State Department material, adds his own literary flair when he goes to report abroad, and then distributes it to the American retail news consumer market. This conveniently evades all the statutory limitations on domestic government propaganda. Journalists are already automatically suspected of being foreign spies, so they don't really make the best spies. An investor, attorney, or consultant is a much better informant because their information is going to be a lot better and much more relevant for US government purposes. You already have the entire press by default, so why bother putting them on the payroll? They will already do it for free and without being told what they have to do. Even then most know that if they are of particular service to the USG, they can get a sinecure later off of their servility while in the private sector.