The wikipedia article on the CIA lists several ways that the US has employed over the years [0]. We know about them because of the relative freedom of the press

The wikipedia article on the CIA lists several ways that the US has employed over the years [0]. We know about them because of the relative freedom of the press in the west. Similar activities by other powers might not be as widely advertised or as frequent, but they surely exist. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency