Resident (intelligence service)

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A resident is a senior member of an intelligence service working abroad . In the case of services with a corresponding staffing level, this can specifically mean two different job profiles:

  1. The activity in a residence , which mostly also includes the supervision ( leading ) of spies or other "sources".
  2. The support, control and guidance of the agent who works “on site”, for example as an employee of a company, as a civil servant or member of the military who procures the information directly. The resident takes on v. a. forwarding the material to the client.

The second variant corresponds to the original meaning of the term; the resident is the spy's direct contact. In intelligence practice, there is generally no other connection to the commissioning service. In the relevant literature, some cases are described in which the spy was deceived about the client and delivered material to a resident who he believed to be a representative of a completely different service.

In legally covered residences, embedded e.g. B. in embassies of the sending state in the "operational area" (i.e. the host country), only the head of the residency is referred to as resident, to whom other intelligence officers who work in a division of labor are usually subordinate. The connection to the central office in the sending state is reserved exclusively for the resident, conversely, communication between the central office and the resident only runs via his desk. The rank of residents is determined by the importance and size of the residency, and they often held high management positions in the headquarters in the Eastern secret services before and especially after their foreign assignments in important operational areas. KGB residents in major western countries were mostly of the general rank.

United States residents

In the US diplomatic missions , the local resident of the CIA is called the “ Chief of Station ” ( COS ). He is the lead representative for all US intelligence services at each location.

Resident of Russia

The residents of Russia are grouped together in local residencies . A distinction is made between legal ( legal'nye rezidenty , легальные резиденты ) and illegal residents ( nelegal'nye rezidenty , нелегальные резиденты ).

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Abram N. Shulsky, Gary James Schmitt: Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence . Brassey's, 1991, ISBN 0-08-040566-5 , pp. 12 ff .
  2. ↑ In the case of an espionage case organized by the western Gehlen service at the beginning of the 1950s, the opposing side, the East German Ministry for State Security (MfS), suspected that the agent Karl Laurenz was a resident. The MfS internal report of November 19, 1954 says: "Laurenz is arrested with the aim of transferring the activity as resident and the other agents who work with him to investigate and arrest." (Source: BStU )
  3. ^ Andrew Meier: The Lost Spy . Hachette UK, 2010, ISBN 978-0-297-85656-6 , pp. 147 .