COVERT and CLANDESTINE OPERATIONS

 

There are two distinct types of operations in the spy world. Clandestine and Covert. The difference between a covert operation and a clandestine operation is that a Clandestine operation is hidden but not disguised, and a covert operation is disguised but not hidden. Confusing?

 

A covert operation uses some form of cover story to conceal the real objective or activity of an operation but the operation itself is not concealed. The simplest covert operation with a cover story is an agent entering a country as a tourist and while there, he will spend a few hours doing his intended ‘business’. Being a tourist is the cover story; when he stops being a tourist for a few hours and attends to his ‘business’, perhaps to photograph a certain building, then he is operating covertly. Anyone watching can see that a tourist is there but the true purpose is hidden. That is covert.

 

A clandestine operation is an operation that is conducted in complete secrecy, but does nothing to conceal what it is. If US Navy Seals exit a submarine off the coast of Africa and speed towards the shore in silent Zodiacs in the darkness and fog, the operation is certainly meant to be secret and thus clandestine. However, if anyone is watching, they would know immediately was is going on. That is clandestine.