This section deals with the recruiting of human agents who work
for a foreign government, or other targets of intelligence
interest. For techniques of detecting and "doubling" host nation
intelligence personnel who betray their oaths to work on behalf
of a foreign intelligence agency, see counterintelligence. The
term spy refers to human agents that are recruited by
intelligence officers of a foreign intelligence agency. The
popular use of the term in the media is at variance with its use
in a professional context. Spies are not intelligence officers.
Spies are recruited by intelligence officers to betray their
country and to engage in espionage in favor of a foreign power.
Intelligence officers who interact with spies are generally
referred to as case officers. Types of agents Acquiring
information may not involve collecting secret documents, but
something as simple as observing the number and types of ships
in a port. Even though such information might be readily
visible, the laws of many countries would co