Agent handling

A commanding officer is an employee of an intelligence service or a similar government agency that leads a person or a V- undercover secret service. He assumes the role of a coordinating body for the job and performs its agent all commands, information and materials. The agent in turn reports all relevant information from his job to his commanding officer on. This is constantly in contact with its respective authority and delivers acquired knowledge further.

In contrast to the US-led him agents or spies, the commanding officer is usually a full-time employee of his authority and working in a stationary office.

At the Federal Intelligence Service and the Federal Office for the Protection officers will mostly officials of the higher civil service, the Military Counterintelligence it is mainly officers of the rank of captains and lieutenants groups.

The Ministry for State Security of the GDR most recently employed 12000-13000 enforcement officers who were responsible for the recruitment and use of unofficial staff (IM) and officers on special assignment ( OibE ) responsible. In Stasi documents, they are often referred to as a process leading or IM leading employees.

When Israeli Mossad enforcement officers are deployed abroad as katsa (Hebrew as " surgeon ", " operations officer " or " spymaster " ) designated and hold a service position similar to that of a colonel or lieutenant colonel with a correspondingly wide-ranging powers. Regularly, the position of the intelligence resident is vested by such commanding officer. In some cases, decisions about the local ambassador can be taken away from him. Its operation is completely autonomous; in individual cases, it leads more full-time Mossad employees.