Mole (espionage)

Mole (espionage)

In espionage jargon, a mole (also called a penetration agent, deep cover agent, or sleeper agent) is a long-term spy (espionage agent) who is recruited before he has access to secret intelligence, and subsequently works his way into the target organization. However it is popularly used to mean any long-term clandestine spy or informant within an organization, whether government or private.

The term was introduced to the public by British spy novelist John Le Carré in his 1974 novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and has since entered general usage, but its origin is unclear, as well as to what extent it was used by intelligence services before it became popularized. Le Carré has said that the term mole was actually used by the Soviet intelligence agency KGB, and that a corresponding term used by Western intelligence services was sleeper agent. While the term mole was applied to spies in the book Historie of the Reign of King Henry VII written in 1626 by Sir Francis Bacon Le Carré has said he did not get the term from that source.