History Main / CloakAndDagger

** [=MI6=] is actually an agency called SIS, with James Bond as the most {{egregious}} producer of this inaccuracy. It hasn't been called that since UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, well before Ian Fleming served. The agency now has to use the title in its recruitment advert. Still, no apparent hard feelings as SIS has allowed its real-life headquarters building to be featured in the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig films as the home of MI6 and its 00 Section.

--> '''Ed Greenwood''': [[http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fr/20010314b But]] there's another sort of secret society that we ''can't'' spotlight in the rules [...] : We ruin its secrecy by talking about it. These small, local, lowdown [[CorruptCorporateExecutive cabals of crooked merchants]] are a vital, ongoing, many-layered (as in "You shouldn't have just one at a time") part of the "home" ForgottenRealms campaign, and in many, many lively, long-running D&D campaigns set in any world. They're just the thing for [[{{Frameup}} framing]] or hiring [=PCs=] and [[UnwittingPawn plunging them]] throat-deep into unexpected and usually unwanted adventure.

* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', there are several groups spying on other groups. SAVAGE, [[TheKingdom Maar Sul's]] elite military corps, has the Covert Operations Department, the [[TheAlliance Grand Alliance]] has the Blades of Vigilance who are heavily involved in spying on the factions which oppose the Alliance, the [[LegionOfDoom Crimson Coalition]] has the Mullencamp spy network which monitors the Coalition territory and any non-Coalition faction it can gain access to, the [[TheMagocracy Magicracy of Alent]] has [[InternalAffairs Shadowstrike]] which keeps tabs on Alentian criminals but is also involved in internal affairs within the Anti Mage Police. Then there are also underworld organizations which use cloak and dagger methods, most notably the [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores Union Workers]], the [[AncientConspiracy Order of the Black Rose]] and the [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Dwarven Triad]].

* ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', due to [[GambitPileup the nature of this setting]], has a lot of secret and semi-secret organizations ranging from information brokers to assaassin guilds to HeroSecretService groups. The most important ones made it into a {{sourcebook}} quite appropriately named ''[[http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=8492 Cloak & Dagger]]''.

** Contrary to popular belief, Canada ''does'' have its own intelligence agency, called C-SIS (Canadian Special Intelligence Service). As with most Canadian agencies, it doesn't get much publicity[[note]]Except ''bad'' publicity, like leaving an unsecured laptop full of classified information in a phone booth in Toronto, an incident that either had Canadians shaking their heads at the bad portrayal of their intelligence service, or saying "We have an intelligence service?"[[/note]]. The girl at the end of ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' is the only one that comes to mind. The Bond film ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' has 007 encountering an agent for Canadian intelligence.

* DeltaGreen had the titular agency as the Renegade branch of the US government that had broken away to fight the Old Ones. Still working for the USA was Majestic-12. Opposing them included the [[ThoseWackyNazis Karotechia]]and numerous other fictional spy agencies.

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'', [[UnevenHybrid Bretons]] tend to be extremely talented in pursuits of espionage. Breton [[DoubleAgent double agents]], [[MurderInc assassins]], and [[TheMole spies]] have turned the tide of wars throughout recorded history. It was in fact a Breton assassin who killed the Colovian Petty King Cuchulain leading to the ascension of Cuchulain's General as his replacement. That General's name? ''[[FounderOfTheKingdom Tiber]] [[GodEmperor Septim]]''.

* Each of ''OpenBlue'''s major nations has one of these.

Not to be confused with the MarvelComics characters Comicbook/CloakAndDagger.

* Literature/TheCulture series novel Literature/TheHydrogenSonata is a cloak and dagger espionage thriller fought by SufficientlyAdvancedAlien [[DeusEstMachina AI starships]] over a secret left behind by even more [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]].

* The SPECTRE of ''Film/JamesBond'' had a short run in the Ian Fleming novels and was Bond's full-time archenemy in the movies for a while. Effectively, it is the first known example of a Rogue Intelligence agency devoted to its own profit.

* ''{{Kim}}'' is more realistic, but the "dagger" part shows, especially around Mahbub Ali. He's still annoyed to no end when someone tries to kill him and it's ''not'' [[ItsPersonal personal]].

*** Examples: "Jinx" Johnson (Creator/HalleBerry) in ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', Xander "Triple-X" Cage (VinDiesel) in ''xXx'', and John Casey (Creator/AdamBaldwin) on ''{{Series/Chuck}}''; none of whom seem to be information analysts as their primary role (Cage and Casey are specifically recruited as adaptive enforcers, while Jinx is a straight-out assassin of similar stature to Film/JamesBond).

* The [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Office of Naval Intelligence]], best known for [[SuperSoldiers creating]] TheHero, Master Chief.
** And it's named after a Real Life agency with much more mundane objectives.

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has the Malta Group, a international coalition of intelligence agents formed during the Cold War to [[KnightsTemplar get around their government's unwillingness to conscript superheroes into the intelligence community]].

** Britain has MI13, which essentially handles supernatural and superhuman affairs in Great Britain.
*** Opposing the good guys in this is Hydra, Leviathan, the Secret Empire, AIM, the Sons of the Serpent, and the Hand.
* The Global Peace Agency was one of these for ComicBook/{{OMAC}}. Sort of, it's...complicated.

* ''SplinterCell''s and Third Echelon in general serve this role. While technically they're strictly in human intelligence, Fisher nonetheless aggressively pursues information and has, at least once per game, been called on to assassinate a specific person.

* The Global Peace Agency was one of these for {{OMAC}}. Sort of, it's...complicated.

** Also, [[RecycledInSPACE S.W.O.R.D.]] and, briefly, [[Comicbook/DarkReign H.A.M.M.E.R.]], {{Norman Osborn}}'s replacement for S.H.I.E.L.D.

* The Agency filled this role for ''ScarecrowAndMrsKing''.

* ''TheManFromUNCLE'' is another example.

CloakAndDagger groups are those that have no real relationship to existing organizations but exist to conduct this kind of clandestine fun. When portrayed in a negative light, they are often filled with variations on the BadBoss who considers their agents disposable.

CloakAndDagger groups are those that have no real relationship to existing organizations but exist to conduct this kind of clandestine fun.