A clandestine operation is an intelligence or military operation carried out in such a way that the operation goes unnoticed by the general population or specific ‘enemy’ forces. The US Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms defines “clandestine operation” as “An operation sponsored or conducted by governmental departments or agencies in such a way as to assure secrecy or concealment. A clandestine operation differs from a covert operation in that emphasis is placed on concealment of the operation rather than on concealment of the identity of the sponsor.
The bulk of clandestine operations are related to the gathering of intelligence, typically by both people and by hidden sensors. Placement of underwater or land-based communications cable taps, cameras, microphones, traffic sensors, monitors such as sniffers, and similar systems require that the mission go undetected and unsuspected.
Chronological History of Events that Involve Clandestine Operations
![Hundreds Arrested in Global Organized Crime Sting Using FBI-Developed Messaging App](https://historyheist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/operation-trojan-shield-2-700x420-1-300x180.jpg)
Hundreds Arrested in Global Organized Crime Sting Using FBI-Developed Messaging App
![Lawsuit Exposes COVID Jabs As Unsafe Transhumanist Gene Therapies](https://historyheist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Medical-Veritas-image-300x228.jpg)
Lawsuit Exposes COVID Jabs As Unsafe Transhumanist Gene Therapies
![Report: China Secretly Placing Military Scientists in Western Universities](https://historyheist.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RTX3D8CP-300x199.jpg)
Report: China Secretly Placing Military Scientists in Western Universities
![Snowden Leaks Docs on Secret Government Agency Online Manipulation & Subterfuge Tactics](https://historyheist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Contrainteligencia-JTRIG-400x400-300x300.jpg)
Snowden Leaks Docs on Secret Government Agency Online Manipulation & Subterfuge Tactics
![Obama Proposes FOIA Changes Allowing Even Less Transparency](https://historyheist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/obama-secret-300x169.jpg)
Obama Proposes FOIA Changes Allowing Even Less Transparency
![Cocaine 1: The 2006 Mexico DC-9 Drug Bust was Another Government Cover Up of their Drug Trafficking](https://historyheist.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/falcon018009hd.jpg)
Cocaine 1: The 2006 Mexico DC-9 Drug Bust was Another Government Cover Up of their Drug Trafficking
![John Stockwell, the Former Chief of Angola's CIA Task Force, Publishes 'In Search of Enemies' - an Exposé of the CIA's Covert Action in Angola](https://historyheist.com/wp-content/uploads/1978/05/in-search-of-enemies.jpg)
John Stockwell, the Former Chief of Angola’s CIA Task Force, Publishes ‘In Search of Enemies’ – an Exposé of the CIA’s Covert Action in Angola
!['Inside the Company: CIA Diary' is Published by CIA Defector, Phillip Agee, to Inform the Public About what the CIA was Secretly Doing on Behalf of the American People](https://historyheist.com/wp-content/uploads/1975/07/inside-the-company-agee.jpg)
‘Inside the Company: CIA Diary’ is Published by CIA Defector, Phillip Agee, to Inform the Public About what the CIA was Secretly Doing on Behalf of the American People
!['The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence' by Victor Marchetti (Assistant to the Deputy Director of the CIA) & John D. Marks (US Dept. of State) is Published](https://historyheist.com/wp-content/uploads/1974/06/cia-cult-intelligence-204x300.jpg)
‘The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence’ by Victor Marchetti (Assistant to the Deputy Director of the CIA) & John D. Marks (US Dept. of State) is Published
![Alfred McCoy Publishes his Ground-Breaking Study, 'The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, Central America'.](https://historyheist.com/wp-content/uploads/1972/08/politics_of_heroin-197x300.jpg)