History Main / OvertOperative

** There have been lots of celebrities who did some spying, with real identities and hidden agendas. This makes it plausible if it's like Noel Coward presenting himself as Noel Coward, the entertainer, who is secretly a spy. Cover in modern intelligence has been described as more like lying about one's job than lying about one's identity -- especially with so-called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_of_influence agents of influence]]," who's whole point is to build social networks to spread propaganda and influence policy rather than gathering intelligence ''per se''.

** There have been lots of celebrities who did some spying, with real identities and hidden agendas. This makes it plausible if it's like Noel Coward presenting himself as Noel Coward, the entertainer, who is secretly a spy. Cover in modern intelligence has been described as more like lying about one's job than lying about one's identity.

** How about the Union Jack parachute in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''? Way to maintain deniability, unless you're going for the double bluff: "Well, obviously a ''real'' British agent wouldn't advertise his allegiance like that!"

* ''Film/AustinPowers'': Powers spoofed this in the title of the first film, ''Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery''. This "secret agent" is at the heart of the Swinging London scene, and everyone knows he's a spy. He seems to operate as more law enforcement than espionage anyway.

* ''Film/TrueLies'': Harry Tasker. Arguably acceptable in his case, because being played by Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger he does tend to stand out in a crowd. Except his own wife of 15 years had never even suspected him about his double life.

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce'', the hostile Black Ops troops you encounter are assault rifle-toting soldiers decked out in black combat gear and night vision goggles, even though you fight most of them in broad daylight in the middle of the desert making no efforts to hide themselves - they even roll into Black Mesa driving all-black trucks and flying [[BlackHelicopter Black Helicopters]]. It's played the straightest by the male Black Ops troops, as all the female assassins - carried over from [[VideoGame/HalfLife1 their parent game]] - are appropriately quick and stealthy, and on the Hard difficulty have an InvisibilityCloak that their male counterparts lack. It's arguably {{Justified}} by the fact that the Black Ops' whole mission is to [[LeaveNoWitnesses kill everyone]] and [[DeusExNukina nuke the facility]] after it's already been overrun by aliens, so covert considerations are largely moot.
** It's even worse in the ''Half-Life'' fan game ''VideoGame/HuntDownTheFreeman'', in which a US National Guard officer who had no involvement in the Black Mesa incident can recognize one of the Black Ops on sight as a 'Black Ops' solely because he's wearing black combat gear, implying that they're some sort of recognized military unit, thereby defeating the whole point of black operations.

* ''Film/WeatherIsGoodOnDeribasovskaya'': A KGB agent is secretly sent to America in order to help them fight the RussianMafia -- and then is publicly outed to everyone when visiting a restaurant (seemingly by a know-it-all Mafia or because of someone's stupid mistake), with his cover story blown for good. He later admits to his [[{{WhenHarryMetSvetlana}} American partner]], that in fact ''he outed himself'' since it's his preferred way of working -- [[{{BatmanGambit}} being the bait]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Youngblood}}'', Image Comics' premiere super-team, does covert black ops for the US government and regularly reports to the Pentagon and the White House. Members also have their own toy lines, make talk show appearances, and do other "celebrity" things that make no sense for covert government agents.

An [[DiscreditedTrope obsolete version]] of this is the supposedly-inconspicuous [[ConspicuousTrenchcoat trenchcoat]], [[CoatHatMask fedora and shades]], or the ''slightly'' less outdated [[TheMenInBlack black suit, tie, and shades]], both of which most modern audiences would describe straight away as "[[SpyFi a spy outfit]]".

* Joe Friday occasionally went undercover as a criminal on ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'', which can be unintentionally hilarious, because ''everything'' about Jack Webb screams "cop".
* ''Series/CovertAffairs'' is a justified version: Since the CIA actually gives out real names with an assumed cover identity, nobody is really expecting Annie to not give out her real name. Also subverted in one episode-when she helps her sister with some photography, the agency orders the pictures of her taken down.
* In ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' Gary's autism makes him not very good at going undercover, often refers to himself as a secret agent, often in front of people who aren't supposed to know, and when another member of the team is giving a cover story has identified it as such.
* Series/TheWildWildWest: James West fits this trope perfectly, which is hardly a surprise given that he's modeled directly off of James Bond. His partner, Artemus Gordon, is a bit better at the "secret" part of being a secret agent.

* Garak is a Cardassian tailor working on ''Series/DeepSpaceNine'', and seeing as no Cardassian in his right mind would willingly stay behind after the Occupation with billions of Bajorans out for blood, it's taken for granted that he must be secretly working for the Cardassian government, and people accordingly seek him out when they want a DiplomaticBackChannel or DirtyBusiness seen to. This leads to a RunningGag where Garak trolls everyone by insisting he's a plain simple tailor when they know otherwise.

* ''Series/ThePeripheral2022'': Played with -- the team of mercs hired to kill Flynne and Burton in the first episode have state-of-the-art vehicles equipped with {{Cloaking Device}}s, but underneath the cloaks said vehicles are blacked-out [[CoolCar Audi SQ8s]], which are [[ObviouslyEvil about as brash and thuggish as a vehicle can look]], ''and'' the team members all wear matching black t-shirts and camouflage combat trousers. This means they attract the attention of a cop at a gas station and murder him to cover their tracks. You'd think professional assassins would try and look ''normal'' while on their way to a hit to avoid this.

** ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this while trying to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] it. After spending a scene going over the details of his cover identity with Vesper (while flirting with her), Bond simply checks in to their hotel under his real name. He explains to Vesper that Le Chiffre is a very connected man, so probably knows who Bond really is anyway, and the fact that Le Chiffre will even continue with the game knowing there's an [=MI6=] agent at the table is a sign that he's either desperate or overconfident. So Bond signaling that [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow he knows Le Chiffre knows him]] by using his real name serves as psychological warfare. Vesper thinks Bond's just being reckless.

* ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'': For a world-renowned actress and double agent, Bridget von Hammersmark is a pretty lousy spy, able to make decent small talk but falling apart quickly the moment someone starts pulling on a thread in her act. [[spoiler: It eventually gets her killed.]]
** The Basterds themselves use incredibly overt and unsubtle methods, have a distinctive calling card of carving swastikas into their enemies' foreheads which makes their movements easy to track, cannot speak a word of French or German despite operating in German-occupied France, and have undisguised American accents thick enough to float an aircraft carrier.

* Garak is a Cardassian tailor working on ''Series/DeepSpaceNine'', and seeing as no Cardassian in his right mind would willingly stay behind after the Occupation with billions of Bajorans out for blood, it's taken for granted that he must be secretly working for the Cardassian government, and people accordingly seek him out when they want a DiplomaticBackChannel or DirtyBusiness seen to. This leads to a RunningGag where Garak pretends to be a plain simple tailor despite everyone knowing otherwise.

* Garak is a Cardassian tailor working on ''Series/DeepSpaceNine'', and seeing as no Cardassian in his right mind would willingly stay behind after the Occupation with billions of Bajorans out for blood, it's taken for granted that he must be secretly working for the Cardassian government, and knows to seek him out when they want a DiplomaticBackChannel or DirtyBusiness seen to. This leads to a RunningGag where Garak pretends to be a plain simple tailor despite everyone knowing otherwise.

* Garak is a Cardassian tailor who works on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', and seeing as no Cardassian in his right mind would willingly stay behind after the Occupation with billions of pissed-off Bajorans out for blood, it's taken for granted that he must be secretly working for the Cardassian government, and knows to seek him out when they want a DiplomaticBackChannel or DirtyBusiness seen to. This leads to a RunningGag where Garak pretends to be a plain simple tailor despite everyone knowing otherwise.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** Parodied in the episode "Our Man Bashir", where Julian takes former real spy Garak into a holodeck program where he's a James Bond-type super spy.
--->'''Garak:''' I think I joined the wrong intelligence service.
** Garak himself normally plays this at the "realistic" level of straight: his current value as an agent mostly derives from everybody being fairly certain he's a spy, whether active or retired with active contacts he passes things on to. While both more blatant and idealistic than RealLife examples, there have been ''some'' operatives during ''some'' historical periods in a similar position of being useful as just overt enough to be findable by somebody who already wants to sell secrets (or just share their views on local politics) and doesn't want to walk into an embassy. He's ''juuust'' covert enough for deniabilty's sake, and it helps that his cover story of being a political exile happens to be true.

* A couple of the ''Matt Helm'' novels actively used his status as a government assassin who had been around forever and everyone in the trade knew by reputation in order to have him act as a decoy or to intimidate the local baddies.
** ''The Wrecking Crew'', the second Matt Helm novel, had him using his real name and background, so everyone would think he was a former assassin who had been out of the business for decades (true) and was pretty much useless now (false). The bad guys who assumed this didn't survive to the end of the book.

* Zigzagged in [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Star Wars Legends']] ''[[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Thrawn Trilogy]]''. One attendee of a covert meeting immediately picks up on the fact that Wedge Antilles[[note]]Ostensibly a starfighter pilot unused to covert operations, though more recent yet canonically earlier works depict him differently[[/note]] is there as backup muscle for the other party... and completely misses the New Republic commando team member also present. Note that this was deliberate on the part of the heroes: Wedge was specifically picked to serve as a decoy.
* All over the shop, over the course of the long run of ''Literature/TheVorkosiganSaga''. Lieutenant Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, the extremely visually distinctive son of the ''former Regent and current Prime Minister'' of Barrayar, creates the cover identity of "Admiral Miles Naismith" on the fly, purely to try and dig himself out of the jam he's gotten himself into, and it ends up defining his career; as Naismith, he commands a Mercenary fleet that unknowingly serves Barrayaran interests on the Galactic stage, but people pretty rapidly notice that the dashing and tactically brilliant Admiral Naismith is absolutely identical to the son of an important Political figure on Barrayar - particularly after a ''reporter'' meets him in both identities on the same planet, in the same ''city'', on very nearly the same day. So Miles frantically invents a fictitious rogue clone of himself, who claims his mother's maiden name due to Betan laws on Cloning making him family, only to actually run into a ''genuine'' clone of himself... By the time Miles' military career is over, [[spoiler: heavy hints are being dropped that yes, people ''have'' figured out, in spite of all the clones both real and imagined, that Vorkosigan was Naismith all along, and that if Naismith ever pops his head over the parapet again there will be consequences. Miles is able to shrug off the implied threat, having a new job by that point.]]

* Manga/Golgo13 is known in civilian life as Duke Togo. When using an alias, he goes by... Duke Togo. Or some variation thereof. The general consensus is that, after decades of killing people for money, Duke's untouchable and he ''knows'' it.

* The Shingouz in ''ComicBook/{{Valerian}}'' are by definition Overt Operatives, as they are [[PlanetOfHats an entire race of spies and information merchants]]. Somehow, they still manage to be the best ones in the field, presumably due to their strict work ethics (in spite of claiming to not comprehend the concept of morality), extreme diligence, and insurance that everybody owes them favors all over cosmos. They even use this status to their advantage, sometimes. In one short story they con their way into the heart of an incredibly complex government bureaucracy simply by insinuating that they want to sell information concerning a supposed conspiracy that gets increasingly bigger and more convoluted the deeper they go -- just to prove a point.
* ComicBook/NickFury tends to stand out with his eyepatch, conspicuous SpyCatsuit and slowed aging. And also the fact that he's quite famous.

* The ComicBook/BlackWidow has been a member of two very public superhero teams (the Champions and the Avengers), wears a very distinct SpyCatsuit (which doesn't come with a mask) and has a tendency to reveal who she is on her missions (assuming the people she's interacting with aren't already aware of who she is). She has been the subject of at least two nationwide manhunts and a limited series by Devin Grayson features a scene that shows a gossip magazine reporting Natasha and ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'s break up; even her love life is a matter of public knowledge. However, it is also worth noting that she can disguise herself exceptionally well, when she wants to.

* In ''Fanfic/CompassOfThySoul'' there is a bunraku caravan stopping by in Konoha that is very obviously spying on the village. They are still allowed to visit, because the Uchiha already knew them and did business with them for several years, and because they are very good at puppet theatre.

** DoubleSubversion in ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' where Bond adopts the persona of 'Sir Hilary Bray', a genealogist, complete with his posh accent, a pair of glasses and a kilt. Bray is actually a real figure who agreed to let Bond use his identity, so they don't even have to worry about flaws in the background check. Blofeld still finds out that "Bray" is actually Bond though, and after exposing him, he points out that the serious Bray would not waltz into the bedroom of the female guests for some Double-0-Rated action , and he also catches him out by tricking him with an esoteric mistake on family records that only a real genealogist would know to correct.
** In ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', 007 poses as a dealer in illicit gold, only to end up strapped to a [[DeathTrap laser-table]] with Goldfinger greeting him as "007". 007 naturally denies it, responding with his cover name which is - Film/JamesBond! Guess it wasn't as well known at the time. Goldfinger knew who he was because he was working the Reds and one of Bonds "opposite numbers" identified him while he was unconscious.

* ''Film/AustinPowers'': Powers spoofed this in the title of the first film, ''Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery''. This "secret agent" is at the heart of the Swinging London scene, and everyone knows he's a spy. He seems to operate as more law-enforcement than espionage anyway.

* ''Film/WeatherIsGoodOnDeribasovskaya'': A KGB agent is secretly sent to America in order to help them fight the RussianMafia -- and then is publicly outed to everyone when visiting a restaurant (seemingly by a know-it-all Mafia or because of someone's stupid mistake), with his cover story blown for good. He later admits to his [[{{WhenHarryMetSvetlana}} American partner]], that in fact ''he outed himself'', since it's his preferred way of working -- [[{{BatmanGambit}} being the bait]].

* In ''Film/CleopatraJones'', the main character (a CIA agent) runs around in a tricked out Corvette with "US Government" plates. In Watts. In the mid 1970's. Not exactly conspicuous.

** Vetinari uses a similar plan in ''Literature/GoingPostal'' when he deliberately has someone tailed by an incompetent agent: if you see Vetinari's spy, it's a spy he wants you to see. As the book puts it, you can normally tell that you're under surveillance by Vetinari by turning around really fast and seeing no-one at all.
** DoubleSubverted in ''Literature/{{Jingo}}''. Sergeant Colon and Corporal Nobbs are trying (and failing) to pretend to be Klatchian. However, the Klatchians they are talking to assume that Colon and Nobbs must actually be Klatchians from a different part of Klatch pretending to be Ankh-Morporkians, since Ankh-Morpork would not use such obvious Overt Operative tactics. More specifically, Klatchians assume they're from a part of Klatch infamous for the idiocy of its inhabitants.

** ''The Wrecking Crew'', the second Matt Helm novel, had him using his real name and background, so everyone would think he was a former assassin who had been out of the business for decades (true) and was pretty much useless now (false). The badguys who assumed this didn't survive to the end of the book.
* In Daniel Silva's series of novels about Israeli agent Gabriel Allon, Allon is actually known to other countries' intelligence agencies as being a participant in the targeted assassinations carried out in revenge for the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, and is in fact arrested for this in one of the books. Also, while he does have a covert identity as an Italian art restorer, his accent is clearly not that of a native, and this gets lampshaded by having his colleagues remark on his oddness, and one of them jokes that he might be Osama bin Laden.

* Jack Bauer on ''Series/TwentyFour'' almost never uses an alias, even when working deep cover with drug cartels or right-wing militias. In his case, however, the terrorists never seem to wise up, even though Bauer is undoubtedly one of the best-known people on the government's payroll in the 24 universe (having been mentioned on national TV news at least once). However, the one time he ''is'' seen to use an alias, after faking his death, it ends up not doing him any good at all. Subverted in Season 8, where Jack actually uses an alias ''and'' a different first name ("Ernst Meier"), [[ClarkKenting wears glasses as a disguise]], and speaks fluent German! It even works! (For a while, anyway.)

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': In the second episode of season 3, Mike figures out that Los Pollos Hermanos is a money exchange point for employees of the shadowy drug gang who don't want him to kill Hector Salamanca. His way of finding out what goes on in there is to send Jimmy into the restaurant. Jimmy doesn't have police smarts like Mike does, and he very easily stands out with the way he constantly moves from table to table trying to keep his eye on the bag man. Gus immediately takes notice of Jimmy's behavior, and observes him conversing with Mike after leaving the restaurant under the pretense of sweeping the parking lot.

* In the British show ''Series/MurphysLaw'', despite being a career undercover cop, Tommy Murphy almost always uses his real name. This doesn't seem to cause any problems until the third series, when the bad guys get curious about the "Tommy from Belfast" currently testifying in a criminal trial, and even then the matter is quickly dropped.
* The entirety of the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' organization, which is theoretically secret. They barge into crime scenes and restricted areas using their status as Torchwood agents to explain it. In the first episode someone trying to find them does so by going to a pizza place and asking if one of their agents was a customer, and learned nothing. Then she asked if they'd had any orders from Torchwood. That brought her right to them. In a later episode someone managed to find their base by going to Cardiff and just asking people in the street where Torchwood was. They have an SUV marked "Torchwood" and get yelled at by name by random old ladies in the street by the second series, so the whole secrecy thing is a half-joke by now.
* SHADO, the alien-fighting organisation in ''Series/UFO1970'', is supposed to be secret, yet all of its vehicles, vessels and aircraft are clearly marked with the name. Many of its operatives also wear uniforms with SHADO insignia.

* In the ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode "Shalom", Ziva takes one look at a corpse and said "He's not Mossad." Really Ziva? What, did daddy give you the dossiers on every agent in Mossad as a gift for your Bat-mitzvah?

* ''Series/{{Psych}}'': This is jokingly pointed out in the episode "One Way, Maybe Two Ways Out". Shawn agrees to meet with a spy whom he and Gus have been encountering late at night in the park. When she arrives, she finds Shawn wearing a coat, reading a newspaper to cover up the fact he is staking out the area and insisting address him by a codename he picked. She points out that the codename makes no sense since she already knows his name, the coat is too conspicuous and that him reading a newspaper outside in the dark is too obvious.
* ''Series/ThePeripheral2022'': Played with -- the team of mercs hired to kill Flynne and Burton in the first episode have state-of-the art vehicles equipped with {{Cloaking Device}}s, but underneath the cloaks said vehicles are blacked-out [[CoolCar Audi SQ8s]], which are [[ObviouslyEvil about as brash and thuggish as a vehicle can look]], ''and'' the team members all wear matching black t-shirts and camouflage combat trousers. This means they attract the attention of a cop at a gas station, and murder him to cover their tracks. You'd think professional assassins would try and look ''normal'' while on their way to a hit to avoid this.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', many Internal Security agents go undercover as members of another security group; this usually works okay (as long as they're not actually called on to fix a malfunctioning nuclear reactor or whatever), but a few of them are ''completely'' incompetent at hiding it; their every word and action practically screams "hi, I'm an Internal Security plant!". They're usually [[FeedTheMole fed false leads]] and otherwise left alone, lest Internal Security send someone competent in their place. (A few of them [[ObfuscatingStupidity act this way on purpose]] so no-one will notice the ''other'' Internal Security plant.)

* An obscure late 80s/early 90s toyline that was basically a bargain-bin knockoff of Franchise/GIJoe had a covert agent character who had "Spy" printed on his shirt. This was lampshaded by the bio on the back of his box, which said that no, he wasn't the brightest bulb, but sometimes he succeeded in gathering important intel because he was so obvious about being a spy that enemies didn't believe he was a real spy.

* A perfectly viable approach in ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol''. The game doesn't penalize you for being a heavily-armored, assault-rifle wielding, grenade-flinging juggernaut who massacres his way through the entire game - beyond your handlers calling you out for being overt and violent.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' gives us [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The]] [[HornedHumanoid Iron]] [[BoisterousBruiser Bull]] who introduces himself as an agent sent to infiltrate the Inquisition. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because he thinks a group called "the Inquisition" would have figured it out eventually, so he just wants to get it out there now to prevent any potential conflicts. He offers to give info from his handlers in exchange. During party banter, Varric will point out that a hard-partying mercenary is the last thing he expects as a spy and that he should do more actual spying and manipulating. Bull retorts that doing that is exactly what people expect from spies while fighting, drinking and sending the occasional notes to his superiors is much easier, to which Varric isn't sure whether or not that's good or bad spywork. [[spoiler: It's not quite as simple as that. The BoisterousBruiser persona is largely an act to get your guard down, although depending on how his personal quest goes he may end up BecomingTheMask. If it goes the other way or is not done at all he'll keep up the infiltration for years before betraying you without a second's hesitation the moment his superiors tell him to (even if he's in a romance with Dorian or the Inquisitor).]]

** Used as a joke at the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' when Ocelot laughs about how no-one has figured out Adam's identity. [[spoiler:It's Ocelot, and his real first name is Adamska... [[MindScrew probably]].]]
* By the time of ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' happens, the remaining members of S.E.E.S from ''VideoGame/Persona3'' form the Shadow Operatives, an unofficial police-sanctioned organization made up of them and other authoritative members. While the group itself does well under the radar, the people in it have no concept of a low profile: Aigis, a RobotGirl, is one of its prominent members (and does a supernatural feat ''in broad daylight'' during her story mode), and [[DefrostingIceQueen Mitsuru]] and [[BloodKnight Akihiko]] are wearing [[PrettyInMink a fur coat]] over a SpyCatsuit and [[WalkingShirtlessScene is half naked]] save for a ridiculous-looking cape, respectively. Naturally, the other characters take pot-shots at their appearances, and Mitsuru in particular gets defensive about her outfit. To top it all off, they travel around in an eight-door limousine with high-tech equipment inside, which is already severely out of place in a big city, let alone a ''tiny rural town'' like Inaba.

* Franklin Drake in ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' is a variant. The issue isn't that he is a open about being a spy, because most of his appearances have him work with you on intelligence-related matters, or even that he is a spy for the Federation, but rather about which ''organization'' he works for -- Section 31 is supposed to be so super-secret that even the Federation ''government'' doesn't really know that it exists, yet Drake openly identifies them as his employers (rather than, say, claim to work for Starfleet Intelligence) and provides the intel and resources to back up that claim. Might be explained for a Starfleet captain (he could be angling to recruit them, like with Bashir), but for Romulan Republic commanders....
* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', despite being a secret agent it seems that almost all Imperial and Sith know who Cipher Nine is. You can even occasionally pull rank and talk about your position as an intelligence officer. Depending on the mission you're sometimes ''supposed'' to do this, since Imperial Intelligence doubles as the SecretPolice.

* ''VideoGame/ThimbleweedPark'' has a group of conspiracy nuts. They draw a lot of attention, but one wouldn't normally know they're part of a secret group. That is, until you get to Chet Lockdown, the younger brother of the group's boss. His job is to wear a full body pizza costume and hand out pizza coupons with [[spoiler:the secret code to their meeting place]] on them. However, as Ransome and Delores point out if they talk to him, the town has no pizza parlor. So he's incredibly obvious looking.

** It's even worse in the ''Half-Life'' fan game ''VideoGame/HuntDownTheFreeman'', in which a US National Guard officer who had no involvement in the Black Mesa incident can recognize one of the Black Ops on sight as a 'Black Ops' solely because he's wearing black combat gear, implying that that they're some sort of recognized military unit, thereby defeating the whole point of black operations.

* WebVideo/{{Kitboga}} is a scambaiter popular on Website/{{Twitch}} and Website/YouTube. One of the scam scripts as of around 2022 and later is to for the scammers to claim that somebody in the target's bank or something of the sort is compromised and so they need the target to become a "spy" and go undercover for them. Unfortunately for them, Kitboga's M.O. upon hearing this particular script is to be this, reveling in the supposed assignment and shouting about being a secret agent and such when he's pretending to be at the bank.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': Sterling Archer of ISIS tells everybody he meets that he's a secret agent. As early as the third episode it's revealed that Archer is responsible for the deaths of no less than three fellow agents via blowing their cover frivolously in an attempt to get laid.

** The spy outfits also show up in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E20ItsAboutTime It's About Time]]", where Pinkie, Spike and Twilight break into the royal library. The guards easily spot them during their patrols, but don't care since Twilight has free access to the public parts of the palace anyway.

** Rather, unofficial cover means your link to the US government is deniable, whereas official cover puts you in the diplomatic corps (or somewhere else in the government, but usually the diplomatic corps), entitling you to [[DiplomaticImpunity diplomatic immunity]] if you're caught. In neither case is one allowed to admit they work for the CIA, and in either case it's a crime for anyone in the know to out the officer as a CIA employee, because not only does it place the officer's lives in jeopardy, but also the lives of any agents they've ever been in contact with. In both official and unofficial cover, a CIA officer normally uses their real name and identity with only the fact that they work for the CIA being concealed. A completely fabricated cover identity is usually not necessary because (unlike in spy movies) a CIA officer does not personally infiltrate target organizations, instead recruiting locals (particularly those who are already members of the target organization) to either defect to the United States or become double-agents. Revealing someone as a CIA officer therefore endangers all of the double-agents they've recruited.
** This principle was more or less pioneered by British intelligence, to the point where a fairly significant chunk of the diplomatic corps are actually spies - sometimes referred to euphemistically as being "from south of the river" (the FCO building is just north of the Thames, near Trafalgar Square, while [=MI6=] has its very famous HQ on the south bank of the Thames. What the euphemism will be if they finally get their long desired chance to move somewhere more discreet is unknown).

* Princess Stephanie Julianne von Hohenlohe. A ''Jewish'' member of a German noble family, she acted as a Nazi spy and messenger to sympathizers in the UK and United States despite being very well-known as a close friend of the Nazi hierarchy.

** Eddie Chapman, codenamed Agent Zigzag, was a very similar case: A criminal before the war, he was recruited by the Nazis and ran straight to [=MI5=] to tell them all about it. As with Popov, he was James Bond before there ''was'' a James Bond, indulging his love of casinos, booze and women on a government tab; he also fed the Nazis numerous false reports that their V1 weapons were falling short of London, causing the targeting to be adjusted so they stopped hitting it and started overshooting.
* The entertainer Creator/NoelCoward pleaded to become an agent for British intelligence. The British government finally relented, signed him on and found he actually was pretty good at it since his status as a celebrity entertainer got him into many shindigs where loose lips were plentiful.

* The Military Liaison Missions were established as a temporary measure to maintain relationships between the occupying powers during the demilitarization of post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Germany, and were kept going throughout the UsefulNotes/ColdWar because both sides found them useful for gathering ground intelligence. The teams (which had quasi-diplomatic status and were authorised to travel anywhere in their clearly-marked, olive drab Opel sedans except in pre-designated special areas) consisted of military intelligence personnel in uniform.
* SIS handlers used the position of Passport Control Officer in British embassies, though by the late 1930's it had become a PaperThinDisguise. This was compounded by the fact that during the late 1930's, there were large numbers of people [[Main/FinalSolution wanting to emigrate from Europe]] and therefore their fake job took so much of their time that there was none left over for espionage.
* Richard Murphy was an inadvertent example of this trope. A Russian agent assigned to work under deep cover in the US, his cover was blown practically from the time he entered the country and for the next twenty years he lived his life under FBI surveillance. People who met him immediately noticed that despite having an Irish name and a Canadian passport, he had a [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent thick Russian accent]]. He also had a surly, stereotypical Russian disposition and apparently no interest in any sort of American culture (he didn't watch sports, he didn't like movies or reading, he had no hobbies). Several times the FBI searched his house, planted listening devices that were never found, at one point he even handed over a laptop he was using to carry stolen information to an FBI agent after having apparently mistaking him for his contact. After he was arrested and deported in a PrisonerExchange, it was noted that he seemed more like someone who should have been opposing Creator/DanAykroyd and Creator/EddieMurphy in a movie than a real spy.

** In the Season 3 premiere, Pinkie Pie dons a skintight catsuit and night vision goggles to gather information. ''In the middle of the day.''
-->'''Crystal Pony:''' A spy! ''[runs away]''\\

* On ''WesternAnimation/ElTigreTheAdventuresOfMannyRivera'', every hero's true identity is common knowledge, with the exception of one-time hero La Tigressa (Frida).

** ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this while trying to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] it. After spending a scene going over the details of his cover identity with Vesper (while flirting with her), Bond simply checks in to their hotel under his real name. He explains to Vesper that Le Chiffre is a very connected man, so probably knows who Bond really is anyway, and Bond [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow knows that they know]], he justifies it as psychological warfare. And the fact that Le Chiffre will even continue with the game knowing there's an [=MI6=] agent at the table is a sign that he's either desperate or overconfident. Vesper thinks Bond's just being reckless.

* In ''Gigolo Assassin'', you play a hapless prostitute turned super secret agent. The problem? You're, uh, kind of really stupid and you're only wearing bikini briefs down below.