History Main / CovertGroupWithMundaneFront

** [[Characters/BreakingBadGustavoFring Gustavo Fring]] is a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive fast-food tycoon / drug lord]] who uses his chain of fried chicken restaurants (Los Pollos Hermanos) as a legitimate front for his underground meth-trafficking cartel. Gus Fring's drug ring also hides their meth-producing lab underneath a mundane laundromat building called the Lavandería Brillante; it's a perfect front for shipping in industrial quantities of chemicals and having tons of trucks coming and going without anyone batting an eye. Most of the employees (with the exception of the manager) are legitimate, primarily because the laundromat only employs poor Latino immigrants that can be threatened with deportation if they peek too closely on what's really going on. Surprisingly, there's no jokes about "money laundering".

** Saul also tries convincing [[Characters/BreakingBadJessePinkman Jesse Pinkman]] to purchase a nail salon to launder his own money; but Jesse hates the idea of running a business, paying taxes despite being a criminal, as well as having to give Saul a 17% cut, and so [[DefiedTrope he rejects doing this]].

One problem with being a member of the GovernmentAgencyOfFiction or of a CovertGroup is that, at some point, you need to interact with the public or non-covert governmental agencies. This is where being a covert group with a mundane front comes in. A covert group has a highly mundane front and it will sometimes be commented that their funding is hidden from the public within the low funding the front group officially receives. Sometimes this will be played for laughs, as characters will either make fun of the official organ the spies are supposed to come from, or else see the front for the PaperThinDisguise that it is. As a general note, it is very common for a cultural attaché to be one of these ("travel to interesting places; [[BreadEggsMilkSquick kill interesting people]]").

* Both ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' and [[Film/CaptainAmerica1990 that other one]] we don't talk about have the facility where Cap is given his powers hidden beneath an innocent looking store. An antique shop in the former and a diner in the latter, and both guarded by an innocent-looking lady with a Tommy Gun beneath the counter.

* PlayedWith in ''Film/AustinPowers'' -- the front organisation Virtucom [[CutLexLuthorACheck makes more money legitimately than Dr Evil's criminal plans would bring in]]. This becomes a running gag, where each new movie would have NumberTwo suggest they focus on a front organization, which is by far more profitable (Starbucks in the second and a talent agency in the third), only to be dismissed.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', SEES; practically TheMenInBlack investigating and hunting monsters formed out of the human subconscious stationed in a high school are officially listed as an unnamed extracurricular group that arranges activities for its alumni, which are also double-excuses to train them with weapons.

* In ''WebVideo/KateModern'', the Order's covers are the Hymn of One and St. Grinstead Psychiatric Research Institution.[[note]]Absolutely no relation to Scientology, which has its UK headquarters in the town of East Grinstead.[[/note]]

* In ''Podcast/AliceIsntDead,'' the narrator works as a long haul [[IntrepidMerchant truck driver]] for Bay & Creek Shipping, to {{Exploit|ed}} the job's mobility in her search for her missing wife Alice. That company, in particular, featured heavily in Alice's scattered documentation of TheConspiracy she'd been investigating shortly before her disappearance. According to the Narrator's alternately wry or bored audio diaries, it hauls thoroughly mundane cargo like travel-sized deodorant and paper products.
* In the ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' short story "[[https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/dooms-day-hour-one-full-story-read-now-sooz-kempner-james-goss Doom's Day: Hour One]]", the Lesser Order of Oberon is a MurderInc organisation based in an anonymous grey office building, in a city filled with anonymous grey office buildings, on a fairly anonymous and grey planet. The ''entire city'' was secretly built to conceal the Order's offices.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlackTheSeries'', the agents are officially working for the Department of Weights And Measures. The cover they give always takes the form: "<Situationally-Appropriate Government Agency>, Division Six", so they've been hotel inspectors, immigration, coast guard, and a host of others.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the secret police force of the Earth Kingdom capital, the Dai Li, is officially known as the Ministry of Cultural Heritage Preservation.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MaxSteel'', the spy agency N-Tek's building manufactures and sells sports equipment.
* ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity'': In "Going off the Sheep End", General Specific and his soldiers disguise their so-called "Top Secret Military Base" as a bakery. They accomplish this by doing nothing more than covering up the "-se" on their sign with "-kery".
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS1E8TheReturn The Return]]", Lex Luthor has a secret bunker [[BaldOfEvil ironically]] located underneath a barbershop. Equally bald hero Steel does point out that it's the last place anyone would look for Luthor. His tone suggests that he's equal parts impressed by the idea, angry that he didn't think of it, and drumming up plans for his own HQ in a Metropolis Barbershop (the Steel Works, last seen in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', is a rather conspicuous old steel mill).
* The idea is invoked by Dale as a bluff in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': when he and his friends are captured by Mad Dog, an unhinged member of Arlen's gun club, it turns out that Dale has apparently called the CIA -- who, earlier in the episode, he claimed to have worked with as a mercenary -- to deal with Mad Dog and that they'll be arriving incognito soon, faking that he's wearing a wire and communicating with them to give the signal. It's actually just a flower delivery service, which was a key detail in his story, but he plays it up that they really ''are'' the CIA to get Mad Dog to run away without a fight.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', when a CIA agent answers the phone:
-->''"Top-secret CIA [[WeatherManipulation Weather Control]] Division. Dick speaking. [[VerbalBackspace I mean]], ''PIZZA STORE!''"''

* Marvel's Netflix shows:
** ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
*** In Season 1, Wilson Fisk owns a number of legitimate companies and shell companies to hide the source of his income, investing in real estate and construction. However as Fisk sees himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist seeking to revitalize Hell's Kitchen (at least in Season One), it's meant as more than just a means of money laundering.
*** The Hand in Season 2 are hiding behind the face of Asano, Japanese branch of the Roxxon Corporation.
** ''Series/LukeCage2016'': Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes has a number of fronts to his name, including real estate holdings, and his nightclub Harlem's Paradise. Harlem's Paradise is enough of a money-spinner that [[CutLexLuthorACheck Cottonmouth could still remain afloat even after losing his other criminal assets]].

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': The Stargate program has the official cover of "deep-space radar telemetry". When Carter claims she's doing astronomy in an ''underground'' bunker, she gets some funny looks. [[BunnyEarsLawyer O'Neill]] or [[ScaryBlackMan Teal'c]] claiming likewise elicits outright disbelief. It also serves as a MythologyGag. In the [[Film/{{Stargate}} original movie]], they mention using radar to track the end of the wormhole; you can still see the mapping device in the show a few times.
* ''Series/StrangerThings'':
** Officially, the Hawkins National Laboratory is a research center run by the Department of Energy, which leads most people to assume it is fairly uninteresting (Dustin initially thinks they "design lightbulbs or something"). However, it becomes clear the research they do, such as using Eleven's telekinesis and mind reading to access alternate dimensions and monitor Soviet officials, involves multiple higher-ranking government agencies than the DOE. It has military police (US Army) providing security, and the badge that Connie Frazier shows to the Wheelers suggests she works for the NSA, which could also explain the phone bugging (not exactly within the Dept. of Energy's remit). The entire venture also likely has CIA backing (what with the whole thing being an offshoot of the classic MKULTRA experiments).
** The government field agents use vans marked "Hawkins Power And Light" to drive around town and carry out surveillance without getting too much attention.
* ''Series/UFO1970'': SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization) operates under the cover of a film studio.

* ''Series/TheManFromUncle''. U.N.C.L.E. headquarters is located behind Del Floria's Tailor Shop, while another entrance is via The Masque Club. U.N.C.L.E.'s "Section VII: Public Relations and Propaganda" had a charity fundraising group as a front.
* ''Series/{{Wiseguy}}'': "Lifeguard" (Vinnie Terranova's MissionControl) answers the telephone as "Sailor Hardware", run by Vinnie's "Uncle Mike".

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': The Others recruit Juliet through Mittelos Bioscience.
* ''Series/ThePretender'': The Centre pretends to be a think-tank as a front for their research and dubious business deals.
* ''Series/GetSmart'': Maxwell Smart pretends to be in the greeting card business.
** He also mentions that, to keep his landlord from getting suspicious about all the attempts on his life, he told him he works for [[IntimidatingRevenueService the IRS]].
** Max praises the Israeli spy agency "YENTA" for its cover as a delicatessen. It turns out YENTA ''is'' a delicatessen [[InvertedTrope that only does spy work in its slack season.]]
* The protagonists of ''Series/TheInvisibleMan'' belong to "The Agency", a covert organization that due to defense budget cuts ended up being absorbed by the Department of Fish & Game. In the second season, The Agency ends up being absorbed by several similar unrelated departments, such as the Department of Indian Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services and the United States Postal Service until finally settling in... the Bureau of Weights and Measures.
** This becomes awkward in one episode where they go to a physics lab, and the scientists are actually expecting people from BWM to re-calibrate their equipment.
** On at least one occasion, they are forced to handle cases of their current parent organization, such as when they are sent to a Native American reservation to investigate a murder supposedly committed by Bigfoot while working for the Department of Indian Affairs. As it turns out, [[spoiler:not only is Bigfoot real, but it's invisible too and is suffering from Quicksilver madness]].
** When going to the Chinese embassy to rescue their agents, the Official introduces himself as from the Department of Fish & Game. The Chinese assume the second part of the name has to do with the Olympics, causing the Official to describe a different meaning of the word "game", including showing horns with his fingers.
** In one episode they actually managed to leverage being under Fish & Game on paper to be officially involved in the investigation of a foreign dignitary being assassinated. It happened at a nature reserve, and the sniper's bullet by sheer coincidence also struck an endangered species of falcon.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'':
** Carla uses one of these as a cover. Michael uses these occasionally, but he prefers private organizations. According to the narration, being in geological fieldwork is a good cover, getting used by multiple people in various episodes.
** When Michael gets on a semi-friendly relationship with the CIA again, the base of operations is a subsection shared with a more mundane government agency. It's more than just a front or a handy cover ID, as the real reason is simply practical business sense by sharing location costs and having a similar level of security.
* ''Series/DoctorWho''. In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace Spearhead from Space]]", it's mentioned that UNIT HQ is pretending to be a branch of the Pensions Dept.
* A villainous example occurs in ''Series/{{Alias}}'' with the terrorist group SD-6 masquerading behind the name of a bank, Credit Dauphine.
* ''Series/CovertAffairs'': As far as anyone outside the CIA knows, Annie works for the Smithsonian, and she often uses this as a cover while traveling abroad. In one episode, her niece's class is supposed to take a field trip to the Smithsonian while Annie is on an overseas mission, and Auggie has to smooth things over by giving them a tour.
* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': Chuck and Casey's jobs at the Buy More are more or less genuine, but Casey has all sorts of weapons and gadgets hidden around the store, and the ice cream parlor where Sarah works is a front for a secret CIA base. It's not clear if the owners know this; presumably the place is run by the CIA, since Sarah is always away on missions and would probably be fired if it were a real job. Chuck's excuse is that he has to leave the store to answer tech support calls. As of Season 4, the Buy More has been entirely taken over by the CIA and is a full-fledged secret base. However, Morgan convinces General Beckman that people are getting suspicious about how effective the new Buy More staff is, getting her to hire the old, lazy employees back. The store more or less goes back to being a regular one after that, albeit with a secret underground base.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': In "Impact", The Bradenhurst Corporation officially handles toxic waste near Twenty Nine Palms, CA, but in reality builds UFO-like [=UAVs=] for Uncle Sam.
* In ''Series/AgentCarter'', as far as civilian acquaintances are concerned, Peggy Carter heads to work every day in the Bell Phone Company, which is a cover for the Strategic Scientific Reserve. In Season 2, she moves to LA, and the SSR office there is disguised as a talent agency.
* The Company in ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' uses Primatech, a paper company based in Odessa, Texas. Noah Bennett outwardly seems to be a run-of-the-mill manager there.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': The covert government demon research/fighting organisation known as The Initiative operates beneath a UC Sunnydale fraternity house, with the soldiers posing as lecturers and senior students. In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E13TheKillerInMe The Killer in Me]]", a couple of years after this base is shut down, Buffy tries to get in contact with them by phone, only to get a flower shop on the other end. She then runs into Initiative soldiers in the ruins of their ElaborateUndergroundBase, who make it clear they got her message.
* In ''Series/TheAmericans'', the [[DeepCoverAgent Jennings]] run a travel agency. This provides them with sufficient excuse to travel and to meet different types of people.
* Delphi in ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryCoven'' is an esteemed asset management firm that acts as a front for an ancient line of witchhunters.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the Federation's covert black ops group is known by the benign name 'Section 31' and its agents masquerade as working for any of Starfleet's security divisions. Slightly subverted in that this cover only fools other Federation citizens. The Romulan Tal Shiar is well aware of the agency's real name and purpose... which is exactly what Section 31 wants. [[BatmanGambit It's a long story.]] Ironically, Section 31 operates as something more akin to a rogue agency than any kind of legitimate intelligence agency, and routinely uses the Federation's legitimate intelligence service (Starfleet Intelligence) as a mundane cover.
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' has [[TimePolice an organization of temporal agents]] from the 31st century. Their front man on ''Enterprise'', Daniels, serves as Captain Archer's personal steward because it puts him near the man he was assigned to watch while allowing him to fly under everyone else's radar.
* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'' Barry and Professor Stein approach Jefferson Jackson about being a candidate for Stein to merge with to become Firestorm. They aren't public officials in any sense but in an attempt to keeps things simple at first Barry [[InvokedTrope claims that they are with the "Department of Safety"]] (which doesn't exist, there is a Department of Public Safety) and Stein has to clumsily add that the department is very new, and they don't have a website up yet.
* The covert agency that employs the titular characters of ''Series/ScarecrowAndMrsKing'' is secreted within a film production company, reached through a closet that's actually the agency's front door.
* ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' plays this [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] in Season 4 with the ATF. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms exists in RealLife; it is an organization within UsefulNotes/AmericanLawEnforcement with a focused scope of authority. In the show, the bureau operates ''vastly'' beyond this scope. Among other things it negotiates FirstContact with the crew of the Lexx, it forcibly maintains the {{Masquerade}}, and even PresidentEvil is merely the puppet of its [[SatanicArchetype director]].
* ''Series/{{Ghosted}}'': To the general public, the [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Bureau Underground]]'s base of operations in LA is simply the Mid Valley Coat Hanger Company.
* ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury:'' The heroes operate out of a pizza place whose one normal employee doesn't know what's going on for quite some time.
* ''Series/TrueLies2023'':
** Harry appears to work for Telynox Solutions, a run-of-the-mill computer company that's a front for Omega Sector. Banter between Harry and a desk assistant indicates that the front office staff honestly believe they're working for a computer company and have no idea this is a government spy agency.
** "Working Vacation" confirms most of the office staff is unaware the annual company retreat in Mexico is a cover for Omega Sector brass meeting. Thus, when the resort is attacked, Maria has to keep employees safe and unaware of what's happening.
* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'': The Village, where Number 6 and the others are imprisoned, passes for an eccentric holiday resort.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Crazy as a Soup Sandwich", the mob boss Nino Lancaster uses Nino's Toys & Imports at the docks as a cover for his smuggling operation.

* TheSyndicate in Creator/{{Capcom}}'s unreleased ''Pinball/{{Kingpin}}'' operate out of the Hotel Lex.

* ''TabletopGame/DeltaGreen'' has the Canadian black-ops anti-occult organization known as M-EPIC. The "EPIC" in M-EPIC stands for ''Environment Policy Impact Comission'' and it's officially and publicly part of the Department of Environment attached to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The group uses this cover so they can easily secure any rubber stamps from the Parliament and investigate anywhere without many questions.

* ''The Hairy Ape'': Subverted -- Yank goes to a meeting of the Industrial Workers of the World, expecting it to be a front for an organization that achieves its goals by blowing things up. The people there assume that he is a government spy trying to entrap their genuinely legitimate organization when he approaches them, and kick him out.

* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'':
** In the first ''VideoGame/MaxPayne1'', the title character infiltrates the Cold Steel Foundry at the start of the third act, a facility which Max notes is "a perfect front for all kinds of illegal activities." It turns out to hide [[spoiler:a top-secret military bunker called the Deep Six, which is the home of Project Valhalla and Valkyr]].
** In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne'', "Squeaky Cleaners" are a bunch of hitmen serving as the BigBad's private army. This has a further practical aspect in that [[CleanupCrew the cleaning equipment helps remove bodies, blood and otherwise clean up the aftermath of killings]].
* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', the Bumani Exchange Corporation in the space station above Telos is a poorly-concealed front for [[TheSyndicate the Exchange]]. It's poorly concealed in part because of, and for, being an OpenSecret among the station's leadership for when they need a friend in extralegal business; and the Exchange has worked with enough discretion to avoid an investigation by the authorities.
* RED and BLU in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' have several of these, and might be considered to be front companies themselves since even though they claim to be demolition and construction companies respectively, they've basically turned into [=PMCs=].

* The Milkman Conspiracy from ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' uses a [[GirlScoutsAreEvil cookie-selling girl scout organization]] for cover.
* In ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', the Ventrue prince of Los Angelos rules from a skyscraper named Venture Tower (notice that the name is a misspelling that is still easily recognizable to any newly arrived Kindred who needs to know where the local prince is based,) which hosts a number of high-class banking and corporate offices, all of which serve as a cover for him.

* The [[StateSec secret service]] player runs in the game ''VideoGame/Floor13'' is officially a part of the Home Office Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
* ''VideoGame/WayOfTheSamurai4'' has the Shogunate-aligned "Black Mask" covert ops/assassination group. Their front? The [[spoiler:Toasty Truth Bar]], which is also ironically the favorite haunt of the anti-government rebels Disciples of Prajna. In fact, one of the finer plot points is to discover that you've been fed false information if you play the Prajna route.

* Season 2 of ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'' features a sinister rogue government conspiracy who have their secret base hidden in a spa. Give them points for trying; Bruce enters to scope the place out and the dangerous operatives start telling him about the massages they have on offer.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSinkingCity'', the town of Oakmont has a charity called EOD which stands for "Everyone's Obvious Duty (is to help each other)" (they had to shorten the last part). Most of the members come from the neigbouring town of Innsmouth, home of the Esoteric Order of Dagon.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', the Federal Bureau of Control, the US ArtifactCollectionAgency, claims to the people LockedOutOfTheLoop that it exists purely as a liaison office for various other federal agencies.
* In ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' and its associated media, including anime and movies, the Takarazuka Revue hosts an elite unit of demon-fighting badasses under the cover of a theatre troupe.
* ''VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided'': The base for Jensen's task force is hidden underneath a nondescript store run by a kindly old lady.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', SEES; practically TheMenInBlack investigating and hunting monsters formed out of the human subconscious stationed in a high school are officially listed as an unnamed extracurricular group that arranges activities for its alumni, which are also double-excuses to train them with weapons.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Inscryption}}'', the ARG reveals [=GameFuna=] is a government front created for the purpose of [[spoiler:decoding and analyzing the OLD_DATA acquired from Hitler's corpse]]. The developers assigned to the ''Inscryption'' game development were kept in the dark on the true purpose of the project.
* In the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries'', the Brotherhood of Nod had operated through various proxies and organizations like the Black Hand for much of its existence. This is most evident during ''Tiberian Dawn'', with Nod using terrorist activities, making black market deals through shell companies, and playing up being an anti-imperialist movement. It largely drops the act afterwards, though it still tries to mask its less savory actions through propaganda campaigns and espionage by ''Tiberium Wars''.

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[[quoteright:349:[[Series/{{Chuck}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chuckcastle_6.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:349:'''Outside:''' Unassuming electronics store.\\
'''Inside:''' Joint CIA / NSA base.]]

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* In ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam'', the Crossbone Vanguard uses the cover of being a civilian freight company, Blackrow Shipping, when not flying under the banner of pirates, allowing them to move around the Earth Sphere without suspicion.
* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''[='=]s Social Welfare Agency is an Italian government-sponsored institution that helps orphans and aids the rehabilitation of the physically injured with state-of-the-art cybernetic prosthetics. Unknown to the public however they also have a surveillance and intelligence-gathering division to help deal with the Five Republics terrorists, and some of the orphaned and injured girls they "help" have been transformed by the aforementioned cybernetic prosthetics into brainwashed cyborg assassins to murder said terrorists.
* ''Literature/JokerGame'' has the spies of the D-Agency study and live in an office building labelled the "Greater East Asia Cultural Society."
* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'':
** The Korogi Clan run their tool shop for exorcist ninja out of a toy shop, with all the supernaturally-related wares rendered InvisibleToNormals.
** The Ninokuru Clan's front is a soba noodle restaurant, where they use their inhuman speed [[MartialArtsForMundanePurposes to make deliveries]].
* ''Anime/NajicaBlitzTactics'': The CRI Corporation, the spy agency that employs Najica, is to the public a perfume company, and apparently a very successful one.

* ''Fanfic/AYoungGirlsGuerrillaWar'': The Rising Sun Benevolent Organization advertises itself as a charitable association aimed at improving Japanese public health and fostering better relations between the Britannians and the local “Elevens”. While the first is technically true (the RSBS provides education and medicine to Shinjuku residents), it also provides a front for the Kozuki Organization to gain funds and gather members for resisting Britannian occupation.
* ''FanFic/ConversationsWithACryptid'': A group of people working for a supervillain dedicated to finding out the dirty secrets that pro-heroes and the government don't want found out. A spy ring? No. A gossip magazine! In the magazine the Heroes Mirror's defense they don't realize they're working for a supervillain.
** Zach Smith is the head of the Heroes Mirror's Australian branch. [[spoiler: His true job is working for All for One running the dark web criminal forum the Conspiracy.]]

* In the ''FanFic/NarutoTheGameOfLife'', the ANBU had their former headquarters in a building disguised as an apartment building, Naruto seemed more surprised that it was supposed to be a secret considering how bad he thought the cover story was as it simultaneously had sign for 'apartments for rent' but guards that would not let any perspective renters on the the property. It seems the only ones who thought it was a secret at all was Hiruzen Sarutobi and the ANBU commander as Naruto put it: "Most people in Konoha can tell where ANBU HQ is by the large amount of suspiciously polite, but firm guards saying, 'private residence only' to anybody who goes close to the building despite the 'apartments for rent' sign outside the door."

* In ''Film/TheGodfather'' films, Vito Corleone poses as an "olive oil importer", and occasional references are made to "the olive oil business" when characters do not want to refer to what ''actually'' goes on. (Subverted in that he actually ''does'' have a legitimate business that imports olive oil; it just isn't where most of his money comes from.) In the original novel, he starts out as a completely legitimate olive oil importer. [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain Then he cuts corners by intimidating his rivals into selling their business to him]]. Then Prohibition comes along and he realizes there are some bottled goods he can import that would be more profitable than olive oil....

* At the start of ''Film/WarGames'', two Air Force people walk into a small cabin, in the midst of a snowstorm. They walk up to a normal-looking mirror and show their badges. They are then buzzed into the missile silo entrance and go down to the silo in an elevator.
* ''Film/MuppetsFromSpace'': The top-secret C.O.V.N.E.T. facility is "cleverly disguised as a cement factory". (This leads to a funny bit later when Bobo suggests taking his company car, which turns out to be a cement truck.)
* In ''Film/SmallTimeCrooks'', the protagonists start a cookie shop as a front for a bank robbery attempt. The bank robbery fails, but the cookie shop becomes wildly successful.
* The Ace Tomato company from ''Film/SpiesLikeUs''. In addition, MissionControl for the military's SDI weapon is hidden under a deserted DriveInTheater.
* ''Film/UndercoverBrother'': The headquarters of the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. are located beneath a barber shop.
* ''Film/MenInBlack'':
** MIB headquarters is hidden in the ventilator building of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.
** Field agents also claimed to be Division 6 of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This became a RunningGag in the cartoon where they'd claim they were from Division 6 of whatever organization vaguely applied to the jurisdiction. Which would often result in competent civil servants knowing such a division did not exist.[[note]] Important to note, the INS itself no longer exists; it was dissolved post-9/11 and its former duties are now handled by the Dept. of Homeland Security, primarily its Immigration and Customs Enforcement division.[[/note]]
* ''Film/JumpinJackFlash'': At a funeral for a dead spy, it's mentioned that he was in the greeting card business, presumably a ShoutOut to ''Series/GetSmart''.
* In ''Film/MissionImpossibleIII'', Tom Cruise's character claims to work for the Virginia Department of Transportation. (Later, when he escapes from IMF headquarters, it's implied that their base actually ''is'' hidden behind VDOT.) Alternatively, that's what '''every''' agent says, so they keep a stash of VDOT stuff to give out.

* In ''Film/BugsyMalone'', Pop Becker's bookstore is the front for Fat Sam's Grand Slam Speakeasy
* Played with in ''Film/AustinPowers'' -- the front organisation Virtucom [[CutLexLuthorACheck makes more money legitimately than Dr Evil's criminal plans would bring in]]. This becomes a running gag, where each new movie would have NumberTwo suggest they focus on a front organization, which is by far more profitable (Starbucks in the second and a talent agency in the third), only to be dismissed.
-->'''Dr. Evil:''' Why make trillions, when we can make ''billions''?
* The bad guys in ''Film/UnderSiege2DarkTerritory'' blow up a Chinese "fertiliser plant".
-->'''Penn:''' A fertiliser plant?\\
'''Travis Dane:''' Yeah, I'm gonna shock the world by spreading ca-ca all over the place. Guangzhou is a chemical weapons plant masquerading as a fertiliser plant. We know this. The Chinese know that we know. But we make-believe that we don't know and the Chinese make-believe that they believe that we don't know, but know that we know. Everybody knows.
* In ''Film/CharlieWilsonsWar'', Gust claims to work for Department of Agriculture's Fruit and Plant Division, specializing in apple imports, though it's mostly played as a joke because Joanne is well-aware he's with the CIA.
* The Wildfire biological research laboratory in ''Film/TheAndromedaStrain'' is an underground Defense Department secret facility buried underneath a Department of Agriculture research station.
* ''Film/NightWatch'': The titular organization's field operatives drive around in a City Light truck and dressed as electricians. The novels written after the film's release mention that City Light used to be a front for the Night Watch.

* In ''Film/{{Volunteers}}'', John Reynolds, the Peace Corps supervisor, is actually a member of the CIA working towards getting the bridge built so that American troops can have access to the communists. This is notably artistic license with history, as noted below, the Peace Corps would NEVER be used as a front by any country.
* The Fraternity in ''Film/{{Wanted}}'' operates out of a working textile plant. Wesley initially thinks this is merely a front, but it turns out that one of their machines is the Loom of Fate, which gives encoded instructions directing their assassinations.

* Both ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' and [[Film/CaptainAmerica1990 that other one]] we don't talk about have the facility where Cap is given his powers hidden beneath an innocent looking store. An antique shop in the former and a diner in the latter, and both guarded by an innocent-looking lady with a Tommy Gun beneath the counter.
* In ''Film/OnceUponASpy'', the unnamed intelligence agency has its headquarters located under an amusement park. The entrance is through the TunnelOfLove. It does maintain other fronts, such as the computing company that Jack works for.
* In ''Film/GentlemenExplorers'', the mysterious agency that recruits Riley and the Magician gives them cover identities as agents of the US Postal Service. It is later shown that this is the standard cover for its agents.
* [[MouseWorld Szuflandia]] in ''Film/{{Kingsajz}}'' is cunningly hidden in the disused basement of the Institute for Quaternary Research. The sheer thickness of CobwebOfDisuse proves nobody ever goes there.

* In ''Literature/{{Kim}}'', Colonel Creighton, the head of the Ethnological Survey of British India, also directs the secret service. There is an overlap between the two organisations; for instance, both Creighton and one of his top agents, Hurree Chunder Mookerjee, write and publish legitimate ethnological papers and share the ambition of being admitted to the Royal Society. Apparently, this was TruthInTelevision.
* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' {{Fanon}} has turned "The Literature/DiogenesClub", founded by Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes, into one of these while turning Mycroft Holmes from being a fat and lazy (but [[BrilliantButLazy undeniably brilliant]]) civil servant into a 19th century [[Film/JamesBond M]]. The ur-example comes from ''Film/ThePrivateLifeOfSherlockHolmes'':
-->'''Mycroft:''' It's come to my attention that you are interested in the whereabouts of a certain engineer.\\
'''Sherlock:''' Yes, I am.\\
'''Mycroft:''' Well, I can save you a lot of trouble. My suggestion is that you pursue it no further. It involves the national security. We are handling the matter.\\
'''Watson:''' We? Who are we?\\
'''Sherlock:''' The Diogenes Club.\\
'''Mycroft:''' I didn't say that.\\
'''Sherlock:''' I've long suspected some underground connection between this stodgy and seemingly calcified establishment and the foreign offices in Whitehall.\\
'''Mycroft:''' That is neither here nor there.\\
'''Sherlock:''' Your club is here, there and everywhere! When there are rumblings of revolt in the Sudan an expedition funded by your club conveniently shows up to study the source of the Nile. If there's trouble along the Indian frontier, members pop up in the Himalayas, allegedly looking for the abominable snowman.\\
'''Mycroft:''' ''[chuckles]'' What a vivid imagination my brother has.

* ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'': A frozen-food [[PaperThinDisguise kosher ham store]] is literally a 'front' -- just a cardboard wall attached to the front of a tank used to ambush the revolutionaries, as Bill finds out when he tries to open the door. The unconvincing cover of a Jewish ham store makes no difference, as it turns out [[FlockOfWolves all the 'revolutionaries' are government spies]] anyway.
* Locke Lamora of the ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'' sequence claims to be one of these in the second book... as in, he tells another character that he used to work in the weights and measures department until he was recruited as a spy by the Archon, a position he's now supposedly on the run from. (The part about weights and measures is a complete fiction, and he's actually working for the Archon, under threat of blackmail, at the time he says this.)
* Creator/MichaelKurland uses the Bureau of Weights and Measures as a cover for his two agents in ''The Whenabouts of Burr''.
* [=MI6=] fronts as a bank office in the ''Literature/AlexRider'' series.
* ''Literature/JackRyan'' usually has super-paramilitary spy John Clark covering himself as a specialist in a mundane job category. ''Literature/ClearAndPresentDanger'' implies that he's also knowledgeable enough to cover himself other ways as well. ''Literature/DebtOfHonor'' actually has him and his partner pretending to be ''[[{{Irony}} Russians]]'' to infiltrate Japan. When the paramilitary anti-terrorist organization Rainbow is established in ''Literature/RainbowSix'', they're listed as belonging to the Special Air Service in a case of HidingInPlainSight. "The Campus", the secret anti-terrorist investigation and assassination squad at the center of his novels starting with ''The Teeth of the Tiger'', operates completely off the government books under the cover of being a financial trading firm.
* ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' has the Imperial Biological Welfare Division in the Mah Dala Infirmary. Their stated purpose was, well, medicinal and they did serve that purpose to some extent, but really this was a cover for the Imperial Biological '''Warfare''' Division, tailoring {{Synthetic Plague}}s to test on the population stranded around the infirmary.
* The headquarters of TeenSuperspy Christopher Cool's agency, the [[FunWithAcronyms Teen-age Educational Espionage Network]], is in a supercar dealership called, originally enough, Luxury Motors.
* In ''Literature/GeographyClub'', the characters start a Gay-Straight Alliance at their high school. They call it [[TitleDrop Geography Club]], so that people not in the know will think it seems boring and not want to join.
* Wizarding buildings in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' tend to hide behind fronts such as a closed department store (St Mungo's Hospital), a non-working phone (the public entrance to the Ministry of Magic) and a dingy pub (Diagon Alley).

* In Daniel Suarez's ''Influx'', the secretive [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Bureau of Technology Control]] has been tasked with suppressing and controlling [[ScaleOfScientificSins disruptive technology]] to make sure rapid change brought about by certain technologies doesn't disrupt world order. Over time they've grown into a hypertechnological society unto itself complete with paramilitary forces, hereditary citizenship/employment, and at least one superweapon. They're stationed under their old government office building, which is practically abandoned, turning dilapidated, and is filled with technology that hasn't been updated since the 70s.

* ''Literature/TrantorFalls''. The library is actually [[spoiler:the Second Foundation, hiding under the nose of the First Galactic Empire]]. Their knowledge of esoteric lore comes in handy when trying to convince people to leave them alone.
* In ''Literature/ThereWasNoSecretEvilFightingOrganization'', the esper organization Amaterasu is hidden behind quirky urban bar Ama-no-Iwato. More than once [[DramaticIrony police searching for the former have had coffee at the latter]]. It also gives the younger espers a place to hang out after school.
-->'''Detective Kumano:''' Any reason why you have a CLOSED sign hanging on the door?\\
'''Sago:''' ...The more curious customers like it that way.
* ''Literature/AgentG'' starts out with the protagonist working for the International Refugee Society, which is a nod to Spectre in ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}''. The organization is actually a covert front for a MurderInc group that provides the ultra-wealthy with high-tech HollywoodCyborg-performed assassinations.

* The Cursors of ''Literature/CodexAlera'' are notionally simply the First Lord's personal messengers, modeled loosely after the Imperial Roman ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agentes_in_rebus agentes in rebus]]''. Actually, they're his personal spies, assassins, and covert operatives, although this second function is sufficiently well-known that people are sometimes surprised to be reminded that they're ''also'' messengers.

* ''Literature/TheFeastOfTheGoat'' by Mario Vargas Llosa: the guns used to assassinate Trujillo are bought from a CIA agent who's cover is the owner of a supermarket specialized in selling American goods.

** In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', the player can search the ruins of two corporations, L.O.B. Enterprises and Mama Dolce's, in the post-nuclear war Washington, D.C. and find that they were fronts for Chinese espionage and commando operations before the war. The former was being used to manufacture a pistol that shot incediary rounds and the latter still has Chinese commandos, now ghoulified, using it as a base.

* In ''Series/TheMiddleman'', the title character and Wendy do this, such as claiming to be from Sanitation in the first episode and climatologists in the second. RuleOfFunny is the operating factor, as in another episode, the heavily [=WASPy=] Middleman claims he, and Latina Wendy, are Mossad agents. (Then again, [[FridgeBrilliance Mossad undoubtedly has agents who don't look recognizably Israeli/Jewish]]...) Also, Wendy's family and friends think she works for the Jolly Fats Weehauken Temp Agency. In fact, even the Middlemen [[CutShort claim not to know]] who they work for. They just came up with the acronym OTSTK (Organization Too Secret To Know) to use when referring to the organization employing them.

** Donquixote Doflamingo ran one for the [[AristocratsAreEvil World Nobles]] for a time. It was a huge slave ring centered around selling slaves to the Nobles, so they would ignore almost everything else he did. Such as sell weapons to pirates on the side.* In ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam'', the Crossbone Vanguard uses the cover of being a civilian freight company, Blackrow Shipping, when not flying under the banner of pirates, allowing them to move around the Earth Sphere without suspicion.

* The American agency devoted to looking into super-human crimes in the [[ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm WildStorm universe]] was the National Park Service, which is actually a real organization.
* It is mentioned in ComicBook/MoonKnight that a toy store is owned and operated by ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} as a cover. The classic ''ComicBook/NickFury'' stories had a barber's shop.

* The Red Horse Garage, Suicide Slum in some ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' stories was a front for Project Cadmus.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'' Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters was this for decades. However, it's been blown up so many times, it probably doesn't qualify any more.
* ''ComicBook/ScoobyApocalypse'' has the Athena facility, the [[TheConspiracy Complex's]] data backup facility, which is hidden within a paper mill. Lampshaded by Shaggy commenting on the oddity of it, with Velma pointing out that they couldn't exactly advertise it as a secret facility.
* The [[ComicBook/WeaponX2002 Weapon X Program]]? You know, the BigBad behind ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s transformation from relatively innocuous soldier to [[WolverineClaws blade–handed]] [[HealingFactor immortal]] [[OneManArmy killing machine]]? Who've made life a merry hell for various B–list Franchise/XMen for the last thirty years? On paper, they're the Department of Agriculture, [[DeadlyEuphemism Pest Control Division]].

* The Overseas Police Stations (海外服务站), better known as the Overseas 110 (海外110), are buildings set-up by operatives from the Ministry of Public Security in order to exert their reach from outside China. On the outside, they aim to provide aid for overseas Chinese living there (such as passports, documents, and driver's license) -- on the inside, their mission is to apprehend Chinese dissidents living overseas (using the designation "Operation Fox Hunt").

* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''[='=]s Social Welfare Agency is an Italian government-sponsored institution that helps orphans and aids the rehabilitation of the physically injured with state-of-the-art cybernetic prosthetics. They also have a surveillance and intelligence-gathering division to help deal with the Five Republics terrorists, and some of the orphaned and injured girls they "help" have been transformed by the aforementioned cybernetic prosthetics into cyborg assassins to murder said terrorists.

*** In Season 1, Wilson Fisk owns a number of legitimate companies and shell companies to hide the source of his income, investing in real estate and construction.

Compare with the low rank/high power of the AlmightyJanitor, as well as TotallyNotACriminalFront, which is when something similar is done by [[TheMafia gangsters]] (and not very well, at that). See also MilkmanConspiracy and OvertOperative. When surrounded by even more secrecy, it becomes a case of NoSuchAgency. While not required, the Mundane Front may have an UnusuallyUninterestingName, or one with OminousMundanity.