Tropes about espionage (military, political, or otherwise), intelligence agencies, secret agents and spies, or the physical act and process of spying itself.
Tropes:
- Agent Provocateur
- Agents Dating
- Alone-with-Prisoner Ploy
- And Mission Control Rejoiced
- And Some Other Stuff
- Animal Espionage
- Assassination Attempt
- Backwards-Firing Gun
- Bathroom Search Excuse
- Black Helicopter
- Black Site
- Black-Tie Infiltration
- Bluff the Eavesdropper
- The Book Cipher
- Booked Full of Mooks
- Borrowed Biometric Bypass
- Briefcase Blaster
- Burner Phones
- Calling the Cops on the FBI
- Camera Sniper
- Checkpoint Bluff
- Checkpoint Charlie
- Chekhov's Skill
- CIA Evil, FBI Good
- City of Spies
- Classified Information
- Clipboard of Authority
- Cloak and Dagger
- Code Name
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat
- Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story
- Cover Identity Anomaly
- Covert Group with Mundane Front
- Dead Drop
- Deadly Delivery
- Deadly Graduation
- Deep Cover Agent
- Destroy the Security Camera
- Diplomatic Back Channel
- Diplomatic Cover Spy
- Double Agent
- Double Reverse Quadruple Agent
- Duel of Seduction
- Dumbwaiter Ride
- Elite Agents Above the Law
- External Combustion
- Fake Defector
- False Flag Operation
- Fast-Roping
- Feed the Mole
- Femme Fatale Spy
- Finding the Bug
- Flock of Wolves
- Gadget Watches
- Get into Jail Free
- Goggles Do Something Unusual
- Government Agency of Fiction
- Government Conspiracy
- The Handler
- Have You Told Anyone Else?
- He Knows Too Much
- Hidden Wire
- Hollywood Encryption
- Honey Trap
- I Know You're Watching Me
- I Never Told You My Name
- Imminent Danger Clue
- Incredibly Obvious Bug
- Incredibly Obvious Tail
- The Infiltration
- Infraction Distraction
- Institutional Allegiance Concealment
- Involuntary Suicide Mechanism
- Kidnapped from Behind
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade
- Landline Eavesdropping
- Latex Perfection
- Leave No Witnesses
- Literal Surveillance Bug
- Loose Lips
- Lost Property Live Drop
- Makeup Weapon: Weaponized cosmetics.
- Manchurian Agent
- Master of Disguise
- The Men in Black
- "Mission: Impossible" Cable Drop
- Mistaken for Spies
- Mistakenly Attacked Mole
- The Mole
- Mole in Charge
- Moscow Centre
- Mr. Smith
- Mugged for Disguise
- Multiple Identity IDs
- Mysterious Watcher
- Ninja
- Nonviolent Initial Confrontation
- No Such Agency
- Not My Driver
- Numbers Stations
- Over-the-Top Secret
- Overt Operative
- Overt Rendezvous
- Play-Along Prisoner
- Pragmatic Pansexuality
- Prisoner Exchange
- Private Intelligence Agency
- Professional Killer
- Publicly Discussing the Secret
- Public Secret Message
- Ransacked Room
- Reading The Enemy's Mail
- "Rear Window" Homage
- Red Herring Mole
- Resignations Not Accepted
- Rogue Agent
- Room Disservice
- Run for the Border
- Secret Police
- Secret War
- Security Blindspot: Someone knows where the holes in the surveillance are and uses them to their advantage.
- Self-Destructing Security
- Shady Lady of the Night
- Shoe Phone
- Sinister Spy Agency
- Sinister Surveillance
- Smithical Marriage
- Sneaky Spy Species
- Spies Are Despicable
- Spies Are Lecherous
- Spies In a Van: Spies often require the use of a large vehicle sufficient enough to load surveillance equipment, such as van, trailer (either a travel or tractor trailer), boat, etc.
- Spotting the Thread
- A Spy at the Spa
- Spy Bot
- Spy Cam
- Spy Catsuit
- Spy Satellites
- Spy School
- Spy Ship
- Spy Speak
- Spy's Suspicious Spouse
- Spy-Tux Reveal
- Spy Versus Spy
- Staging the Eavesdrop
- The Spymaster
- Stealth Expert
- Stealthy Colossus
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands
- Surveillance Drone
- Swallow the Key
- Take It to the Bridge
- Talking through Technique
- Teen Superspy
- Ten Little Murder Victims
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!
- This Page Will Self-Destruct
- Time-Travelers Are Spies
- Tracking Device
- Trapped Undercover
- Tree Cover
- Trigger Phrase
- Tuxedo and Martini
- Two-Way Tapping
- Undercover as Lovers
- Underside Ride
- Unguided Lab Tour: A top-secret workplace is introduced by having a character sneak into it unnoticed.
- Unintentional Encryption
- Van in Black
- Vertical Kidnapping
- Wannabe Secret Agent
- We Do Not Know Each Other
- When Harry Met Svetlana
- Window Watcher
- Writing Indentation Clue
