ABSTRACT
The most widespread, persistent, and productive operations of the CIA in its first twenty-five years were directed against the "third circle"—the scores of Communist parties, both legal and underground, actively at work on all continents. To plant an agent with good career prospects requires a detailed knowledge of the party's "entrance requirements," the types of sponsors it values for a new recruit, and what kinds of workers it needs. Well-run Communist parties are always hungry for talent: stenographers and bookkeepers, writers and editors, stump orators. In small party young men with the right qualifications can reach the front office in a few years. A Communist Party official can be recruited in two ways—directly by a CIA officer or through a native intermediary. In many operating environments—where an American is instinctively suspect—it is more secure and psychologically advantageous to use a native intermediary as a principal recruiting agent.
