SPIES FOR THE NEW DISORDER

Driving to a Mediterranean seaport in 1986, Tom Darcy didn't realize he was part of espionage's wave of the future. Most CIA officers operate overseas as U.S. diplomats. But Darcy was posing as a businessman, an operative with what the CIA calls nonofficial cover, or NOC (pronounced knock). Darcy was transporting signal- interception equipment to a CIA boat that would sail off the coast of Lebanon to eavesdrop on terrorists. In front of him, police at a roadblock were searching all cars. If the police discovered his spy equipment, there would be no diplomatic immunity to keep him out of jail....