[Schofield]

Does anyone know exactly which is the standard handgun that the CIA use?

[GRIZ22]

There is no standard. They use what they need to. Guns are really not something your average CIA employee uses.

[9mmepiphany]

the CIA has a standard handgun?

[denfoote]

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you!! :evil:

[2RCO]

I would guess that on most CIA ops the standard would be whatever couldn't be traced back to the CIA.

[danweasel]

Yeah, what 2RCO said.

[W.E.G.]

The CIA doesn't shoot people.

[2RCO]

Nope operators and spooks don't exist. They are simply figments of the imagination that were thought up to scare evil doers around the world. ......:uhoh:

The CIA doesn't shoot people.:cool:

[BrokenButterfly]

The CIA doesn't shoot people. You mean movies were lying to me? NOOOOOO....

[CWL]

Typical CIA analysts hold at least one Masters degree and spends most of their time in front of a computer monitor.

Overseas operatives don't advertise, they are usually disguised as Embassy employees, traveling scholar or business person. None of these carry firearms.

The CIA does employ contractors who are ex-military, but these guys use what is commonly available in that locale.

[usp9]

When the CIA needs a trigger they call Jack. Jack uses HK. :cool:

[Schofield]

Really? I always thought that if you were in th CIA then you had a gun...like in the FBI...right?...maybe not.

[RP88]

the FBI is an investigative branch and is (basically) law enforcement.

the CIA gathers intelligence, which - thanks to computers - is not done very often with grapple hooks and carbon-fiber SMGs and plastic explosives shaped like pens and sunglasses.

[Gunfighter123]

The only person I know that admitted to working for the CIA in the early 1970s liked the Browning Hi-Power and told me that was what he carried in Nam/Laos.

Don't know how true it was but I have no reason to think he was BSing me.

[Casefull]

The CIA subcontracts a lot of its dirty work so the freelancers use whatever they want. What others already wrote...the cia people I know are genius nerds that analyse everything.

[Frizzman]

I don't know what people at the Culinary Institute of America(CIA) need guns for anyway??? Fighting off angry chefs swinging pots and pans???

[BrokenButterfly]

I imagine the clandestine officers (being from U.S.) and agents (being from the country that CIA is spying on) would use whatever doesn't make them stand out as CIA. So no American made guns for sure.

[mr.trooper]

Really? I always thought that if you were in th CIA then you had a gun...like in the FBI...right?...maybe not.

Actually, most FBI employees are desk workers that sit in from on computers as well... They do have field agents but they are not the majority of employees; most FBI workers do have training, but they aren't issued handguns.

[Duke of Doubt]

Frizzman: "I don't know what people at the Culinary Institute of America(CIA) need guns for anyway??? Fighting off angry chefs swinging pots and pans???"

Ever read, "Cooking Secrets of the CIA"?

http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Secrets-CIA-Favorite-Institute/dp/0811811638

We used to have a local outfit called "Canadian International Appliances." Maybe it was a front.

[polekitty]

Our Government is corrupt from the top down to the lowly dogcatcher!!!
...........Especially the dog catcher!

[MK11]

Only real examples I can think of were Johnny Michael Spann, the CIA paramilitary officer killed when the Taliban rioted at Mazar-e-Sharif prison. There were reports that he used a Beretta 92 to kill couple before they got him.

Ed Lovette, author of 'The Snubby Revolver," was another CIA paramilitary officer. If you write a book called "The Snubby Revolver," I'm guessing that's what you'd lean toward.

[Duke of Doubt]

I think Taurus makes a "CIA" snub revolver.

And I have some old rifles with "C.I.A." stamped in tiny little letters on them.

[hankdatank1362]

I know at least one that favored a third gen smith .45

[hankdatank1362]

Actually, it would be a second gen, now that I think about the time frame. Currently he favors a third gen. He also conceals a full size 4506 under a tucked in dress shirt so effectively that even I couldn't see it after I knew where to look.

But I think he was too old for the clandestine ops stuff by the time he got there, after a handful of years in the Marines and a two decade career in another three-letter agency, so maybe he got to carry what he wanted.

I'm personally striving for SCI and a maroon passport as well.;)

[MikePGS]

I've read a couple of books about the CIA (the one by Ronald Kessler was pretty good) and believe it or not they don't generally carry guns. During the 50's and 60's even there wasn't much of agents killing agents, because that distracts them from their primary mission: Intelligence gathering. That being said the CIA does have paramilitary officers. I imagine they would carry either what they had on hand (probably what the military units they were training, or being deployed with had) or whatever was commonly available where they were located. I imagine 9mm is pretty available around the globe, but something like .40 cal or .45 is pretty distinctively American.

[Beagle-zebub]

The guys buying their way to victory in Afghanistan in late 2001 probably carried something, given how much money they were hauling around. One guy interviewed on NPR said that he had a trunk with $1,000,000 in it, the better part of which he spent.

[jaysouth]

http://www.amazon.com/Jawbreaker-Attack-Personal-Account-Commander/dp/0307237400


The author claims he carried a Glock 17 and an AK. He was paramilitary. CIA officers have the job of gathering intelligence by means that include recruiting local "agents". Firearms are seldom used or carried.

[usp9]

Because of where I live I have many neighbors and friends that work at some of the various clandestine agencies. The only one that ever carried a gun was a document courrier (or whatever was in the case). He carried a .38 snub nosed revolver. Two other friends worked undercover, both in and out of the country, were unarmed. All the other agency employees I know were 9 to 5 computer nerds.

[SwampWolf]

I've heard they favor chopped Hi Points.

[jjohnson]

No. For "Company" operators, it would be just plain stupid to have an "issue weapon" that could be traced to anything meaningful.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and postulate that those operators (who do not exist) and "contract operators" or whatever you would want to call those who aren't really "Company employees" (they don't exist, either) either get to use some discretion OR whomever gives them instructions also gives them weapons purchased in a chain that can't be traced, either.

And of course, those weapons don't exist.:scrutiny:

[Geronimo45]

Most of 'em don't need guns to do their job. I suspect that a good bit of CIA gun-carrying is less about 'need' and more about 'costume'. Undercover cops carry guns similar to the criminals they are running with. If a spook wants to be seen as 'one of the boys' in a criminal setting, he might pack a piece. In Afghanistan, he might run around with a Khyber Pass AK yelling "death to America and Britney Spears!"

[dogtown tom]

Duke of Doubt: ...And I have some old rifles with "C.I.A." stamped in tiny little letters on them.

Importers mark. Stands for Century International Arms.

[sd]

C.I.A. Special Activites Divison . ( sounds like training program for Special Olympics) Our moms say we're all special. Anyway this is for real.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Activities_Division

whatever they carry, its not US Mil standard issue.

[Blueduck]

Ed Lovette has written a couple of good books mentioning his days as both an agent and trainer for the CIA, He mentioned when he left the "issue" guns were the Browning Hi-Power and S/W 649 (or was it 640?) He said everyone loved the Highpower, but virtually always carried the revolver if they carried anything at all.

Like others have said, Lovette was clear to state that most of the CIA guys were NOT weapons people, but rather were typically highly educated proffesional types with little to no prior expereince with weapons, and often not much inclination towards changing that.

His training seemed to be totally defensivly oriented for them. I kinda liked his thought that the true goal was to "Create hell in a very small place" very quickly to try to create an escape route to get away from the danger. This is very opposed to a lot of "Stand and fight" training philosophies that have bled over from Law Enforcment into "civillian" training.

[rellascout]

I love all the people here chiming in who have absolutely no idea... there is a standard for certain regions and certain groups.... They like any other armed agency or police forces they want a standard of arms for agents in the field.....

There are issue weapons and then there are issue weapons...... those who say there are not simply do not know.

There is also a clear distinction between the clandestine service and the average agent reporting to the Langley or a overt field office.

[mordechaianiliewicz]

I would think that the word "standard" has no place in covert operations.

[finfanatic]

Hellfire Missiles last I heard.

Fired from a Predator drone.

[SwampWolf]

Good one finfanatic! :D

[Mooseman]

Swamp wolf is the closest to the truth. They are indeed issued Hi-Points but not the standard black ones. Oh no Sir, they're issued the uber tacticool green ones. I hear the grips are made from liquid freedom!

p.s. I do own a Hi-Point

p.p.s. To the best of my knowledge I do not work for the CIA

[Eightball]

They are indeed issued Hi-Points but not the standard black ones. Oh no Sir, they're issued the uber tacticool green ones. I hear the grips are made from liquid freedom!Aha! The reason to make an ugly gun uglier is finally released!

:P

[Jim K]

No real spy carries a gun. Discovery in most countries would mean a long prison sentence or even execution whether the carrier was a spy or a tourist.

Except in the paperback thrillers, CIA field operations are pretty low key and more about recruiting than doing any spying or carrying out any raids.

James Bond to the contrary, it would be stupid to try and shoot one's way into, say, a communications station when it is a lot easier to buy someone who works there. (It is a safe bet that the KGB agents who recruited Walker didn't carry guns.)

Jim

[Dan Crocker]

Most field and case officers aren't armed. Like Jim said, it's too risky. HUMINT operations are all about recruiting people who have access to information and getting them to give (or sell or trade) it to you. The two Gary's (Bernsten and Schroen) who wrote 'Jawbreaker,' and 'First In,' used Browning High Powers, Glock 19s, and AKs as personal defense weapons when they were popped into Afghanistan in 2001.

[KBintheSLC]

I hear its a Walther PPK ;)

[MDG1976]

No real spy carries a gun
oh yeah? then explain this!

http://content9.flixster.com/question/33/63/84/3363843_std.jpg

[SsevenN]

They all carry SIGs, have gel-spiked hair and well chiseled jaws.;):cool:

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk137/SsevenN_photo/Firearms/micheal-westen.jpg

[Dan Crocker]

Ha! Burn Notice is great!

[red_metallic]

http://www.seanpallas.com/images/props/screengrabs/noisycricket.jpg

[Tinpig]

Back when the CIA was the OSS, they did use suppressed .22 cal. High Standard HDM pistols for close-range work.
Also used by the CIA in Vietnam.

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hi-standard_oss_hdm.jpg

There might still be a few in the inventory.

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg216-e.htm

[Ben86]

It depends what country they are in, what people they are trying to blend with. It would be pretty safe to say though that 9mm is used most frequently because of its availability. However the CIA is more about boring intel gathering and less about actually shooting, despite what Hollywood makes it out to be.

BTW Burn Notice Rocks! Fee is the cutest anorexic spy ever.