[Ads-l] "false-flag job" (1979)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Excellent work Ben and Bill. Here are leads in Google books for two phrases:
“false flag” technique
“false flag” approach

These two citations fit with the scenario corresponding to the phrase
"false flag agent" mentioned by Bill.

Year: 1966 GB
Periodical: Reporter: East Africa's Fortnightly Newsmagazine
Publisher: News Publishing Limited
Quote Page 10 GB
Database: Google Books Snippet; data may be inaccurate and must be
verified; search for 1966 reveals issue with 1966 date. Snippets for
1967 and 1968 suggest that these are future dates

[Begin extracted text]
A Ghanaian agent sent to East Africa at this time was instructed  to
use the “false flag” technique, leading one source to believe he was
spying for Uganda and the other for ...
[End extracted text]

Year: 1969 GB
Title: Spy in the Sun: The Story of Yuriy Loginov
Author: Barbara Carr
Publisher: Howard Timmins, Cape Town
Database: Google Books Snippet; data may be inaccurate and must be
verified; search for 1969 reveals a snippet that looks like a title
page with the 1969 date

[Begin extracted text]
They go out of their way to pick up casual acquaintances in bars and
places of entertainment, sometimes posing as non-Russians. This is
known as the “false flag” approach and is done both in Russia and
other countries. In the latter case they try to penetrate student
circles by sending intelligence officers abroad as cultural and
post-graduate students.
[End extracted text]

Garson

On Tue, Mar 16, 2021 at 4:48 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> 1966 _Globe and Mail_ Jun 10 1/5 [ProQuest]
> "A false flag agent is one who is hired in the belief that he is spying on behalf of country A when actually his employers represent country B."
>
> [The same article/cite/quotation can be found:
> 1966 _New York Times_ Jun 10 20/5 ]
>
>
> > OED3, in a 2018 update, added an entry for "false flag," with sense 2
> > defined as:
> >
> > "Chiefly attributive. An event or action (typically political or military
> > in nature) secretly orchestrated by someone other than the person or
> > organization that appears to be responsible for it. Frequently in 'false
> > flag operation.'"
> >
> > Earlier still, in 1979 Noel Hynds published a spy thriller called "False
> > Flags," which includes several references to "false-flag jobs" (as well as
> > "false-flag cover"):
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org