black bag job

noun

variants or black-bag job or less commonly black bag operation or black-bag operation

US, informal

: bag job sense 1

Planting microphones. Warrantless wiretapping. Breaking and entering. To generations of G-Men, these were known as "black bag jobs"—illegal acts ordered in the name of national security by officials at the highest rungs of the FBI.

—Army Times, February 2012

He said he shared Newey's passion for counter-espionage and that he was familiar with black bag operations.

—Chicago Reader, 13 Apr. 2001

Word History

Etymology

from the stereotypical black bag carried on such an operation

First Known Use

1966, in the meaning defined above

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