Covert action

In the context of international relations, covert action is any of a range of activities, intended to affect the behavior of a target nation or non-national actor, where the fact of the action is known, but the responsibility for the action cannot be proven. Such activities include assassination, guerilla warfare, information operations, "gray" and "black" psychological warfare, sabotage, and subversion.

These may be conducted by units of intelligence agencies or military services, independently or in cooperation with people nominally associated with the target actor.