Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Political and Turf considerations. Theoretically, a "civilian" CIA pilot had more plausible deniability if captured. That might work for low-key clandestine work, but there obviously wasn't any deniability with something like the SR-71.
Well, that's the entire point I'm getting at Rick. If an operative gets captured somewhere in a foreign land under the guise of a business man or something else, the deniability is relatively easy. If a guy survives the ejection or forced landing in a multi million dollar/sophisticated spy plane that takes a huge support system just to get going is another thing.
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
It didn't work for Gary Powers. Actually a military officer might be afforded protection under the geneva convention in some circumstances, while a civilian could be easily shot for spying.
That's exactly what I'm trying to figure out. Like the USSR (or other adversary) would ACTUALLY have believed that the pilot of an above scenario is a "civilian" employed by a well know intelligence entity and therefore could really be denied?