What is Sleeper Cell and how it works?
A sleeper cell consists of secret agents who receive specialized training in their home countries and are then assigned to assimilate into another country’s culture and society. These sleeper agents may spend years performing their regular duties while living deep undercover, then suddenly receive orders from their overseas handlers to either commit an act of terrorism or provide aid to those who will. Individual members of a sleeper cell may not even be aware of each other, since plausible deniability during police interrogations can be vital. One sleeper agent may work for an airline ticket office, for example, while another may work at a car rental company or a chemical plant. When the commanders of the terrorist organization want to activate a sleeper cell, each agent may only receive the name of one contact person or receive only his or her specific orders. The airline ticket agent, for example, may only be told to provide tickets for 4 men traveling from Germany to New York.
