They are deniable: individuals defer and delay rather than refuse; they pretend to cooperate and evade as far as they can without provoking retribution.
Under the present arrangements, the responsibilities are confused and to some extent deniable.
I do not think it is deniable that considerable adaptation is necessary.
Designation will mean that they are no longer deniable.
The tax is deniable, and it need not be justified year after year because it has been pre-announced.
There are also below-the-line agents who are deniable under all circumstances.
It is a dangerous hostage to fortune to designate such people, if the point of having them in the first place is that they will always be deniable.
Put differently, "clandestine" means hidden, while "covert" means deniable.
