Robert Baer's book "See No Evil" (http://www.amazon.com/See-No-Evil-Soldier-Terrorism/dp/14000...) also does a good job of this. Yes, he did get a crash course in arms and explosives while at The Farm (if I remember it correctly, he actually characterizes it as "terrorist school"). But what CIA case officers actually do is convince other people to spy for them - they don't do the spying themselves. They can't, because everyone knows they're American, since their cover is usually that they work for the US State Department at the embassy.

Baer also points out that a CIA case officer's job is unique in government, in that their explicit job is to convince someone else to break the law. Not US law, of course, but still: their job is to convince someone else to commit treason.

Was the book See No Evil by Robert Baer?

http://www.amazon.com/See-No-Evil-Soldier-Terrorism/dp/14000...

The movie Syriana was loosely based on this book.

Robert Baer, the author of the article, is a good (and very qualified) writer on intelligence issues. His book about his experiences in the CIA, See No Evil, is one of my favorites: http://www.amazon.com/See-No-Evil-Soldier-Terrorism/dp/14000...