007 is a fictional framework for naming British secret agents. In various explanations, the "00" label is for:

--killing someone in cold blood in the course of an assignment
--prior record of a kill
--a license to kill

Real spies used their real names to their chain of command. For secrecy, they may have been referred to by their service number or by codenames.

The double-0 agents from novels and film:

002 Bill Fairbanks (Thunderball)
003 Jason Walters (Thunderball)
003 Jack Mason (A View to a Kill)
004 unnamed (Thunderball)
005 unnamed (Thunderball)
006 unnamed (Thunderball)
006 Alec Trevelyan (GoldenEye)
007 James Bond
008 unnamed (Thunderball, Goldfinger, The Living Daylights)
009 Peter Smith (Thunderball, Octopussy, The World Is Not Enough)
0012 Sam Johnston (The World Is Not Enough)

There are others who've been alluded to in novels and films. Also, more mentioned in comics, unrelated movies.

It's never clear how many there are and who has seniority (if any).
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/00_Agent


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