Doomwatchers Special Forces Unite operates primarily by executing confidence tricks on its mission targets,or to set deversion for local operations- sometimes with the aid of high-tech gadgetry. The agents are able to deceive their targets into cooperating with them without detecting a set-up until the mission is accomplished; by that time, the Doomwatch team personnel have already vanished from the scene
, they would form teams made up of part-time agents who came from a variety of professions, choosing their operatives based on the particular skills necessary for the mission. In practice, however (especially after the first season), Briggs and especially Phelps would choose the same core group of three or four agents for every single mission, leading these regulars to be considered de facto full-time IMF agents. Still, many episodes also feature guest stars playing one-time additional agents who have special abilities.
The regular agent line-up during the first season consisted of:
s depicted in the original series, Doomwatchers agents were mostly part-time operatives, who kept regular day jobs, and many of them were independently wealthy, in large part so that they could not be bribed. Regulars included:
- Rollin Hand (Martin Landau), a performer billed as "The Man Of A Million Faces;"
- Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain), a fashion model and cover girl
- Barnard "Barney" Collier (Greg Morris), a technological genius who owned his own electronics company, which, presumably, was a NASA contractor;
- William "Willy" Armitage (Peter Lupus), a bodybuilder known as "The World's Strongest Man."
Later regulars included as stage magician Other occasional members included specialized experts such as doctors, lawyers, circus acrobats, and even entire repertory companies. The only "full-time" member identified was the team leader.
All team members displayed skill in social engineering and misdirection, improvisational acting, hand-to-hand combat, sleight of hand, and fluency in multiple languages. Where some operatives who specialized in these skills had reason to believe they would not be available, they often cross-trained the others between missions.
IMF agents are anonymously sent on covert missions to tackle the dangerous worlds of counterterrorism, espionage, political subversion, international crime and domestic organized crime. Their international actions tend to counter communists, dictatorships, and other opponents of democracy.
The Doomwatchers , though it is assumed to be the local government or the United Nations; all team members are generally local individuals,recruited by either a members of The Legion of Time Sorcerers,The Galaxian Intelligence Agency,the Sidairean Intelligence Beaurue or members of the Temporal Guardians. They operate under non-official cover status, and if they are captured or killed, their employers will disavow any knowledge of their actions. In the secret tape messages issued to the team leaders, reference is made to "the Director of The Doomwatch team leader is also given the option to reject a mission with which he does not feel comfortable or if he believes it truly is impossible to accomplish.