In the world of diplomacy, this is what's called a back-channel outreach.

Get over the back-channel somehow and tell my father to come.

That back-channel you just took isn't a path many people stumble upon by accident.

But that doesn't mean that there aren't back-channel communications between my company and theirs.

None of the traditional back-channel efforts by the generals to keep their pet programs.

There also are continued whispers of back-channel efforts aimed at identifying possible formulas for compromise.

They also held back-channel talks in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

If the back-channel chatter was to be trusted-andit wasn't-Marshad a lone marine's suit camera.

But if it's found some kind of back-channel-

Nikki had run all her back-channel checks.

Several years earlier, Karzai had written to the Saudi king and asked him to set up back-channel talks.

Yemen witnessed a lull in hostilities after Saudi Arabia and the Houthis began back-channel talks late last year.

Such Justice Department back-channel calls rarely become public, and department officials declined to provide details of Perez's involvement.

Naeem is getting back-channel briefings from Ann; she calls from her office when the kids are at school.

Jacob Welse crossed over the back-channel long before dark, and with him came Del, the baron, and Corliss.

One of the book's "revelations" is that Clinton used Morris as a back-channel interlocutor with Lott.