Unlike private military corporations, the Carlton Group offered more than just hired guns; it offered global intelligence gathering and analysis. For select clients, it went even further -- offering full-blown covert operations. In essence, he [Reed Carlton] had created a smaller, faster version of the CIA. The United States government quickly became one of his biggest customers.
-- Narration (chapter 4)

Importance: This passage, in the opening moments of the novel, explains and clarifies the role of Scot Harvath, who is an agent for the Carlton Group. At first glance, there seem to be few downsides to the Carlton Group's ability to be more "agile" than the large, potentially bureaucratic CIA. However, what this repeatedly means in practice is that the agents of the Carlton Group usually find themselves in grey ethical areas as a result of pursuing their mission. Harvath himself has decided that he will effectively prioritize the motives of the Carlton Group...