A way of progressing agents' lack of cover (8)
I believe the answer is:
alopecia
'lack of cover' is the definition.
'a way of progressing agents'' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'way' could be 'e' (Compass direction - East) and 'e' is found in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is present in the answer.
'agents'' could be 'cia' (Central Intelligence Agency) and 'cia' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'lp' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for alopecia that I've seen before include "can be distressing!" , "Baldness (medical)" , "Partial or complete absence of hair on the body" , "23" , "distressed state" .)