Crossword Genius

Agent's ultimate motivation is betrayal (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

treason

'is betrayal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'agent's ultimate motivation' is the wordplay.
'agent's ultimate' becomes 't' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'motivation' becomes 'reason' (reason is a kind of motivation).
't'+'reason'='TREASON'

(Other definitions for treason that I've seen before include "Senator (anag)" , "Criminal attempt to overthrow a government" , "Mutiny" , "Stare on (anag.)" , "Betrayal of the state" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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