Be The Spy

# – A – B – C – D – E – F – G – H – I – J – K – L – M – N – O – P – Q – R – S – T – U – V – W – X – Y – Z

- # -

• 007 (Noun) -Agent code name for Ian Fleming’s Fictional British super spy (a.k.a James Bond)

- A –

• Access Agent (Noun) – a talent spotter, performs reconnaissance for recruiters.
• Acorn (Noun) – slang for someone who is performing an intelligence function.
• Action Direct (Noun) – an underground group in France.
• Action Officer (Noun) – A case officer designated to perform a specific act during a secret operation.
• Agent (Noun) – A person working for an intelligence service.
• Agent-Of-Influence (Noun) – a deep-cover agent with influence among the members of a target group. Synonym for Mole.
• Agent Provocateur (Noun) – a deep-cover agent who feigns enthusiastic support while tempting the target to incriminate himself/herself through action or words .
• AIS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Argentina’s intelligence agency.
• Al Amin Al-Khas (Noun) -Iraq’s security service.
• Aleph (Noun) -Name currently used by the Japanese underground religious group/cult widely known as Aum Shinrikyo.
• AMAN (Noun, Abbrev.) – one of Israel’s intelligence agencies.
• Amerika (Noun) -underground metaphor for a fascist USA reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
• Analysis (Verb) - drawing conclusions about raw information by assessing its significance and by collating it with other information.
• ASALA (Noun, Abbrev.) -underground group in Armenia.
• ASIO (Noun, Abbrev.) – Australian Security Intelligence Organization.
• ASIS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Australian Secret Intelligence Service, a department of ASIO.
• Assassin (Noun) – A murderer, especially one who kills for fanatical or monetary reasons
• Assaulter (Noun) – a member of a SWAT team responsible for making a forced entry.
• Asset (Noun) – A clandestine source of intelligence or action, usually an agent.
• Aum Shinrikyo (Noun) -usually translated as “Supreme Truth,” is an underground religious group/cult in Japan with expertise in germ and chemical warfare. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subways. In January 2000, the organization changed its name to Aleph
• AVB (Noun, Abbrev.) – Hungary’s security service, the Allami Vedelmi Batosag.

- B -

• Backstop (Noun) – an arrangement between two persons for the express purpose of substantiating a cover story or alibi.
• Bag Job (Noun) – surreptitious entry, break and enter.
• Bakin (Noun) – Indonesia’s security service.
• BATF (Noun, Abbrev.) – a US security service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
• Beach, The (Noun) – A vulnerable tactical position with no cover.
• Betty Bureau (Noun) – FBI slang for a female support person who has worked for the FBI her entire career.
• BfV (Noun, Abbrev.) – Germany’s security service, the Bundesamt fir Verfassungsschutz.
• Biographical Leverage (Noun) – blackmail info.
• Bird watcher (Noun) – slang used by British Intelligence for a spy.
• Black-Flagged (Noun) – an agent or intelligence officer who is to be interrogated and summarily shot if apprehended.
• Blind Date (Noun) – the first meeting with an unknown person.
• Black Propaganda (Noun) – a smear campaign, usually consisting of character assassination.
• Blowback (Noun) – The unintended consequences of a given action taken or intelligence gathered.
• Blow Fish (Noun) – a mathematical algorithm for computer encryption of text that purportedly can only be cracked by brute force if the pass-phrase is unknown.
• Blown (Adj.) – detected.
• Blue-On-Blue (Adj.) – friendly fire, inadvertent hostile engagement between allies.
• BND (Noun, Abbrev.) – Germany’s intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst. Literally translated as the Federal News Agency.
• Bonafides (Noun, pl) – Official information that proves a person’s authenticity. legitimacy, or reputation
• Box (Noun) – slang for Britain’s security service, MI.5.
• Brevity Codes (Noun) – a system of code-words used by members of a surveillance team.
• Brick Agent (Noun) – an FBI agent who works inside a field office. Also see Street Agent.
• Bride Agent (Noun) – an agent who acts as a courier from a case officer to an agent in a denied area.
• Brush Contact (Noun) – a clandestine, momentary contact between two agents who are passing information, documents, or equipment.
• Brush Pass (Noun) – same as brush contact.
• BSA (Noun, Abbrev.) – Bomb Shelter Area. Internal area that offers protection from blast, flying glass and other fragments.
• BSS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Belgium’s security service
• Bucar (Noun) – an FBI car.
• Bug (Noun) – A covert listening or recording device.
• Bug-On-A-Chip (Noun) – slang for USA’s Clipper chip.
• BUPO (Noun, Abbrev.) – Switzerland’s security service.
• Burnt (Adj.) – burned, completed exposed. See Blown.
• BVD (Noun, Abbrev.) – Netherlands’ security service.

- C -

• C4I (Noun, Abbrev.) – Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence
• Call-Up (Noun) – a police term meaning a situation where a SWAT team has deployed.
• Camp X (Noun) – Canada’s secret domestic training base.
• Cannon (Noun) – a thief who steals back the inducement offered by the spies to an informant, defector, etc.
• Caribinieri (Noun) – Italy’s federal antiterrorist police.
• Carnivore (Noun) – computer program designed by the FBI to allow the FBI to collect electronic communications from a specific user targeted in an investigation.
• Cartel (Noun) -
  1. A group of independent business organizations formed to regulate production, pricing, and marketing of goods by the members
  2. A group of parties, factions, or nations united in a common cause; a bloc.
• Case Officer (Noun) – A staff officer of an intelligence agency, also operations officer or controller.
• CBI (Noun, Abbrev.) – India’s security service.
• CBRN (Noun, Abbrev.) – Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear. CBRN materials can be used in terrorist attacks or in military weapons under state programs.
• Center (Noun) – KGB HQ in Moscow
• CERT (Noun, Abbrev.) – UK Government Computer Emergency Response Team (see UNIRAS)
• Chase Car (Noun) – a security detail or bodyguard vehicle that follows the subject.
• Cheating (Noun) – command of the target from in front of the target during floating box surveillance. See also COMMAND OF THE TARGET.
• Cheng Pao K’o (Noun) – China’s intelligence agency.
• Chicken Feed (Noun) – low grade information fed through a double agent to one’s adversary with the intention of building the credibility of the double agent.
• CHIS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Covert Human Intelligence Source (agent). An important source of secret intelligence. Agent operations are run by specially trained officers and can continue for long periods.
• Chobetsu (Noun) – One of Japan’s security services.
• CIA (Noun, Abbrev.) – Central Intelligence Agency, a US intelligence agency.
• Cleaner(Noun) -
  1. a person who destroys or removes any incriminating evidence at the scene of a crime, typically but not always a murder, as if the crime never happened.
  2. an assassin who uses murder to “clean up” a situation.
• CNT (Noun, Abbrev.) – an acronym for crisis negotiation team. CNTs are used by police in situations involving hostage-takers or barricaded suspects. The name CNT is a misnomer – their true role is not to negotiate, but rather to obtain intelligence to facilitate an assault by the SWAT team, and to distract the suspect to divert his attention from the coming assault.
• Cobbler (Noun) – a spy who creates false passports, visas, diplomas and other documents.
• COMINT (Noun, Abbrev.) – acronym for communications intelligence.
• COMM (Noun, Abbrev.) – a small note or other written communication from an underground organization or one of its members. They are typically written on cigarette wrappers, chewing gum wrappers, etc.
• Command of the Target (Noun) – active visual observation of the subject of the surveillance operation. Used during pedestrian and vehicle surveillance. See also CHEATING and FLOATING BOX.
• Commando (Noun) – a civilian, military, or paramilitary combat group using irregular tactics. Commando can refer to an individual, a cell, a squad, or the organization as a whole.
• COMMIT (Noun) – a surveillance operative performing the commit function is watching a location to determine the direction that the target takes (or “commits” to).
• Compromised (Adj.) – When an operation, asset, or agent is uncovered and cannot remain secret.
• Computer Forensics (Noun) – Investigation of a computer system believed to be involved in cybercrime. Also used in espionage to retrieve intelligence from stolen laptops or pcs.
• Cong An Bo (Noun) – Vietnam’s security service.
• Consumer (Noun) – a person or an organization on an intelligence agency’s distribution list. Also see PRODUCT.
• Coordination de la Securite du Territoire (Noun) – Algeria’s security service.
• Counter Espionage (Noun) – activities designed to impede the efforts of hostile intelligence agencies engaged in espionage against one’s own nation, allies, and citizens.
• COINTELL (Noun, Abbrev.) – Common abbreviation for Counter Intelligence
• Counter Intelligence (Noun) – activities designed to impede or thwart the efforts of hostile intelligence agencies attempting to penetrate or compromise one’s own intelligence agency.
• Cousins (Noun) – slang for CIA.
• Cover (Noun) – Identity, profession, motivation, activity, fictitious image maintained by an undercover operative.
• Covert (Adj.) – Concealed, secret, disguised.
• Covert Action Agent (Noun) – a spy who works to reorient an entire nation’s politics in favor of his country.
• CS Gas (Noun) – a form of tear gas, full name ortho-chlorobenzalmalanonitrile, used by cops, SWAT teams, and the military.
• CSE (Noun, Abbrev.) – Canada’s signal intelligence agency, Communications Security Establishment.
• CSIS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Canada’s security service.
• Cut-Out (Noun) – a mechanism or person used to allow agents to pass material or messages securely; also an agent who functions as an intermediary between a spymaster and other subagents.
• Courier (Noun) – delivers documents, money, etc.

- D -

• DAM (Noun, Abbrev.) – France’s military intelligence agency.
• Dangle (Noun) – a spy who poses as a walk-in to penetrate the other side. Also see WALK-IN.
• DARPA (Noun, Abbrev.) – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (USA).
• Data Recovery (Noun) – bureaucrat-talk for the backdoor built into all US-exported crypto software since 1998.
• DCSS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Denmark’s security service.
• DDIS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Denmark’s intelligence agency.
• Dead Drop (Noun) – a physical location where communications, documents, or equipment is covertly placed for another person to collect without direct contact between the parties.
• Dead-Letter Box (Noun) – same as dead drop.
• Dead-Letter Drop (Noun) – same as dead drop.
• Decoy (Noun) – A person or thing used to distract and/or confuse the adversary
• Deep-Cover Agent (Noun) – permanent cover.
• Defector (Noun) – a person who has renounced his/her country of citizenship.
• DGI (Noun, Abbrev.) – Cuba’s intelligence agency.
• DGSE (Noun, Abbrev.) – France’s intelligence agency.
• DHS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Department of Homeland Security – USA agency
• DIA (Noun, Abbrev.) – a US intelligence agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency.
• Dirty Tricks (Noun) – covert sabotage carried out by a security service or intelligence agency, ranging from pranks to assassination.
• Disinformation (Noun) – Deliberately false information released to mislead an enemy
• Diversion (Noun) – distracts adversary’s attention.
• DLB (Noun, Abbrev.) – acronym for dead-letter box. Also see Dead Drop.
• Dope Book (Noun) – a notebook kept with a sniper rifle for the purposes of recording the atmospheric conditions, range, lighting, and resulting hit or miss of every shot fired.
• Doppelganger (Noun) – a look-a-like. See also Look-A-Likes.
• Double-Agent (Noun) – simultaneously serves two adversaries (often with their knowledge).
• Dry Cleaning (Noun) – active counter surveillance and anti-surveillance against pavement artists and wheel artists.
• DS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Bulgaria’s security service, the Drzaven Sigurmost.
• DSD (Noun, Abbrev.) – Australia’s signal intelligence agency, Defense Signals Directorate.
• DST (Noun, Abbrev.) – France’s security service.
• Dubok (Noun) – Russian term for a dead-letter box. Also see DEAD DROP.

- E -

• E&E (Noun, Abbrev.) – Evade & Escape
• Ears Only (Adj.) – material too secret to commit to writing.
• Element (Noun) – a five-man SWAT team. Consisting of a team leader, scout, rear guard, and two assaulters. The rear guard provides cover for the scout and is usually armed with a 12-guage shotgun. The assaulters usually carry Heckler & Koch 9mm MP-5 submachine guns. See also ASSAULTER.
• Elliptical Conversation (Noun) – says one thing but means another.
• ENIGMA (Noun) – the machine used by the Germans to encode messages during WWII.
• Equestrian Posture (Noun) – an effect produced by rigor mortis whereby the cadaver sits upright as if riding in a saddle, with arms outstretched.
• Escort (Noun) – the operations officer assigned to lead a defector along an escape route.
• Espionage (Noun) – Clandestine actions taken to obtain secrets and/or intelligence from enemies or competitors
• ESS (Noun, Abbrev.) – acronym for environmentally stable strategy, a concept used in strategic game-theory.
• ETA (Noun, Abbrev.) – an underground group in Spain.
• EUROPOL (Noun) - European Police Office. Europol is the European law enforcement organization which aims to improve effectiveness and co-operation among Member States to prevent and combat terrorism, unlawful drug trafficking and other serious forms of international organized crime.
• EVOC (Noun, Abbrev.) – an acronym for Emergency Vehicle Operation Course, taught at the FBI academy in Quantico
• Executive Action (Noun) – assassination.
• Exfiltration (Noun) – a clandestine rescue operation designed to bring a defector, refugee, or an operative and his or her family out of harm’s way.
• Expats (Noun, Abbrev.) – expatriates who have taken up residence in another country and are helping to define its culture.
• Eyes Only (Adj.) – documents that may be read but not discussed.

- F -

• FALN (Noun, Abbrev.) – an underground group in Puerto Rico.
• False Flag Recruitment (Noun) – impersonation by a spy while recruiting an informant, defector, agent, etc.
• Fashionista (Noun) – An avid follower of fashion, esp. one who works in the high fashion industry as a designer, model, photographer, etc.; a devotee of clothing trends and fasion
• Fed (Noun, Abbrev.) – federal law enforcement officer
• FBI (Noun, Abbrev.) – Federal Bureau of Investigation, the primary unit in the United States Department of Justice, serving as both a federal criminal investigative body and a domestic intelligence agency.
• FCC (Noun, Abbrev.) – Federal Communications Commission
• Fence -
  1. (Noun) One who receives and sells stolen goods.
  2. (Noun) A place where stolen goods are received and sold.
  3. (Verb) To sell (stolen goods) to a fence.
• FDS (Noun, Abbrev.) – One of Mexico’s security services.
• Fibonacci System (Noun) – a system of non-carrying addition used for one-time pad codes. For example, (Fib) 999 + 222 = 111.
• Filling (Noun) – the act of inserting material in a dead drop.
• Flaps & Seals (Noun) – the tradecraft involved when making surreptitious openings and closings of envelopes, seals, and secure pouches.
• Flip (Noun) – a U Turn made by the target during a vehicle surveillance operation.
• Floater (Noun) – a person used one-time, occasionally, or even unknowingly for an intelligence operation.
• Floating Box (Noun) – a method of surveillance where a team of operators establishes a containment box around the target wherever he/she goes.
• FMLN (Noun, Abbrev.) – Frente Farabundo Marti para Liberacion Nacional, an underground group in El Salvador.
• Follow (Noun) – a surveillance team is executing a follow when they are shadowing a moving target. See also Floating Box. A follow begins when the target exits the stakeout box and a surveillance operative attains command of the target. See also Command of the Target.
• Footfall Detector (Noun) – vibration sensor designed to detect walking humans.
• Forensic(Adj.) -
  1. Relating to, used in, or appropriate for courts of law or for public discussion or argumentation.
  2. Of, relating to, or used in debate or argument; rhetorical.
  3. Relating to the use of science or technology in the investigation and establishment of facts or evidence in a court of law: a forensic laboratory.
• Forensic accounting (Noun) -About as exciting as it sounds
• Four-Bagger (Noun) – disclipline of an agent by FBI headquarters, consisting of censure, transfer, suspension, and probation.
• FRA (Noun, Abbrev.) – Sweden’s military signals intelligence agency.
• Frequency Flooding (Noun) – a technique that allows an ordinary telephone to become a covert listening device.
• Friend (Noun) – slang for an agent, informant, or mole providing information to a handler.
• Friends (Noun) – slang for Britain’s secret intelligence service, MI.6.
• Front (Noun) – a legitimate-appearing business created by an intelligence agency or security service to provide cover for spies and their operations.
• FSB (Noun, Abbrev.) – Russia’s federal security service, responsible for counterespionage.
• Funkspiel (Noun) – impersonation during electronic communications. Derived from the German phrase for “radio game”.
• Funny Money (Noun) – slang for the counterfit currency.
• Funny Paper (Noun) – slang for the counterfeiting and forged documents section of an intelligence agency or security service.

- G -

• GCHQ (Noun, Abbrev.) – Britain’s sigint agency, Government Communications Head Quarters.
• GIA (Noun, Abbrev.) – an underground group in Algeria.
• GID (Noun, Abbrev.) – Iraq’s main intelligence organization, Da’ Irat al Mukhabarat al-Amah
• Graymail (Noun) – Threat by a defendant in a trial to expose intelligence activities or other classified information if prosecuted
• Ghoul (Noun) – agent who searches obituaries and graveyards for names of the deceased for use by agents.
• GRU (Noun, Abbrev.) – Russian military intelligence, the Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravleniye.
• GSS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Israel’s security service (also called Shin Beth)
• Guan-Xi (Noun) – an access agent for China’s intelligence agency
• Guoanbu (Noun) – one of China’s security services.
• Gustav Weber (Noun) – Hitler’s double, used by the Fuhrer’s bodyguards to stymie the Allies as to his whereabouts. Shot in the forehead immediately after Hitler’s death.

- H -

• Hacking (Verb) – An umbrella term encompassing all attempts at unauthorised access to computer systems, including malicious software, malicious modification of hardware and denial of service (DoS).
• Hamas (Noun) – an underground group in Palestine (now in power).
• Handler (Noun) – a case officer who is responsible for handling agents in operations.
• Hard Man (Noun) – an experienced operative who can survive in a hostile environment and who has killed.
• Hard Target (Noun) – a surveillance target who is actively maintaining secrecy and may not reveal that he/she has detected the surveillance team.
• Hezbollah (Noun) – an underground group in Lebanon, alleged to have operating units in Latin America with links to major drug dealers.
• Honey Pot (Noun) – Mata Hari, Raven, lady, femme fatale; a female agent using romance to compromise a target.
• Honey Trap (Noun) – Slang for use of men or women in sexual situations to intimidate or snare others. This use of sex to trap or blackmail an individual is standard practice in intelligence operations
• Hooligan Tool (Noun) – a specialized tool much like a crowbar, developed by fire departments for prying open doors and windows. Also used by SWAT teams.
• Hostile (Noun) – term used to describe the organizations and activities of the opposition services.
• Hostile Recruitment (Noun) – recruitment by threat or force of an uncooperative informant, mole, or agent-in-place.
• HUMINT (Noun, Abbrev.) – intelligence activities involving people rather than electronic eavesdropping or communications interception.
• Hunting Pack (Noun) – slang for surveillance team.

- I -

• Iakhbal (Noun) – Israeli police unit that fights organized crime.
• ICBM -
  1. (Noun, Abbrev.) an acronym for instant calm breath method, a way to overcome the flight-or-fight reflex (panic). Also reduces hyperventilation.
  2. (Noun, Abbrev.) Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Capable of international nuclear assaults from almost any range.
• ILD (Noun, Abbrev.) – one of China’s security services.
• Illegal (Noun) – an intelligence officer operating in a foreign nation without the protection of diplomatic immunity.
• IMINT (Noun, Abbrev.) – acronym for Image Intelligence.
• Infiltration (Noun) – the secret movement of an operative into a target area with the intent that his or her presence will go undetected.
• Informant (Noun) – a legitimate member of a target group providing intelligence to the surveillance team.
• INFO WAR (Noun, Abbrev.) – Information Warfare, modern propaganda through (mis)information
• Innocent Postcard (Noun) – a postcard with an innocuous message sent to an address in a neutral country to verify the continued security of an undercover operative.
• Intel (Noun, Abbrev.) – for intelligence, esp. military or business; information
• Intelligence (Noun) – Secret information, especially about an actual or potential enemy.
• Intelligence OFFICER (Noun) – a trained member of an intelligence agency, an employee on salary.
• INTERPOL (Noun, Abbrev.) – international police body that coordinates the intelligence gathering and investigative activities of member police forces.
• Investigative Specialist (Noun) – the FBI’s name for a surveillance operative (vehicle or foot). Pay grade GS-7 to GS-10. See also SSG.
• IRA (Noun, Abbrev.) – Irish Republican Army an underground group in Northern Ireland.
• Istikhbarat Al Askariya (Noun) – Libyan military intelligence.
• ITAC (Noun, Abbrev.) – an acronym for International Terrorist Assessment Center, located in Washington DC.

- J -

• Jarking (Verb) – bugging a weapons cache, often rendering weapons unusable.
• JETRO (Noun, Abbrev.) – one of Japan’s intelligence agencies.
• Jihaz Amn Al Daoula (Noun) – Egypt’s security service.
• Joe (Noun) – a deep-cover agent.
• JRA (Noun, Abbrev.) – Japanese Red Army, an underground group in Japan.

- K -

• Kempei Tai (Noun) – Japan’s secret police.
• Key Logger (Noun) – A software or hardware device or program used to capture the keystrokes any actions of a computer user, often without their knowledge.
• Keystroke Tracker (Noun) – A covert device that tracks keystrokes on a computer keyboard.
• KGB (Noun, Abbrev.) – Kometet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti, The intelligence and internal security agency of the former Soviet Union.
• K-Line (Noun) – SVR internal security and investigations section.
• Koancho (Noun) – Japan’s counterintelligence and security service.

- L -

• L-Pill (Noun)- a poison pill used by operatives to commit suicide.
• L5 (Noun)- 4096 bit encryption algorithm
• Lakam (Noun)- one of Israel’s intelligence agencies (Ministry of Defense).
• Launder (Verb) - To disguise the source or nature of (illegal funds, for example) by channeling through an intermediate agent.
• LEA (Noun, Abbrev.) – Law Enforcement Agency
• Legend (Noun)- the faked biography of a deep-cover agent.
• LEO (Noun, Abbrev.) – Law Enforcement Officer
• Letterbox (Noun)- a person who is acting as a go-between. Also see Cut-Out.
• Link Diagram (Noun)- connections being analyzed in a complex police investigation or counterespionage case. See problem-solving matrix.
• LLB (Noun, Abbrev.)- an acronym for live-letter box, an address used to receive communication to be forwarded to an intelligence agency. See also DLB.
• Look-A-Likes (Noun)- decoys used to confuse hit squads and surveillance teams.
• LSD (Noun, Abbrev.)- an acronym for d-lysergic acid diethylanide, a hallucinatory drug discovered in 1943 by Dr. Albert Hofmann, a researcher at Switzerland’s Sandoz corporation, a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Subsequently monopolized by the CIA for its MKULTRA project that developed methods for secretly controlling people. Still used today by numerous intelligence agencies and security services for the following functions – 1. disturbance of memory; 2. discrediting by aberrant behavior; 3. eliciting of information; 4. creation of dependence; 5. suggestibility. At the CIA’s request, in 1954 Eli Lilly & Company developed a method for manufacturing LSD from publicly available chemicals. The CIA’s bungling of MKULTRA allowed the drug to escape from the lab, where the CIA lost control of it. LSD subsequently ruined two generations of young Americans. No CIA officer or contractor was ever reprimanded or punished.

- M -

• M-19 (Noun) – underground group in Columbia.
• MASINT (Noun, Abbrev.) – measurement and signature intelligence; uses elements that do not fit into the traditional scope of IMINT and SIGINT.
• Maskirovda (Noun) – Russian name for deception techniques designed to fool US spy satellites. Recently used by India’s counterintelligence agency to conceal nuclear testing from the CIA.
• Mata Hari (Noun) – honeypot, femme fatale,
• MBRF (Noun, Abbrev.) -one of Russia’s intelligence agencies.
• Mercury Fulminate (Noun) -an initiating agent for detonating PETN. See PETN.
• MI5 (Noun) -Britain’s security service. K Branch is responsible for counterespionage, F Branch for countersubversion, C Branch for security of sensitive government installations.
• MI6 (Noun) -Britain’s intelligence agency.(See SIS)
• MICE (Noun, Abbrev.) -an acronym for money ideology compromise ego (methods used by intelligence agencies and security services to ruin a target).
• MILF (Noun, Abbrev.) – Moro Islamic Liberation Front
• Mini Manual of the Urban Guerrilla (Noun) -an underground operations manual by Brazilian freedom-fighter Carlos Marighella. Contains 41 chapters. Banned in many countries.
• Min/Max (Noun) -a concept in strategic game-theory.
• MITI (Noun, Abbrev.) -one of Japan’s intelligence agencies.
• MKULTRA (Noun) -code name for a covert CIA mind-control and chemical interrogation research program, run by the Office of Scientific Intelligence. The program began in the early 1950s, continuing at least through the late 1960s, and it used United States citizens as its test subjects.
• Mole (Noun) – An agent who has penetrated an organization or a group or specializes in penetrating groups and organizations
• Montenros (Noun) -an underground group in Argentina.
• Mossad (Noun) -one of Israel’s intelligence agencies, noted for its expertise in wet affairs. Literally translated as “institute”. Never referred to as the MOSSAD, but rather simply called MOSSAD.
• MST (Noun, Abbrev.) -Landless Rural Workers Movement, an underground group in Brazil.
• Mukhabarat (Noun) -Libya’s intelligence agency.
• Music Box (Noun) -Slang for Clandestine Radio
• Muslim Uighur (Noun) -an underground group in China.

- N -

• Naked (Noun) – a spy operating without cover or backup.
• Naicho (Noun) – one of Japan’s intelligence agencies.
• Narcotherapy Hypnosis (Noun) – CIA interrogators use hypnosis to force regression in the prisoner to make him believe he is talking to his spouse. The prisoner is first prepared by pharmaceuticals according to the following protocol. 1. An injection of 10 mg sodium pentothal to render unconscious. 2. Wait 20 minutes. 3. An injection of 10 mg benzodrine to revive the prisoner to a state partway between waking and sleep. 4. Repeat step 3 if required. At the end of the interrogation a hypnotically induced amnesia is invoked.
• Neurolinguistics (Noun) – a branch of psychology used by intelligence agencies and security services to covertly manipulate unsuspecting human targets.
• Neutron Bombardment (Noun) – used by security services like Britain’s MI.5, America’s FBI, Germany’s BfV, and France’s DST to detect microdots and invisible writing in postal mail. Originally developed by the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment in Britain for use by MI5.
• Night crawler (Noun) – a talent spotter who prowls bars and nightclubs looking for government employees, military personnel, etc. who can be compromised using booze, drugs, or sex. Also see Talent Spotter.
• Ninjas (Noun) – slang for members of a SWAT team attributed to the way their balaclavas resemble Ninja masks.
• Nitrous Oxide (Noun) – an anesthetic inhalant used to render sleeping targets unconscious during surreptitious entry by goon squads.
• NMI (Noun, Abbrev.) – Norway’s security service.
• NOC (Noun, Abbrev.) – A spy with Non-Official Cover. A fake or real private sector job used by a case officer as a cover.
• Notional Agent (Noun) – Made up or nonexistent secret agent, usually used for a source of fabricated information or the means by which such information was obtained
• NSA or National Security Agency (Noun) – The United States cryptologic organization that coordinates and directs highly specialized activities to protect United States information systems and to produce foreign intelligence information
• NSC or National Security Council (Noun) – A committee in the executive branch of government that advises the president on foreign and military and national security; supervises the Central Intelligence Agency
• NSS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Bulgaria’s security service.
• NSTL (Noun, Abbrev.) – the FBI’s National Security Threat List
• Nugget (Noun) – British term for the bait (money, political asylum, sex, or career opportunity) used to offer a potential defector
• Nursemaid (Noun) – Russian term for the security service officer who accompanies delegations to other countries to prevent anyone from defecting.

- O -

• OBS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Croatia’s intelligence agency, the Obavestajna Bezbednostna Sluzba.
• Offensive Penetration Operation (Noun) – infiltration of an agent into a target group or organization.
• Off Site (Noun) – a covert FBI site or facility situated away from a field office.
• One-Time Pad (Noun) – an unbreakable code system that works by adding the numeric value of the plaintext with a randomly-generated code string (the one-time pad). Also see FIBONACCI SYSTEM.
• Open-Source (Noun) – intelligence gained from public materials.
• Operative (Noun) – A secret agent; spy
• Ops (Noun, pl., Abbrev.) – Informal abbreviation for operatives or operations
• OSA (Noun, Abbrev.) – official secrets act, usually a law to enable governments to conceal their mistakes from their own population.
• OSINT (Noun, Abbrev.) – open source intelligence; an all-source process which includes HUMINT, IMINT, SIGINT, and MASINT which analysts must understand and integrate to produce the best possible intelligence.
• OSS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Office of Strategic Services; U.S.’s WWII intelligence, sabotage, and subversion organization
• Outrider (Noun) – a wheel artist responsible for ensuring that the target does not get outside the floating box of surveillance vehicles. See also Floating Box.
• Overt Target (Noun) – deliberately attempts to draw attention and drain the resources of an intelligence agency or security service. Occasionally a decoy.

- P -

• Parallel-Line/Incidental-Capacitance (Noun) – a method of telephone, telex, and communications eavesdropping that is virtually undetectable.
• Paroles (Noun) – passwords to identify agents to each other.
• Pattern (Noun) – the behavior and daily routine of an operative that makes his or her identity unique.
• Pavement Artist (Noun) – outdoor surveillance specialist operating on foot.
• Peep (Noun) – a photographer.
• Perimeter Surveillance (Noun, Abbrev.) – is used to alert the surveillance team when the target enters or leaves a specific area.
• PETN (Noun, Abbrev.) – Pentaery-thritol tetranitrate, a plastic explosive favored by intelligence agencies and security services. See mercury fulminate.
• PFLP (Noun, Abbrev.) – an underground group in Palestine.
• PHOTINT (Noun, Abbrev.) – acronym for photo intelligence.
• Pig (Noun) – Russian intelligence term for traitor.
• Picket Surveillance (Noun) – focuses on times and places when target is likely engaged in activities of interest to the surveillance team. Also called chokepoint surveillance. Named after the openings in a picket fence.
• Pickup (Noun) – when the target of a surveillance operation is first spotted inside the stakeout box.
• Pinhole Camera (Noun) – video camera with fiber-optic lens attachment.
• Plain text (Noun) – the original message before encryption.
• Playback (Noun) – to provide false information to the enemy while gaining accurate information from him or her.
• Pocket Litter (Noun) – items in a spy’s pocket (receipts, coins, theater tickets, etc.) that add authenticity to his or her identity.
• Posse Comitatas (Noun) – a Latin phrase that loosely means power of the people.
• Problem-Solving Matrix (Noun) – a grid-based notation system used by police investigators and counterespionage officers when dealing with complex cases.
• Product (Noun) – finished intelligence that has been evaluated by an intelligence agency and is ready for distribution to consumers. Also see CONSUMER.
• Professional-Name (Noun) – nom de guerre of a spy.
• Profile Stop (Noun) – a random stop and search by police, based on a suspect’s race, minority status, economic status, religion, physical appearance, travel status, location, etc. Previously inflicted on minorities and poor whites, but currently being expanded by bureaucrats to include all US citizens.
• Profiling (Verb) – Stereotyping a group or “type” of person to assess potential dangers, suspects
• Protocol (Noun) – A code of correct conduct: safety protocols; academic protocol.
• Provocateur (Noun) – an operative sent to incite a target group to action for purposes of entrapping or embarrassing them. See also Agent Provocateur
• PSB (Noun, Abbrev.) – one of China’s secret police agencies.
• PSIA (Noun, Abbrev.) – one of Japan’s security services.
• Psychodynamics (Noun) – the CIA’s psychological profiling system, used in combination with psychobiographic analysis.

- Q -

• Quang Bo (Noun) – Vietnam’s military intelligence agency.
• QODS (Noun, Abbrev.) – One of Iran’s security services.
• QRF (Noun, Abbrev.) – quick reaction force.

- R -

• RADINT (Noun, Abbrev.) – acronym for radar intelligence.
• RAID (Noun, Abbrev.) – an acronym for Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection, consisting of teams of National Guardsmen who assist civilian authorities after a suspected biological/toxin/chemical attack on a population center.
• Raven (Noun) – a honey pot.
• RCMP (Noun, Abbrev.) – police agency in Canada similar to the FBI in the USA. Acronym for Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Also known as RCM Police.
• RCMP Security Service (Noun) – counterespionage, counterintelligence, and counterterrorist branch of RCMP. Also known as RCMP Special Services.
• Red Brigade (Noun) – an underground group in Italy.
• Rent-A-Goons (Noun) – operatives proficient in hand-to-hand combat, used as muscle support when direct physical confrontation is likely.
• Resistance (Noun) – a civilian underground organization, consisting of cells (1 to 10 persons), circles (a group of cells), and sections (a group of circles).
• RG (Noun, Abbrev.) – France’s police intelligence security service, Renseignements Generaux.
• Ring (Noun) – a network of spies or agents.
• Rolled Up (Noun) – when an operation goes bad and an agent is arrested.
• Roscoe (Noun) – handgun.
• Ruse De Guerre (Noun) – subterfuge
• RZ (Noun, Abbrev.) – an underground group in Germany. Literally translated as revolutionary cell

- S -

• SA (Noun, Abbrev.) – FBI special agent.
• Safehouse (Noun) – a dwelling place or hideout unknown to the adversary.
• Sanitize (Verb) – to delete specific material or revise a report or other document to prevent the identification of intelligence sources and collection methods.
• SAPO (Noun, Abbrev.) – Sweden’s security service.
• Sasha Kvap (Noun) – Russian mole inside Hitler’s bunker during the final months of World War II. Subsequently poisoned by the KGB in 1955.
• Savak (Noun) – one of Iraq’s security services.
• SCIF (Noun, Abbrev.) – acronym for Secured Compartmentalized Information Facility (in Fort Gillem, GA, USA) where Clipper is housed (rumored to have already been penetrated by agents of China’s intelligence agencies).
• Semtex (Noun) – a military explosive suitable for sabotage and terrorist operations.
• Secret Classification (Noun) – Confidential, Secret, Top Secret, and (SCI) Special Compartmentalized Information.
• SERE (Noun, Abbrev.) – an acronym for survival, evasion, resistance, and escape.
• Servicing (Verb) – the act of removing material from a dead drop.
• Set Up (Verb) – to begin to conduct surveillance on a target.
• Seventy-One Yards (Noun) – according to FBI statistics, this is the distance at which a typical police sniper will get you. Although the SR60 .308 sniper rifle used by most police departments is designed for distances up to 600 yards, most police snipers do not fire at suspects beyond 400 yards. (Of course, at any distance an execution is still an execution.)
• Shoe (Noun) – False passport of VISA
• SHIELD (Noun, Abbrev.) – fictional espionage and law-enforcement agency in the Marvel Comics universe. The acronym originally stood for Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division. It was changed in 1991 to Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate. In the 2008 Marvel Studios films Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, the acronym stood for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.
• Shin Beth (Noun) – Israel’s security service (also called GSS).
• Shining Path (Noun) – an underground group in Peru.
• SIS (Noun, Abbrev.) - Secret Intelligence Service. SIS, commonly known as MI6, is responsible for obtaining secret information and conducting operations in support of the UK’s foreign policy objectives, and to counter threats to UK interests worldwide
• SMERSH (Noun, Abbrev.) – KGB assassination group. Officially disbanded ;) The name derives from the Russian phrase “death to spies”.
• SIDE (Noun, Abbrev.) – Argentina’s security service.
• SIGINT (Noun, Abbrev.) – signals intelligence (interception of electronic communications)
• Sinn Fein (Noun) – the political arm (party) of the IRA.
• Sit Rep (Noun, Abbrev.) – situation report.
• Six (Noun) – slang for a police officer, police cruiser, or a police patrol. Used as a warning in the criminal community.
• Sleeper / Sleeper Agent (Noun) – A deep cover agent with a mission to penetrate the highest reaches of the target nation – long term project.
• Slush fund (Noun) – A fund raised by a group for corrupt practices, such as bribery or graft.
• Sluzba Bezpieczenstwa (Noun) – Poland’s security service, also called the SB.
• Social Engineering (Noun) – the art of manipulating people into performing disclosure actions or divulging confidential information.
• Soft Target (Noun) – an easy surveillance target, untrained and not looking for surveillance.
• SOG (Noun, Abbrev.) – an acronym for Special Operations Group, FBI agents who conduct surveillance. Incontrast, SSG is composed of non-agents. See also SSG.
• SOS (Noun) – the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal “dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot” dot.
• Special Branch (Noun) – the security branch of the British police.
• Splashed (Adj.) – describes a bodyguard whose client has been assassinated. Also see Wet Affair.
• Spook (Noun) – a spy.
• Spy (Noun) – any member of an intelligence agency, security service, police agency, resistance movement, guerrilla group, or other organization engaged in covert intelligence-gathering activities.
• SRI (Noun, Abbrev.) – Romania’s security service (rumored to be made up of former members of Ceausescu’s secret police).
• SSG (Noun, Abbrev.) – an acronym for Surveillance Specialist Group, which is what the FBI calls a surveillance team. See also Investigative Specialist. See also SOG.
• SSS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Georgia’s security service.
• Station (Noun) – post where espionage is conducted
• StB (Noun, Abbrev.) – Czechoslovakia’s security service, the Statni Tajna Bezpecnost.
• Stingball (Noun) – a flashbang grenade used by SWAT teams to disperse crowds and disorient barricaded suspects. Throws off rubber fragments when detonated. It is standard police procedure to cover up the deaths of suspects inadvertently killed by stingballs.
• Street Agent (Noun) – an FBI agent whose work takes him to various locations. Also see Brick Agent.
• Surveillance -
  1. (Verb) Careful observation of a person or group, especially one under suspicion.
  2. (Verb) The act of observing or the condition of being observed.
• SVR (Noun, Abbrev.) – one of Russia’s intelligence agencies, the Slnzhba Vneshnei Razvedaki.
• Swallow (Noun) – a female agent employed to seduce people for intelligence purposes.
• Swarming (Verb) – overfilling a location with surveillance operatives. Often used in psy ops as a means for controlling the target’s environment.
• Synthetic Hemoglobin (Noun) – a component used in carbon monoxoide detector alarms. The radiation weapons recently developed and deployed by DARPA will set off these alarms.

- T -

• Tactical (Adj.)
  1. Of or pertaining to a maneuver or plan of action designed as an expedient toward gaining a desired end or temporary advantage.
  2. Characterized by adroitness, ingenuity and skill
• Tail -
  1. (Verb) To follow and keep under surveillance.
  2. (Noun) Someone following and keeping another person(s) under surveillance.
• Taleban (Noun) – underground group in Afghanistan.
• Talent Spotter (Noun) – same as Access Agent.
• Target (Noun) – the victim of surveillance, the subject.
• TECHINT (Noun, Abbrev.) – technical intelligence; analysis of fielded equipment for training, research, and the development of new weapons and equipment for eventual intelligence use.
• Terminated (Noun) – murdered.
• The Take (Noun) – information gathered by espionage.
• Thermal Imager (Noun) – a heat-sensitive surveillance video camera and display.
• Three Bs (Noun) – Booze, broads, and bucars. The three temptations of FBI agents.
• Throw Phone (Noun) – a cellular telephone thrown to a barricaded suspect by the SWAT team.
• Throwaway (Noun) – an agent considered expendable.
• Timed Drop (Noun) – a dead drop that will be retrieved by a recipient after a set time period.
• Tradecraft (Noun) – The methods used in clandestine operations such as espionage. The skill acquired through experience in a trade; often used to discuss skill in espionage
• Traffic Analysis (Noun) – methods for gaining intelligence from the patterns and volumes of messages of radio intercepts.
• Triads (Noun) – Asian organized crime gangs.
• Trigger (Noun) – a surveillance operative who is watching the target’s vacant vehicle, home, garage, office, restaurant etc. and who alerts the rest of the surveillance team when the target is spotted.
• Tupamaros (Noun) – an underground group in Uruguay.

- U -

• U-2 (Noun) – the world’s most famous spy plane, developed by the U.S. specifically for intelligence collection in the thin atmosphere 55,000 feet above the Soviet Union; it is still in use today.
• UACB (Noun, Abbrev.) – FBI acronym for Unless Advised to the Contrary by the Bureau.
• Uncle (Noun) – the HQ of any espionage agency or service
• United Red Army (Noun) – an underground group in Japan.UNS – Croatia’s security service, the Ured za Nacionalnu Sigurnost.
• UNSUB (Noun, Abbrev.) – an unknown subject in a surveillance operation.
• UOP (Noun, Abbrev.) – Poland’s security service.
• USSA (Noun, slang) – slang for a USA reminiscent of the oppressive totalitarianism of the former USSR similar in usage to “Amerika”.
• UNIRAS (Noun, Abbrev.) – Unified Incident Reporting and Alert Scheme. UNIRAS, part of NISCC, works to gather information on IT security incidents in UK Government departments and agencies, producing periodic analysis and assessment of incidents and trends. It also issues alerts and briefings on matters of IT security concern.

- V -

• VCP (Noun, Abbrev.) – vehicle control point.
• Vevak (Noun) – Iran’s intelligence agency.
• Vickie Weaver (Noun) – American citizen probably murdered by the FBI. A landmark case for many concerned Americans.
• VNSA (Noun, Abbrev.) – abbreviation of Violent Non-State Actor, and refers to any organization that uses illegal violence (force not officially approved of by the state) to reach its goals.

- W -

• Wahabi (Noun) – a Saudi Islamic underground group.
• Walk-In (Noun) – an unsolicited volunteer.
• Watch List (Noun) – Contains people who are of interest to intelligence agencies
• Wet Job / Affair (Noun) – results in death of target or major bloodshed. Also see Splashed and Wetwork.
• Wetwork (Noun) – is a euphemism for murder or assassination, alluding to hands literally wet with blood. It is most popularly attributed to the KGB and their broad euphemism for such activities, mokroye delo (Wet Job). There have been others however, who variously attribute it to the Mossad, the CIA and MI5.
• Wheel Artist (Noun) – an outdoor surveillance specialist operating in a vehicle.
• Wilderness of Mirrors (Noun) – a spy operation so complicated that it is no longer possible to separate truth and untruth.
• Window Dressing (Noun) – ancillary materials that are included in a cover story or deception operation to help convince the opposition or other casual observers that what they are observing is genuine.

- X -

- Y -

• Yakuza (Noun) – Organized crime syndicate originating in Japan

- Z -

• Zapatista National Liberation Army (Noun) – an armed revolutionary group based in Chiapas, one of the poorest states of Mexico.
• Zero-Out (Noun) – the range at which a weapon’s sights will produce a bull’s eye hit. Handgun fixed sights are usually zeroed-out at 25 yards. A sniper rifle scope is usually zeroed-out at 100 yards.
• Zhongyang Lianluobu (Noun) – one of China’s intelligence agencies.
• Zou-Hou-Man (Noun) – back door access to a protected target (as used by China’s intelligence agencies).