Spycraft - Melton [270]
Denied area— A term used by the CIA to describe a country or geographic region where clandestine operations are very difficult.
Diplomatic cover— An intelligence officer identified and accredited as a member of a nation’s diplomatic corps.
Directorate of Operations (DO) —The CIA component responsible for conducting HUMINT espionage operations abroad. Renamed the National Clandestine Service (NCS) in 2005.
Directorate of Science and Technology (DS&T) —The CIA component responsible for applying technology and technical expertise to intelligence requirements.
Division 19— A research and development unit under the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) that supported OSS technical requirements during World War II.
DNI— Director of National Intelligence. The position of DNI was established in 2005 for coordinating the activities of all U.S. intelligence agencies.
Doc copy (document copy)—A device or procedure related to the clandestine copying of documents with intelligence value. Doc copy devices can include small cameras, digital scanners, or media-copying procedures.
Drum’s Bible—The 1951 report prepared by Colonel James H. (“Trapper”) Drum, head of the Agency’s Operational Aids Division, which formed the foundation for a centralized technical support organization.
Family jewels—A compilation of the most sensitive CIA operations. The phrase was first used by DCI Allen Dulles to describe his written notes on operations in the field during World War II with OSS. The term was revived in the 1970s during the U.S. Senate Church Committee investigation and applied to the compilation of CIA’s activities during the 1950s and 1960s.
First Chief Directorate— KGB organization during the Cold War responsible for foreign intelligence collection. In 1994 it was renamed the Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, or Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
Flap— An incident caused by a failed operation or error; includes both diplomatic and “public relations” repercussions resulting from an arrest of a case officer or agent and can cause internal friction and conflicts with other services.
Flaps and seals—The clandestine opening, reading, and resealing of either envelopes or packages without the recipient’s knowledge.
Foreign finds— A captured clandestine device of a hostile intelligence service.
FSB (Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti)—Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation responsible for internal security and counterintelligence.
GRU (Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravleine or Chief Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff)—Soviet, and later Russian, military intelligence service.
Handler—The individual, usually a case officer, who controls and directs an agent.
Hard target— A person or place assiduously guarded against espionage efforts.
High-value target—An individual or installation possessing particularly important intelligence.
HUMINT (human intelligence)— Intelligence either collected or relayed by an individual.
IED (Improvised Explosive Device)—An explosive device fashioned from disparate components and most often used in terrorism or guerilla warfare.
Illegal— A term used for Soviet and Russian intelligence officers operating abroad without benefit of “diplomatic cover.” Illegals pose as legitimate residents of the target country and are protected only by a strong cover.
Intelligence requirement— Information requested by an intelligence consumer, such as the Pentagon or President.
KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti or Committee for State Security)—The Cold War name for the Soviet Union’s primary security and intelligence apparatus.
L-pill— A suicide pill or tablet issued to agents who preferred death to interrogation. Although popular in spy novels and movies, L-pills were rarely used operationally.
Legend— A