The Jennifer Morgue - Charles Stross [179]
GSA Geheime Sicherheit Abteilung: contemporary German domestic occult intelligence agency [Germany]
HMG Her Majesty’s Government [UK]
HUMINT Human Intelligence: intelligence gathered from human (as opposed to electronic) sources [All]
INTERPOL International Criminal Police Organization: created in 1923 to assist international criminal police cooperation [All]
KGB Committee for State Security, principal Soviet intelligence agency; renamed FSB in 1991 after disintegration of the Soviet Union [USSR]
THE LAUNDRY Nickname of the former Department Q of the SOE, dealing with occult intelligence; spun off as a separate black organization in 1945, no publicly known name [UK]
MI5 (originally Military Intelligence Section 5) Security Service, also known as SS, responsible for internal security [UK]
MI6 (originally Military Intelligence Section 6) Secret Intelligence Service, also known as SIS, responsible for external security [UK]
MOD Ministry of Defense [UK]
NSA National Security Agency (US equivalent of GCHQ) [US]
NUMBER TEN 10 Downing Street, London: the historic office and home of the British Prime Minister [UK]
ONI Office of Naval Intelligence [US]
OSS Office of Strategic Services (US equivalent of SOE), disbanded in 1945, remodeled as CIA [US]
POLITBURO Political Bureau: the executive organization for the Communist Party [USSR]
Q DIVISION Division within the Laundry associated with R&D [UK]
QINETIQ See DERA [UK]
SAS Special Air Service: British Army Special Forces [UK]
SBS Special Boat Service: Royal Marines Special Forces [UK]
SIS See MI6 [UK]
SOE Special Operations Executive (UK equivalent of OSS), officially disbanded in 1945; see also the Laundry [UK]
SUPERBLACK (Pertaining to a black organization or black project) Secret and off the record to all, including governmental intelligence oversight bodies [All]
TERRITORIAL SAS Territorial Army, British equivalent of the US National Guard: Territorial SAS, the part-time, weekend soldier arm of the SAS; mostly staffed by veterans [UK]
TLA Three Letter Acronym [All]
TWO-ONE SAS 21 Special Air Service Regiment; also known as Artists’ Rifles [UK]
1
Blabbing secrets to beautiful femme fatale agents is frowned upon, especially when they’re not necessarily human.
2
Not to mention outgunned.
3
He had two Gulags full.
4
Except the Black Chamber, who would say, “You’re late—we’re going to dock your pay.”
5
Gran Turismo Omologato
6
The Geheime Sicherheit Abteilung to their mothers, although everyone else calls them the Faust Force.
7
What lunar expedition?
8
Exactly.
9
Pale Grace™, Pale Grace™ Skin Hydromax®, Pale Grace™ Bright Eyes®, and Pale Grace™ Number Three® [reference footnote 13] are registered trademarks of Bathory™ Cosmetics Corporation: “It’d better be bloody worth it at this price.”
10
I briefly consider replying to the latter in the person of a highly placed agent of a secret British government agency, but the last time I did that Tony from Internal Security called me into his office and waxed sarcastic for almost half an hour before ordering me to give them back their bank.
11
Translation: “a bunch of computers.”
12
They tend to oversleep.
13
The word “Three” and the digit “3” (and non-English localizations thereof) are patented intellectual property of TLA Systems Corporation and denote the entity that, in the set of integers, is the ordinal successor of 2 and predecessor of 4. Used by kind permission.
14
And testosterone.
15
An excellent piece of casting that places Dame Judi Dench in the role, apparently inspired by real-life MI5 head Stella Rimington, who has taken to writing spy thrillers in her retirement.
16
Literally: “Professional and Ethical Society of Technological Capital Reinvested by Experts.”