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Active Concealment
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Object that is converted into a concealment device
but that can still be used for its original function.
For example a wrist watch that is converted into a concealed container,
but that still works as a wrist watch.
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ATE
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Active Target Element
Active bugging device that has its own power source, can be controlled
remotely and has full masking of its audio signal.
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Berlin Wall
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Barrier that divided Berlin in East and West from 1961 to 1989.
Under influence of the USSR, the communist
German Democratic Republic (DDR)
cut themselves off from the capitalist west. The wall came down in 1989,
following a series of radical changes in the
countries of the Eastern Bloc,
marking the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union (USSR) a few years later.
➤ Wikipedia
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Briefstift
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German expression for a Dead Drop Spike.
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Brush Pass
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Quick exchange of information or objects 'in person'
by passing-by and briefly touching each other (brushing).
Also known as a flash pass.
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CCM
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Counter-Countermeasures
Countermeasures against countermeasures.
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CM
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Countermeasures
Techniques to detect, avoid or evade surveillance.
In the context of bugging and eavesdropping, also known as
Technical Surveillance and Countermeasures (TSCM).
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Bug
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Covert listening device,
commonly used to intercept and/or record conversations
in a room or via a telephone line. Most bugs are small radio transmitters,
but this is by no means mandatory. ➤ More
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Cache
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In espionage, a cache is a secret hiding place where objects,
needed for covert activities, are stored. It is commonly used to hide money,
code material, weapons, ammunition and equipment. Caches are also used by
Stay-Behind Organisations (SBO).
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CIA
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Central Intelligence Agency
United Status foreign intelligence agency.
➤ More
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Cold War
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State of political and military tension in the period after WWII (1947-1991),
between the Western Block (US, Europe, NATO)
and the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union
and its Warsaw Pact allies).
➤ Wikipedia
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Concealment Device
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An object that has been converted into a secret container in order to hide
secret material, such as money, documents, frequency lists and code material.
➤ More
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DDR
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Deutsche Demokratische Republik
The German Democratic Republic (GDR), commonly known as East Germany
or the DDR,was a state that existed during the Cold War from 1949 to 1990.
At the end of World War II (WWII), the territory — with the exception of West-Berlin —
was administered by the Soviet Union (USSR).
➤ Wikipedia
➤ Spy
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Dead Drop
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A concealment device
that is used to pass secret objects, such as documents,
money, films, messages, etc. between a secret agent and his
handler without physically meeting each other (as opposed to
a live drop).
➤ More
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Dead Letter Box
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 Dead Drop
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DLB
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Dead Letter Box Dead Drop
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Eastern Bloc
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During the Cold War,
Europe was divided into two separate areas, divided
by an ideological and physical border
known as the Iron Curtain.
The area to the east of this border was commonly known as the Eastern Bloc,
and consisted of the Soviet Union (USSR), the Soviet-controlled
satellite states, and the countries of the Warsaw Pact.
➤ Wikipedia
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EDD
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Electronic Dead Drop Electronic Dead letter Box
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EDLB
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Electronic Dead Letter Box
Electronic variant of the Dead letter Box whereby information is
covertly passed between sender and receiver by means of Near Field Communication
(NFC).
Also known as short-range agent communications (SRAC).
➤ Example
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Erddorn
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German expression for a Dead Drop Spike.
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eTBK
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Elektronischer toter Briefkasten
German expression for an Electronic Dead Letter Box.
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HUMINT
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Human Intelligence
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IED
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Improvised Explosive Device
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Iron Curtain
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Ideological and physical border that divided Europe into two separate areas
from the end of WWII to the end of the Cold War (1945-1991).
To the west of this border was the free Western Block
(NATO and West-European countries).
To the east of the border was the Soviet Union and its Soviet-controlled satellites
of the Warsaw Pact.
➤ Wikipedia
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Live Drop
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Method of passing objects between a secret agent and his handler,
whereby objects, such as documents, money, films, code material, etc.,
are covertly exchanged.
➤ More
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Lock picking
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Method of opening a lock without the original key, commonly performed
by analyzing and manipulating the components of the lock in such a way
that the lock is not damaged and can be used again.
➤ More
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LP
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Listening Post
Secure area, often near the Target Area (TA), where intelligence
from a Target Element (TE) is gathered by means of receivers and/or
recording equipment, sometimes aided with an activation transmitter, or
actuator.
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L-Pill
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Lethal Pill
A pill for quickly committing suicide. Also known as a suicide pill.
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MfS
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Ministerium für Staatssicherheit
Ministery for State Security of the former DDR (East Germany);
one of most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police
agencies in the world.
The agency is commonly known as Stasi, which is the abbreviation of
Staats-Sicherheit, and had its headquarters in East-Berlin.
The Stasi had strong ties with the Russian intelligence service
KGB.
➤ Wikipedia
➤ Wikipedia Germany
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Microdot
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Optically reduced photo film or negative to a size that is too small
for the human eye to read. Generally 1 mm2 or less.
Also known as Microfilm.
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NIACT
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Night Action
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NOC
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Non-Official Cover
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OSO
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Office of Special Operations
CIA department involved in clandestine intelligence gathering.
Merged into the Directory of Plans in 1952.
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OSS
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Office of Strategic Services
Clandestine US organisation for infiltration and sabotage activities
during WWII. The predecessor of the current CIA.
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OTP
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One-Time Pad
Theoretically unbreakable cipher, that involves mixing of plaintext
with random data on a pad of numbers or letters, which was used only once.
(More...)
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OTS
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Office of Technical Service
Technical applied research and developemt (R&D) department
of the CIA from 1973 onwards.
Previously known as TSD.
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OWVL
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One-Way Voice Link
Method of sending messages to (secret) agents without revealing
the recipient's location, commonly by means of
unaddressed voice broadcasts via short-wave radio. Also known as
Numbers Stations. (More...)
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Passive Concealment
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Object that is used as a concealment device
but that serves no other purpose.
For example a wrist watch
that is in fact a concealed microphone
but that can not be used as a watch anymore.
A dead drop spike
is also a passive concealment as it serves no ohter purpose.
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PE
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Passive Element
Covert listening device (bug) that does not require a
local power source, but that is instead powered by a strong RF signal
aimed at it. Examples of PEs are The Thing
and Easy Chair.
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SDR
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1. Surveillance Detection Route
Method used by an agent to ensure that he or she is not being followed.
Commonly involves several changes in direction and means of transport.
Also known as Surveillance Detection Run or
Surveillance Detection Routine.
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SDR
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2. Surveillance Detection Routine Surveillance Detection Route
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SDR
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3. Software Defined Radio
Receiver (or transceiver) in which (most of) the analogue circuits have
been replaced by digital alternatives implemented in software.
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SIGINT
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Signals Intelligence
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SIS
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Secret Intelligence Service
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SOE
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Special Operations Executive
British espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance organisation during WWII,
active from 22 July 1940 to 15 January 1946. Also known
as Churchill's Secret Army and as the Ministry of Ungentlemanly
Warfare. Approx. 13,000 people were involved in the SOE, 3200 of which
were women.
➤ Wikipedia
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Soviet Union
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The USSR, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, often abbreviated to
Soviet Union, was a Marxist-Leninist federation of states on the Eurasian
continent that existed between 1922 and 1991. It was controlled by the
Communist Party with Moscow (Russia) as its capital.
➤ Wikipedia
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SRAC
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Short-range agent communications
One-way or two-way short-range wireless communications used for intelligence
purposes. Generally consisting of a small transmitter that allows an agent
to deliver or collect a message whilst being in the vicinity of an
electronic dead drop.
➤ More
➤ Example
➤ Wikipedia
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Stasi
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Ministerium für Staatssicherheit
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SW
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(1) Secret Writing
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SW
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(2) Short Wave
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TA
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Target Area
Room, building or area under surveillance. Generally this is a room or
office in which a covert listening device is placed.
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TBK
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Toter Briefkasten
German expression for Dead Letter Box
or Dead Drop.
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TDS
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Technical Services Division
Technical department of the CIA
until it was renamed to OTS in 1973.
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TE
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Target Element
Covert listening device,
concealed in the Target Area (TA), whith the
purpose of collecting intelligence. Examples of a TE are the
Passive Element (PE)
and the Active Target Element (ATE).
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TSCM
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Technical Surveillance and Countermeasures
Technical solutions to detect, avoid or evade surveillance.
In the context of bugging and eavesdropping.
➤ More.
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Trapcontainer
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Dutch expression for Dead Drop Spike.
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USSR
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Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soviet Union
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Wire
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American expression for a covert recording device or a
covert transmitter (bug),
usually worn by an informant or an undercover (law enforcement) agent for
collecting incriminating evidence against a suspect.
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WP
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Warsaw Pact
Collective defense treaty among eight communist states in Central and Eastern Europe,
lead by the Soviet Union (USSR), that existed during the Cold War.
The members were Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia,
East-Germany (DDR),
Hungary,
Poland,
Romania and the Soviet Union (USSR).
➤ Wikipedia
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WWI
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World War I
Global war from 1914 to 1918.
Also known as the First World War, WW1 and The Great War
(the war to end all wars).
➤ Wikipedia
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WWII
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World War II
Global war from 1939 to 1945 between two military alliances:
the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread and probably
also the most well-documented war in history.
Also known as The Second World War and WW2.
➤ Wikipedia
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