ESPIONAGE ENCYLOPEDIA F-J
F
FALSE FLAG: Approach by hostile intelligence officers who misrepresent themselves as members of a friendly intelligence service.
FERRET: Electronic intelligence collection platform, usually an aircraft or a satellite.
FIELD: British term for foreign territory, hence ‘in the field’ for an overseas operation.
FLAPS AND SEALS: The tradecraft involved when making surreptitious openings and closings of envelopes and seals on packaging.
FLOATER: A freelance agent used for a one-off or occasional intelligence operation. Usually a low-level operative such as a taxi-driver, waiter or similar.
FOOTS: Members of a surveillance team who are working on foot and riding as passengers in a car.
FORGERS BRIDGE: Technique for brace the forger’s writing hand with the fingers of his other hand as an aid to making fluid handwritten entries.
FRENCH OPENING: Technique for the surreptitious opening of an envelope by slitting one end and then restoring this cut.
FRONT: A legitimate-appearing business created by an intelligence agency or security service to provide cover for spies and their operations.
FUMIGATING: Checking premises for listening and other surveillance devices and ensuring either their removal or to neutralise them.
FUSION: The process of examining all sources of intelligence and information to derive a complete assessment of potential foreign activities, intentions and most importantly, capabilities.
G
GREY MAIL: Threat by a defendant in a trial to expose intelligence activities or other sensitive information if prosecuted.
H
HANDLER: Usually a case officer who is directly responsible for the operational activities of agents. See also CONTROLLER
HF DF: (‘Huff-Duff’) High Frequency-Direction Finding: a means of determining the direction and through the use of multiple receivers, the location of the source of radio transmissions.
HONEY TRAP: Intelligence term for a sexual entrapment operation.
HOSTILE: Service or surveillance posing an immediate threat; term used to describe the organizations and activities of the ‘opposition’ services.
HUGGER-MUGGER: Originally a British public school expression meaning close, secretive or stealthy. Often used to mean a confused or disorderly intelligence operation.
HUMINT: Human source intelligence collected by means of agents or informers.
I
ILLEGAL: An intelligence officer or agent who operates in a foreign country in the guise of a private person, often under a false identity. A KGB or SVR operative infiltrated into a target country and operating without the protection of diplomatic immunity.
IMINT: Imagery intelligence; electronically generated images. Has replaced PHOTINT or Photographic Intelligence in common usage.
IMPERSONAL COMMYNICATIONS: Secret communication techniques used between a case officer and an agent when no physical contact is possible or desired.
INDICATION AND WARNING: Intelligence activities directed to detect and report time-sensitive intelligence information relating to potential threats from hostile nations or terrorist groups against a country or its allies.
INFILTRATION: Secretly or covertly moving an operative into a target area with the idea that their presence will go undetected for the appropriate amount of time.
INTELLIGENCE: The product of collection, processing, evaluation and analysis of information concerning foreign countries or areas.
INTELLIGENCE CYCLE: Planning and direction, collection, processing, production and analysis, and dissemination or distribution make up the several parts of the process by which an agency matches production with requirements.
INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE (UK: INTELLIGENCE APPRECIATION): The appraisal of all available intelligence relating to specific requirement relating to potential hostile actions or developments.
INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: A professional member of an intelligence service.
INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT: Political ‘management’ of intelligence activities.
INTELLIGENCE PRODUCER: Intelligence service or staff that participates in the production stage of the INTELLIGENCE CYCLE and INTELLIGENCE REQUIRMENT.
INTELLIGENCE REQUIRMENT: A general or specific subject upon which intelligence is required.
INTERCEPTION OF ORAL COMMUNICATIONS: Euphemism for bugging.
INTERDEPARTMENTAL INTELLIGENCE: Synthesis of intelligence gathered by numerous agencies and departments that transcends their individual needs.
J
JACK IN THE BOX: A dummy placed in a car to deceive surveillance teams about the actual numbers of persons in the vehicle.
JIC: Joint Intelligence Centre. Draws together information from many sources within an intelligence community and acts as a distribution centre for vital intelligence.
JOINT INTELLIGENCE CENTRE (JIC): Organisation that brings the intelligence capabilities of several individual agencies under the overall direction of a single body either permanently or for a specific operation.
FALSE FLAG: Approach by hostile intelligence officers who misrepresent themselves as members of a friendly intelligence service.
FERRET: Electronic intelligence collection platform, usually an aircraft or a satellite.
FIELD: British term for foreign territory, hence ‘in the field’ for an overseas operation.
FLAPS AND SEALS: The tradecraft involved when making surreptitious openings and closings of envelopes and seals on packaging.
FLOATER: A freelance agent used for a one-off or occasional intelligence operation. Usually a low-level operative such as a taxi-driver, waiter or similar.
FOOTS: Members of a surveillance team who are working on foot and riding as passengers in a car.
FORGERS BRIDGE: Technique for brace the forger’s writing hand with the fingers of his other hand as an aid to making fluid handwritten entries.
FRENCH OPENING: Technique for the surreptitious opening of an envelope by slitting one end and then restoring this cut.
FRONT: A legitimate-appearing business created by an intelligence agency or security service to provide cover for spies and their operations.
FUMIGATING: Checking premises for listening and other surveillance devices and ensuring either their removal or to neutralise them.
FUSION: The process of examining all sources of intelligence and information to derive a complete assessment of potential foreign activities, intentions and most importantly, capabilities.
G
GREY MAIL: Threat by a defendant in a trial to expose intelligence activities or other sensitive information if prosecuted.
H
HANDLER: Usually a case officer who is directly responsible for the operational activities of agents. See also CONTROLLER
HF DF: (‘Huff-Duff’) High Frequency-Direction Finding: a means of determining the direction and through the use of multiple receivers, the location of the source of radio transmissions.
HONEY TRAP: Intelligence term for a sexual entrapment operation.
HOSTILE: Service or surveillance posing an immediate threat; term used to describe the organizations and activities of the ‘opposition’ services.
HUGGER-MUGGER: Originally a British public school expression meaning close, secretive or stealthy. Often used to mean a confused or disorderly intelligence operation.
HUMINT: Human source intelligence collected by means of agents or informers.
I
ILLEGAL: An intelligence officer or agent who operates in a foreign country in the guise of a private person, often under a false identity. A KGB or SVR operative infiltrated into a target country and operating without the protection of diplomatic immunity.
IMINT: Imagery intelligence; electronically generated images. Has replaced PHOTINT or Photographic Intelligence in common usage.
IMPERSONAL COMMYNICATIONS: Secret communication techniques used between a case officer and an agent when no physical contact is possible or desired.
INDICATION AND WARNING: Intelligence activities directed to detect and report time-sensitive intelligence information relating to potential threats from hostile nations or terrorist groups against a country or its allies.
INFILTRATION: Secretly or covertly moving an operative into a target area with the idea that their presence will go undetected for the appropriate amount of time.
INTELLIGENCE: The product of collection, processing, evaluation and analysis of information concerning foreign countries or areas.
INTELLIGENCE CYCLE: Planning and direction, collection, processing, production and analysis, and dissemination or distribution make up the several parts of the process by which an agency matches production with requirements.
INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE (UK: INTELLIGENCE APPRECIATION): The appraisal of all available intelligence relating to specific requirement relating to potential hostile actions or developments.
INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: A professional member of an intelligence service.
INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT: Political ‘management’ of intelligence activities.
INTELLIGENCE PRODUCER: Intelligence service or staff that participates in the production stage of the INTELLIGENCE CYCLE and INTELLIGENCE REQUIRMENT.
INTELLIGENCE REQUIRMENT: A general or specific subject upon which intelligence is required.
INTERCEPTION OF ORAL COMMUNICATIONS: Euphemism for bugging.
INTERDEPARTMENTAL INTELLIGENCE: Synthesis of intelligence gathered by numerous agencies and departments that transcends their individual needs.
J
JACK IN THE BOX: A dummy placed in a car to deceive surveillance teams about the actual numbers of persons in the vehicle.
JIC: Joint Intelligence Centre. Draws together information from many sources within an intelligence community and acts as a distribution centre for vital intelligence.
JOINT INTELLIGENCE CENTRE (JIC): Organisation that brings the intelligence capabilities of several individual agencies under the overall direction of a single body either permanently or for a specific operation.