Lexicon
A short reference for the vocabulary used across the site — collection disciplines, tradecraft, doctrine, statute. Written for readers new to the field; the dossiers and agency pages assume most of these terms.
Asset
A recruited source — a person who has agreed to provide intelligence to a service
Covert Action
Operations to influence political conditions abroad while concealing the sponsor's role
Defector
A person who changes intelligence loyalties from one state to another, typically permanently
Finding
Presidential authorisation for US covert action, required in writing since 1974
GEOINT
Geospatial Intelligence — intelligence about features, locations, and activity on the Earth
HUMINT
Human Intelligence — intelligence collected from human sources
IMINT
Imagery Intelligence — intelligence derived from photography and other imaging
Intelligence Cycle
The conceptual model of how intelligence is produced — planning, collection, processing, analysis, dissemination
MASINT
Measurement and Signature Intelligence — technical-signature collection that identifies what something is
OSINT
Open-Source Intelligence — intelligence derived from publicly available information
Plausible Deniability
The doctrine that a state can authorise covert action while preserving the official ability to deny it
SIGINT
Signals Intelligence — intelligence derived from intercepted electronic signals
Station
The overseas operating base of an intelligence service, typically inside a diplomatic mission
Tradecraft
The operational techniques of intelligence work — surveillance, dead drops, cover, secure communications
Walk-in
An unsolicited volunteer source who approaches a foreign service
How the lexicon works
Each entry defines a single term as it is used in the public record on intelligence services. Entries are short — the goal is to give a reader enough to read the dossiers and agency pages without stopping at every piece of jargon, not to substitute for academic literature on intelligence studies. Where a term is contested or has shifted in meaning over time, the entry says so.
The vocabulary covered here falls into three rough categories. First, the collection disciplines — HUMINT, SIGINT, IMINT, MASINT, OSINT, GEOINT — the categorical taxonomy of how intelligence is gathered. These overlap in practice; an attribution case typically uses several of them together. Second, the tradecraft and operational vocabulary — asset, defector, walk-in, station, tradecraft, intelligence cycle — the concrete terms that describe how human-source operations actually run. Third, the doctrine and statute vocabulary — covert action, finding, plausible deniability — the legal and conceptual frame within which operations are authorised, conducted, and (sometimes) constrained.
The site reads more clearly when these are familiar. A dossier on Salisbury or Vrbětice is a document about MASINT (the Novichok signature analysis), OSINT (the Bellingcat identifications), tradecraft (the GRU's operating pattern), and statute (the OPCW's jurisdiction). A dossier on COINTELPRO is about domestic surveillance, asset handling, and the absence of a finding regime that would have made the authorising decisions documentable. The lexicon is the connective tissue.
Each entry has a short audio readout (~2–3 minutes) when a video has been produced. The TooBits-face icon on a card indicates a readout is available. If you are looking for an operation, scandal, or theme rather than a term, see the Dossiers or the theme index. If you are not sure where to start at all, see the Start page.