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.
A
ACOUSTINT (ACINT)
Acoustic Intelligence — the MASINT sub-discipline covering underwater and atmospheric acoustic signatures
APT designation
The threat-intelligence industry's convention for assigning label-names to clustered intrusion activity attributed (or candidate-attributed) to a single state-sponsored or state-tolerated cyber actor — the alphabet-soup vocabulary that puts Fancy Bear, APT28, Sofacy, STRONTIUM, Forest Blizzard, and Pawn Storm all on the same underlying entity
Asset
A recruited source — a person who has agreed to provide intelligence to a service
AUTHINT
Proposed — Authenticity Intelligence; intelligence derived from sources held authoritative by virtue of their authenticity (theological / scriptural in the strongest form)
B
C
Case officer
An intelligence-service staff officer who recruits and runs human sources
COMINT
Communications Intelligence — the SIGINT sub-discipline covering the content of intercepted communications
Compartmented information
Information whose handling is restricted to specifically cleared individuals beyond the normal security-clearance system
Control
The institutional ascendancy a case officer establishes over an asset; sometimes a synonym for case officer
Cover identity
The constructed identity an intelligence officer or asset operates under to conceal their service affiliation
Covert Action
Operations to influence political conditions abroad while concealing the sponsor's role
Cryptonym
The Central Intelligence Agency's institutional convention for assigning codenames to operational programmes, projects, agents, and operational locations — using two-letter prefixes (digraphs) followed by an unrelated noun
CULTINT
Cultural Intelligence — assessment of foreign cultural, social, and behavioural factors for military and intelligence operations
Cutout
An intermediary used to insulate two parties in an intelligence relationship from direct contact
CYBINT
Cyber Intelligence — intelligence on adversary cyber activity, networks, and operators
D
Dangle
An apparent volunteer or recruitment target deliberately positioned to attract a hostile service's recruitment approach
DCI
Director of Central Intelligence — the head of the US intelligence community 1947–2005, replaced by the DNI
Dead drop
A clandestine cache used to pass material between two parties without their meeting in person
Debriefing
Structured interview of a source, defector, returning officer, or detainee to extract intelligence
Declassification
The formal process by which previously classified material is released to the public
Defector
A person who changes intelligence loyalties from one state to another, typically permanently
Dissemination control
The classification-marking system that restricts how cleared material may be shared and to whom
DNI
Director of National Intelligence — the head of the US intelligence community since 2005, replacing the DCI
DOCEX
Document Exploitation — the systematic processing and exploitation of captured or recovered documentary material
Double agent
An agent serving the apparent interests of one service while actually working under the control of another
Dry cleaning
The pre-meeting surveillance-detection routine an intelligence officer performs before approaching an operational meeting
E
ELINT
Electronic Intelligence — the SIGINT sub-discipline covering non-communications electronic signals, principally radar
Enhanced interrogation
The post-2001 US doctrinal term for the coercive interrogation programme conducted by CIA against high-value detainees
Executive Order 12333
The foundational US Executive Order governing intelligence-community activities — issued by President Reagan on 4 December 1981 and substantially amended thereafter, most recently by EO 13470 of 30 July 2008
Exfiltration
The clandestine removal of a person or material from a hostile environment
F
False flag
An operation conducted under the apparent authority or sponsorship of a different actor than the actual sponsor
Finding
Presidential authorisation for US covert action, required in writing since 1974
FININT
Financial Intelligence — tracking funds movement, sanctions enforcement, and illicit financial networks
FISA
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — the principal post-1978 US statutory framework for foreign-intelligence electronic surveillance
FISINT
Foreign Instrumentation Signals Intelligence — the SIGINT sub-discipline covering missile and weapons-system telemetry
FOIA
The Freedom of Information Act — the principal US statutory mechanism for public access to federal records
G
H
Handler
An intelligence officer who runs a particular source on a day-to-day operational basis
HPSCI
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence — the principal House standing committee with jurisdiction over the US intelligence community, established by H. Res. 658 on 14 July 1977 as the House counterpart to the Senate's SSCI
Hughes-Ryan Amendment
The 1974 amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act requiring that CIA covert action be authorised by an explicit presidential finding and reported to the appropriate committees of Congress in a timely fashion
HUMINT
Human Intelligence — intelligence collected from human sources
I
IMINT
Imagery Intelligence — intelligence derived from photography and other imaging
Intelligence community
The eighteen federal agencies and components that comprise the United States intelligence community under Executive Order 12333
Intelligence Cycle
The conceptual model of how intelligence is produced — planning, collection, processing, analysis, dissemination
L
M
Mail cover
A surveillance method that records the metadata visible on the exterior of a sealed envelope — sender, recipient, postal markings, return address — without opening the envelope. Distinct from mail opening, which requires breaching the seal.
MASINT
Measurement and Signature Intelligence — technical-signature collection that identifies what something is
MEDINT
Medical Intelligence — health, biomedical, and infectious-disease reporting on foreign populations and forces
Mole
A penetration agent placed inside a target intelligence service to report on its activities from within
N
National Intelligence Estimate
The principal coordinated analytical product of the United States Intelligence Community on a particular question
National Security Act of 1947
The foundational US statute that established the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Council, the Department of the Air Force, and the National Military Establishment (subsequently renamed the Department of Defense)
NUCINT
Nuclear Intelligence — the MASINT sub-discipline covering nuclear detonation, weapons, and material signatures
O
P
Paramilitary
Armed operational activity by an intelligence service, conducted outside the conventional military chain of command
Parapsychology
The scientific study of putative psi phenomena — claimed cognitive or perceptual capabilities (extra-sensory perception, remote viewing, psychokinesis, precognition) that fall outside the conventional scientific model of perception and cognition
Plausible Deniability
The doctrine that a state can authorise covert action while preserving the official ability to deny it
PSYOP
Psychological Operations — the deliberate, planned use of communication and propaganda by military and intelligence services to influence the perceptions, behaviour, and decision-making of adversary or neutral audiences
R
RADINT
Radar Intelligence — the MASINT sub-discipline covering active and passive radar-derived intelligence
Remote viewing
A claimed cognitive ability to perceive distant or hidden targets in the absence of any sensory channel between viewer and target — the principal technique funded by US intelligence under the 1972–1995 STARGATE programme sequence
Rendition
The transfer of a person from one jurisdiction to another, outside the formal extradition process
S
SAP
Special Access Program — the Department of Defense framework for compartmented access beyond the standard clearance system
SCIF
Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility — the physical-environment standard within which compartmented information is handled
SIGINT
Signals Intelligence — intelligence derived from intercepted electronic signals
Signal site
A pre-arranged location at which a visible mark or object signals the status of an operational arrangement
Singleton
An asset operated through a one-on-one relationship with a single case officer rather than through a station infrastructure
Sleeper
An agent placed in a target environment in advance and held inactive until activation in a future contingency
SOCMINT
Social Media Intelligence — intelligence derived from social-media platforms, often treated as a sub-discipline of OSINT
SSCI
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — the principal Senate standing committee with jurisdiction over the US intelligence community, established by S. Res. 400 on 19 May 1976 in direct institutional response to the Church Committee's 1975–76 findings
Station
The overseas operating base of an intelligence service, typically inside a diplomatic mission
Station chief
The senior intelligence-service officer in charge of the local station in a particular country
STRATINT
Strategic Intelligence — intelligence supporting national-level policy and long-range planning
T
Targeted killing
The deliberate, premeditated killing by a state of a specific named individual it judges to be a continuing threat
TARGINT
Targeting Intelligence — intelligence directed specifically at the development, validation, and prosecution of targets
TECHINT
Technical Intelligence — exploitation of foreign weapons systems, captured equipment, and adversary hardware
Tradecraft
The operational techniques of intelligence work — surveillance, dead drops, cover, secure communications
W
Walk-back analysis
The retrospective reconstruction of an intelligence failure or success to identify the points at which different decisions could have produced a different outcome
Walk-in
An unsolicited volunteer source who approaches a foreign service
Watch list
A list of named individuals or organisations whose communications, movements, or activities are flagged for collection priority by an intelligence 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) embedded on its page. 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.
