
Think of it as surveillance on surveillance. This is the use of teams to watch for followers. So intelligence services devote a lot of energy to counterintelligence: thwarting foreign spying operations (which includes flushing out traitors). CounterintelligenceĮveryone knows everyone else is spying on them. They describe you as conscious - in on what they really do. You’re not part of an intelligence service, but you are knowingly talking to someone who is. The best concealment devices are things that you carry with you every day.

Need to hide secrets? Put them in something that looks ordinary: a suitcase with a false bottom, a hollowed-out coin, a USB flash drive. Some aspect of your operation, asset, or cover has been uncovered - compromised.
#Undercover detective called code#
Luckily, you and your colleagues have a predefined code - a system of words that represent other words - to protect your communication and yourselves. You’re in a tight spot and don’t know who might be listening in. “You’ll need a passport for your next assignment,” says one of your superiors.
#Undercover detective called free#
That way, you’re able to acquire and pass on information free from surveillance. You’re always aiming to stay clean: undetected, unsuspected. To get to it you’ll either need the right security clearance or another, less official way in. Clandestine premisesĬlassified information is protected by law from public view, because a government feels it’s too sensitive to reveal. Clandestine operationĪn operation so secretive that the whole thing is designed to remain unknown and deniable. For someone to read it, they’ll either need the key or to be skilled at cryptanalysis. CipherĪ cipher scrambles your message into nonsense by substituting (and adding to) the letters in it. Minor intelligence of no operational worth that an agent or double agent passes to a foreign intelligence service to prove their value. A vehicle rolls up slowly, and swift as a shadow, you’ve vanished inside. You’re waiting on a dark street and hear a gentle rumbling. Either way, your identity has been compromised. It's time to organize a bump, all part of the CIA Field Tradecraft course taught at the Farm. You need to find a target of interest in a public place and manufacturing a reason to get him/her talking to build up the relationship. It’s so swift and subtle, even a trained surveillance team can miss it. Just enough to exchange something - a word, an envelope, a key. A brush contact is barely contact at all: a moment’s jostle on a busy platform, two strangers passing on the street. Some of the most important meetings in espionage last less than a second. If you want me to believe you are who you say you are, or that you have the clearance you claim, I’ll need cold, hard proof. Why? Your mission or identity has been fully discovered.

So you need backstops: the names and addresses of front companies that support your legend.

You can’t expect the world to take you at face value. AssetĪ secret source of information or operational assistance, usually an agent, but occasionally someone totally unaware they’re aiding an intelligence service. You’ll need to conduct anti-surveillance drills to find out if people are watching you, without letting them know you know. If you think you’re being watched, you’ll need to check without revealing your suspicions. AnalystĪs an expert in your field, your job is to obtain crucial insights from intelligence, then write reports and give presentations to spymasters. You’ll need an alias - a false identity - to conceal a genuine one in the physical or digital worlds.

Your job is to manage or run an agent operation, which might include recruiting, instructing, paying, debriefing, or advising your agent. While the FBI calls certain officers 'agents', most intelligence services prefer 'officers'. AgentĪs an agent, you work secretly for an intelligence service, offering secrets or operational support. You’ll learn the difference between blowback and playback, dead drop and dangle, mole and microdot. Top intelligence officers have helped SPYSCAPE create this glossary to share the tricks of their tradecraft. The language of espionage: get this spy lingo right and you might even pass for an intelligence officer yourself
