The World: Picnics and Wet Stuff

Picnics and Wet StuffTHOUGH operatives of the CIA are cautioned not to use professional slang lest they be identified as spies, the argot of espionage has become part of the language around the world. Herewith a glossary of current spy terms, most of them used in the West but some international: BAG JOB: In the U.S., an illegal search of a suspected spy’s residence to obtain incriminating information. Also, sending secret data back home through the diplomatic pouch. BLACK BAGGING: Delivery of funds to an undercover agent or network by a courier.

BLOWN: When an agent’s identity has been discovered. COME HOME: “Coming in from the cold,” as in John le Carre’s novel, is the old-fashioned equivalent of “come home,” which describes an agent’s withdrawal from active espionage in the field.

THE COMPANY: The CIA.

CONDITIONING: Political agitation caused by the effective use of disinformation (see below).

CONTROLLER: An agent’s direct supervisor or case officer.

DEAD DROP or DEAD-LETTER BOX: A hiding place where an agent can deposit or collect messages and material.

DIRTY GAMES: Insidious work, such as blackmailing a foreign official or businessman to force him into espionage against his own country.

DISINFORMATION: Spreading of false propaganda and forged documents to confuse counter-intelligence or create political unrest or scandals.

EXECUTIVE ACTION: Any violent action including assassination or sabotage or, in Britain, arrest. The Soviets call it mokrye dela (wet stuff).

FLAPS WELL DOWN: An old phrase still used in Britain, describing an agent who is worried about his future and lying low. Applicable to KGB agents in Britain today.

ILLEGAL: An illegal is an agent with “deep cover,” infiltrated into another country posing as a citizen.

LEGAL: An intelligence officer who holds a “legal” embassy post or is assigned to another legitimate organization.

MINUS ADVANTAGE: An unsuccessful project that left those who planned it worse off than before.

N.T.: No trace, as when an agent is asked for information on someone and can find nothing.

PICNIC: A place or country in which operations are easy. West Germany is considered to be a picnic for the Soviets.

REGROOMING: Training in the culture and language of the country an agent will be assigned to.

REZIDENT: Soviet term for a chief KGB officer, the equivalent of a CIA station chief, in a Soviet embassy abroad. His headquarters is the rezidentura.

SAFE HOUSE: A secure, unbugged meeting place.

SIS: The British D16 (equivalent to the CIA); the letters stand for Secret Intelligence Services. Also known as “The Old Firm,” as referred to by British Ambassador Sir Geoffrey Jackson, when he said he had been relying on it to secure his release from the Tupamaros in Uruguay.*

SPOOK: Vernacular for a spy.

SURVEILLANCE, HOT AND COLD: Cold surveillance is secretive and meant to gounnoticed by the target. Hot surveillance is open tailing or bugging of a person for harassment or intimidation purposes.

SWALLOWS: Girls used for entrapment through sexual blackmail for espionage purposes.

TERMINATED WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE: Killed.

TO TIP: A term for recruitment of an operative.

TURN AROUND: Recruiting a defector to spy on his own agency before his defection has been noticed.

WALKIN: A defecting agent.

WET STUFF: An executive action where blood is meant to flow.

*Highly placed members of the intelligence community in Paris believe that SIS did help to arrange the escape of 106 Tupamaros from the Uruguayan prison that led to Jackson’s release last month.