CIA Dictionary
AGENT OF INFLUENCE - one who can be used to influence foreign individuals, opinion molders, organizations or pressure groups to advance U.S. aims.
ASSET - a person, group, relationship, instrument, installation or supply at the disposition of an intelligence agency.
BACKSTOPPING - CIA term for providing appropriate verification and support for an alias used by an agent.
BIGOT LISTS - restrictive lists of persons who have access to a particular and highly sensitive class of information.
BLACK - used to indicate reliance on illegal concealment of an activity when an alias is not being used.
BLACK PROPAGANDA - propaganda which appears to come from a source other than its true one, particularly "the other side."
BLOW - to expose, sometimes unintentionally, personnel, installations or other aspects of a clandestine activity or organization.
BRUSH PASS - a planned public collision which allows two agents to exchange documents while they are "bumping" into one another.
CONFUSION AGENT - an individual dispatched by his sponsor to confound another intelligence apparatus rather than collect and transmit information.
COOKIE FACTORY - an in-house slang name for the Agency (see Pickle factory)
COVER FOR ACTION - activity that explains by some believable story, other than the truth, why a spy sees certain people, lives a certain way, etc.
COVER FOR STATUS - an activity or profession that gives a person a viable ostensible reason for being in a certain country when the real reason is espionage or other clandestine activity.
CUT-OUT - a person used to conceal contact between members of a clandestine activity or organization, particularly an agent or intelligency officer.
DANGLE OPERATION - one in which something or someone of interest is intentionally put into the path of another intelligency service with the hope that it will bite.
DARK GRAY PROPAGANDA - propaganda attributed to a source usually hostile to the United States.
DEAD DROP - public but usually unobserved receptacles where papers or packages can be hidden and picked up later.
DENIED AREA - a closed society such as Cuba, the USSR or Soviet Bloc countries.
EXECUTIVE ACTION - short for assassination.
FLAPS AND SEALS MAN - an expert in opening and closing letters.
FLASH ALIAS DOCUMENTATION - fictitious identification which can only be "flashed."  For more intense scrutiny, backstopping (see above) is required.
GRAY GRAY PROPAGANDA - propaganda which is attributable to a neutral source, or, does not specifically identify its source.
HARD TARGETS - the Soviets, Cubans and other Communist countries.
JOCK STRAP MEDALS - decorations awarded CIA officers in Clandestine Services; so named because that's the only piece of clothing on which they can be worn.  They're kept in a safe at Langely until resignation or retirement.
LIGHT GRAY PROPAGANDA - propaganda attributed, not to the United States, but to nations known to be friendly towards it.
LIVE DROP - a person used, without his or her knowledge, to transmit information between agents and intelligency officers.
NONSKIDS - slang term for directives of the National Security Council (NSCD's)
NOTIONALS - fictitious, private commercial entities which exist on paper only; serve as the ostensible employers of intelligence personnel.
PICKLE FACTORY - a slang term for the CIA used by Company employees.
PISSING CONTEST - bureaucratic infighting waged over the cable or telex wire.
POCKET LITTER - business cards or other material used to verify identification.
PROCESSING THE TAKE - reviewing all the materials provided by telephone taps.
PROPRIETARIES - a term used to designate ostensibly private commercial entities established and controlled by intelligence services.
PUTTING IN THE PLUMBING - providing the operational support capabilities which must be installed prior to any significant operation.
SHEEP-DIPPING - improving the cover of an agent before sending him or her overseas to increase credibility.
SNUGGLING - broadcasting at a frequency directly next to that of an official source so unwary listeners will think they are listening to the government version of the facts, particularly during civil war.
SOFT TARGETS - non-aligned nations.
STERILE TELEPHONE - one which cannot be located even after checking with the telephone company.
STREET MAN - an officer who specializes in meeting and recruiting spies as opposed to operations officers who are desk men.
TARGET STUDY - a compilation of everything known about a person who is or may become a subject for recruitment.
TERMINATE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE - assassinate.
TWEEP - a slang acronym for Terminate With Extreme Prejudice.
WATCH LIST - list of words - names, entities or phrases -- which can be employed by a computer to select out required information from a mass of data.
WET JOB - intelligence work involving bloodshed or assassination.
WHITE PROPAGANDA - new releases extolling the successes of the U.S.

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