Glossary of Terms - Index C

Carbon Paper – This is a special chemically treated paper that produces secret writing. The carbon paper is placed between two sheets of paper with the secret message written on the top paper and the message transferred invisibly to the bottom sheet. An visible message is then written on the bottom sheet and mailed. When received, another special chemical is applied to the sheet revealing the secret message.

Case (verb) - We’ve all heard the expression used by bank robbers to “case the joint”. Well, Case Officers do the same for meeting sites, dead drop sites, brush pass sites, etc. You check out the place looking at strengths and weaknesses from a security point of view.

Case (noun) – This is a reference to an agent or operation as being a Case Officer’s “case”. Often used interchangeably with agent and operation.

Case Officer (CO) - This is the foot soldier of the CIA. Nearly everyone in the Clandestine Service of the CIA begins his career as a Case Officer and most actually live their entire careers as Case Officers. Case Officers handle the agents and operations that are the basic instruments of espionage. Case Officers also spot, assess, vet, develop and recruit targets of interest as possible agents for the CIA. Case Officers are also called Operations Officers.

Casuals – This refers to the normal everyday person on the street that the Case Officer observes during the course of his clandestine activities, such as running his SDRs. He has to consider the possibility that these casuals may be members of a hostile security service surveillance team.

Cell – The basic unit of an espionage network that involves multiple operatives.

Chicken Feed – Information purposely fed to a hostile intelligence service through a double agent or other means. The information should have some minimal intelligence value in order to validate the double agent to the hostile intelligence service.

Chief of Station – COS – This is the title of the senior CIA officer in charge in a particular country. The COS is usually known by the host country government as a CIA official. He is “declared” which means that he has been identified to the country where his station is located as CIA. This is usually done for friendly governments with whom the CIA has an intelligence sharing relationship with the host government’s intelligence and security service.

Chief, The – Most street-wise Non-Official Cover (NOC) Case Officers refer to the COS only as The Chief when talking among themselves or when talking to their inside contact.

Chock Point – Also called an Intrusion Point. This is a bottleneck area in a surveillance detection route (SDR) where the Case Officer or a counter surveillance team may observe any hostile surveillance.

Clandestine – To do in secret.

Clandestine communications arrangements - Contact and communications between the CIA Case Officer and his agent must necessarily be concealed and secret to protect the agent and Case Officer from exposure to the host government security service. Clandestine communications arrangements are established early in the operation and are reviewed and updated frequently. The communications arrangements may appear very normal or routine to people who are not witting of the nature of the special relationship but it contains a hidden agenda to the Case Officer and agent. The simple act of closing a blind, turning on a porch light or putting an ad in a newspaper or on a local bulletin board can be a communication signal with a prearranged meaning between an agent and a Case Officer.

Clandestine Operation – Any secret intelligence operation.

Clandestine Service - Professional intelligence officers working for the Operations Directorate of the CIA are said to be in the Clandestine Service. It is a service just like the US Army is a service but by its very nature it is clandestine and secret.

Clean – After a Case Officer runs a successful SDR and is not under hostile surveillance, he is “clean”.

Clear – Also called clear text, this is a message that is sent without placing the text into secret coded cipher.

Cold Contact - Similar to target of opportunity where a Case Officer creates contact with a person (the target) without any preparation, just by adlibbing and responding to the situation. The Case Officer’s abilities as a good actor are important to the success of cold contacts. The primary purpose of the cold contact is usually to create an opportunity to meet again in the future with the contact and hopefully give rise to a continued relationship where the contact can be assessed and developed as a potential agent.

Collection Requirements – See Requirements. Collection is simply the gathering of intelligence information.

COMINT – This is the acronym for communications intelligence. The intelligence information gathered through the interception of communications systems. This is almost always through technical means of monitoring, interception and processing of any means of communication.

Company, The - Slang for CIA. CIA officers seldom or never use the term CIA or the agency when talking about the CIA. They most often use the term “The Company”. Non-Official Cover (NOC) Case Officers often use the term “home office” among themselves when talking about CIA Headquarters or about the specific division in the CIA that administers the NOC program – the Office of External Development (OED).

Commercial Recruitment - The “hiring” of a Developmental Asset to work usually as a “special confidential consultant” for a bogus commercial company (See DF) that fronts for the CIA. The asset is not aware that he is actually in the employ of the CIA and is thus an unwitting asset or unwitting agent. He truly believes he is working for a commercial concern. A few such agents may suspect some US Government affiliation but the cover as a commercial relationship may be important to them to avoid the stigma of being a “spy” for the CIA. A commercially recruited agent or asset is unwitting of his CIA affiliation or the intelligence nature of his cooperation. See Developmental Asset.

Compartmentation – Aspects of operational security built into an agent operation or an intelligence organization that isolates or segregates personnel based on a “need to know” basis. Thus you only get to know exactly what you need to know to conduct your portion of the operation.

Compromised – This is when an agent or operation has been exposed or discovered by a hostile security service or any other unauthorized organization such as the news media.

Concealment Device (CD) - This is usually an ordinary piece of furniture or office equipment bought on the local market that has been secretly altered by the CIA’s Technical Services Division to contain a concealed compartment space where a Case Officer may store classified or sensitive materials, the instruments of espionage. The concealment device is often kept in the home or office of a Case Officer.

Concealment compartment or cavity(CC) - This is the specific space in the CD that has been provided to hide classified or sensitive materials by the Case Officer. If encrypted materials or communications devices are stored in the CC, a means of counting how many times the device has been opened is required by CIA security regulations to detect surreptitious entry by a hostile security service.

Contact (noun) - A person whom a Case Officer has a relationship, either professionally or socially, that the CIA has an interest in as a potential intelligence target. Often but not always this contact is under development by the Case Officer as a target for recruitment and is then called a developmental contact. Some contacts may be merely elicitation contacts. This means the Case Officer maintains an association with them purely to elicit information of value to the CIA but is not actively developing the contact for recruitment. Not the same as “Inside contact” (See Below).

Contact Plan – Instructions agreed upon between an agent and Case Officer that contain previously arranged meeting places, meeting times, recognition signals, danger and safety signals and bona fides in event a new Case Officer is meeting the agent for the first time. The contact plan is reviewed and updated from time to time with the agent.
Contact Report - An operational report written after each meeting or communication with an agent detailing the intelligence, operational, administrative and financial aspects of the meeting. It documents the history of the operation over a period of time.

Contact Report - A type of operational report prepared by the Case Officer after each meeting with an agent. The contact report records the entire history of the operation detailing aspects such as tasking, intelligence production financial matters, security concerns, the agent’s personal problems, changes in motivation, etc. Virtually any matter that occurs in a meeting with the agent and any considerations or concerns of the Case Officer are documented in this report.

Control – Some form of leverage or influence over an agent that the Case Officer may exert as pressure to get the agent to respond to tasking. Control comes in two basis forms – positive control and negative control. Positive control is seen as responding favorably to the psychology and socialization (motivations) and character (vulnerabilities) of the agent to get him to willingly and cooperatively accept tasking. Negative control is seen as responding unfavorably to these same stimuli where the agent will accept tasking but begrudgingly or out of fear or concern. The CIA does not favor using negative control and does so only in extreme circumstances. A thorough understanding of the agent’s motivations and vulnerabilities are required to use control successfully in an operation. In cases where effective control does not exist in an operation usually implies that the agent’s motivations and vulnerabilities have not been correctly determined.

Cousins – This is the inside name used when referring to British intelligence and security services (MI-5 and MI-6). They use the same term to refer to US intelligence. See Brothers.

Cover – Throughout his career the CIA Case Officer is continually reminded to “live his cover”. Cover can be a facility, organization, institution or company that provides a position and a plausible reason for the Case Officer to operate in a foreign country. It provides some degree of protection from the prying eyes of a hostile security service. There are varying degrees of backstopping to enhance the realism of the cover. Within the CIA there are two categories of cover: Official Cover and Non-Official Cover. But there are many types of cover within those categories. Someone under Official Cover may be provided the status of diplomatic cover that carries varying degrees of diplomatic immunity. The military services provide cover to CIA officers under Official Cover. All of these are official covers as they are officially connected with the US government. An officer under Non-Official Cover may be provided cover by a US corporation, foreign corporation or organization or institution or a commercial entity established by the CIA just to provide cover such as a Devised Facility. Non-Official Cover not only conceals the intelligence affiliation but also conceals the US Government affiliation of the Case Officer.

Cover Story – See Legend. The cover story is designed to provide a plausible explanation that will withstand some scrutiny explaining why you are doing what you are doing and who you claim to be.

Cover for Access – A type of cover that gives the Case Officer direct or indirect access to a target without the target knowing the intelligence affiliation of the Case Officer.

Cover for Action – A type of cover that gives the case officer a reason to be in a situation where he can use the cover to undertake clandestine activities.

Cover for Status – A type of cover that provides a plausible reason for the case officer to be in a job slot in an institution, organization or company.

Cover Credentials – Those aspects of a cover position that give credence that the Case Officer is a “bona fide” employee of the agency providing the cover. For example, working several hours a day at the cover position provides credentials that the Case Officer truly belongs to that position.

Cover Contact - Sometimes called cover company contact, this is a person either inside the cover company or associated in some way with the cover company with whom the NOC Case Officer has some communications or contact. This person usually but not always knows of the NOC officer’s CIA affiliation.

Cover Company - Usually a US corporation that provides a position in its ranks as cover for a Non-Official Cover (NOC) Case Officer stationed overseas. The NOC officer assigned to the cover company position is a full-time CIA employee. The CIA through the cover company funds his salary and financial support. For all public, practical and overt purposes the NOC Case Officer is a legitimate employee of the cover company.

Cover Meeting - A meeting between the NOC officer and a cover contact usually for administration of some legitimate cover company business or activity.

Cover Stop – A stop made during the course of running a surveillance detection route that provides a legitimate reason for the Case Officer or agent to be making the trip.

Covert Action – Covert Action involves secret operations or activities designed to conceal the involvement of the US Government or at lease provide plausible denial in order to promote US interests and policies. These usually fall into such categories as political action, propaganda and paramilitary actions. The CIA does not carry out any covert action without the express approval of the US President.

Covert Communications (COVCOM) – Refers to the secret communications gear and systems given to deep cover Case Officers and agents such as MLI systems, radios, microdot, SPR film, etc

Cryptonym and 201-number - Also called Crypt for short. This is a code name designation the CIA gives all developmental contacts, agents or operations to use in all official correspondence to replace use of true names. The Crypt designation begins with two letters - for example IR - that designates the country or Station where the agent or contact originates. This is followed by a word given at random from a list made by the CIA. For example, if the IR represented the CIA code for Japan then IRPRONTO/1 would be agent Pronto/1 from Japan. The 201-number is an eight or nine digit number unique to the agent or developmental contact. A copy of all cables or other correspondence in which the agent or contact is mentioned is placed into his 201-file that contains a complete history of the asset. This is also the agent, asset or target’s dossier.

Cutout – Often a person but also may be a devised facility that provides a layer of security or protection between a Case Officer and an agent or between two Case Officers or between two agents. The cutout provides compartmentation that is an important element of security in an operation.

DF – Devised Facility – This refers to a cover organization created and backstopped by the CIA in order to provide cover for field operatives in the course of espionage. Case Officers working in alias often use several DF’s, one for each operational alias, to spot, recruit and handle agents. Some DF’s may provide a commercial basis for the cover, such as a fake consulting company. In such cases, the business will have a US based address, telephone, fax numbers, email address and even in some cases a website to support the backstopping and legend of the Case Officer. These are called Devised Commercial Cover Facilities or Commercial DFs.