IC Dictionary
- Asset
- a clandestine source or method, usually an agent.
- Bag and Burn
- A mission focused on demolition and sabotage.
- Black Operations
- Clandestine or covert operations not attributable to the organization carrying them out.
- Bona Fides
- An operative or agent's true identity, affiliation, or intentions.
- Burned
- When an agent in the field is compromised or otherwise made a target by opposing intelligence organizations, usually leads to being canceled.
- Casuals
- Innocent bystanders and citizens, also known as noncombatants, in the area of an operation.
- Compromised
- When an agent, operation, or asset is uncovered and cannot remain secret, usually leads to being withdrawn from the field or otherwise canceled.
- Cryptonym
- Also known as a codename, crypt or crypto, these are used to identify field agents, operations and assets.
- Dead Drop
- A secret location where materials can be left in concealment for another party to retrieve, eliminating the use of direct contact.
- Dead Comm
- A signal or code passed through electronic means without speaking, usually a dead telephone.
- Exfiltration
- A rescue operation designed to get a defector, agent or operative, or their family out of harm's way.
- Foots
- Also known as feet, are teams of surveillance or quick-response units deployed into an area for sudden, unplanned operations.
- Mole
- A human penetration into an intelligence service or otherwise highly sensitive organization to gather information or sabotage.
- Opposition
- The opposing and hostile operational forces in a field agent's area.
- Orange Operation
- An operation used to harass or flush out opposing surveillance, or otherwise incite a target group to action for purposes of entrapping or embarrassment and misstep.
- Pattern
- The day-to-day duties, routine, and behavior of an operative that makes their cover identity unique.
- Personal Meeting
- A clandestine meeting between two agents in the field, it is always the most desirable but a more risky form of communication.
- Pill
- Usually called an L Pill, a lethal capsule issued to field operatives and agents who would prefer to take their own life rather than be caught and tortured. They usually come in cyanide.
- Profile
- All of the aspects of an agent or target's overt physical and behavioral persona are stored in profiles.
- Rabbit
- Rabbits are the targets of a surveillance operation.
- Red Operation
- This is a covert snatch operation in which a special entry team breaks into an enemy installation and steals a high-security device or personnel, leaving nothing behind but confusion.
- Reprocess
- The act of making or receiving false official documents and identities is how one becomes reprocessed, also known as repro.
- Rolled
- When an operation goes badly and an agent is captured by the opposition or otherwise arrested by law enforcement. It may lead to being canceled or exfiltrated, and almost always being compromised.
- Safe House
- An apartment, hotel room, home or other similar site considered safe for use by operatives and agents in the field as a base of operations or for personal meetings.
- Secret Writing
- Any tradecraft technique employing invisible or decipherable messages hidden in or on innocuous materials is secret writing. This includes invisible inks, microdots, ultraviolet variations, ciphers, and others.
- Timed Drop
- A dead drop that will be retrieved if it is not picked up by the intended recipient after a set amount of time has passed are considered timed.
- Tradecraft
- The methods developed by intelligence operatives and agents to conduct their operations, many agents form their own brand of tradecraft and teach others in teacher-student roles
See news theme terminology for official terminology from canon.