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ACC
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Allied Clandestine Committee
Secret NATO organisation that was responsible for the coordination
between the individual Stay-Behind Organisations of its members
and of allied states, during the Cold War.
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Berlin Wall
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Barrier that divided Berlin in East and West from 1961 to 1989.
Under influence of the USSR, the communist
German Democratic Republic (DDR)
cut themselves off from the capitalist west. The wall came down in 1989,
following a series of radical changes in the
countries of the Eastern Bloc.
It eventually led to the dissolution of the end of the
Soviet Union (USSR) in 1991.
➤ Wikipedia
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CBME
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Combined Bureau Middle East
Cover name for the regional
Government Code and Cypher School (CG&CS)
headquarters in the Middle East during WWII.
Established in May 1941 by Col. Freddie Jacob, and operating from
the King Farouk Museum in Heliopolis.
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CIA
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Central Intelligence Agency
Independent civilian foreign intelligence service of the United States.
➤ More
➤ Wikipedia
➤ Website
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CICI
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Combined Intelligence Iraq
The principal British intelligence collection agency in Iraq
(and later also Persia), based at Habaniyah and run by RAF
officer Robert Dawson-Sheppard.
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CIFE
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Combined Intelligece Far East
MI5's regional organisation in the Far East during WWII.
Established in 1943 at Kandy (Ceylon) by Courtenay Young,
who was MI5's only Japanese-speaking officer.
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Cold War
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State of political and military tension in the period after WWII (1947-1991),
between the Western Bloc (US, Europe, NATO)
and the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union
and its Warsaw Pact allies).
➤ Wikipedia
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COPTINE
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CODEWORD
NATO codeword for classified (top secret) material about Western
Stay-Behind Organisations (SBO)
that were active during the Cold War, until approx. 1992.
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CSDIC
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Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre
British prisoner of war (POW) interrogation service,
also known as MI19, operating during WWII from facilities
in the UK and from regional centres in Cairo (Egypt)
and Delhi (India).
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CW
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Continuous Wave
Mode of operating a transmitter, whereby a continuous wave is switched on
and off repeatedly in a changing pattern, in order to transmit information.
CW is commonly used to send messages in morse code,
and has therefore become virtually synonymous with
morse.
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DDR
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Deutsche Demokratische Republik
The German Democratic Republic (GDR), commonly known as East Germany
or the DDR, was a nation state that existed during the Cold War from
1949 to 1990.
At the end of World War II (WWII), the territory — with the exception of West-Berlin —
was administered by the Soviet Union (USSR).
➤ Wikipedia
➤ Spy
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DF
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Direction Finding  RDF
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Drittes Reich
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Nazi Germany
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DSO
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Defence Security Officer
Cover for MI5 personnel posted overseas to British garrisons and colonies.
DSOs were based in Aden, Bermuda, British Honduras, Cairo, Gibraltar,
the Gold Coast, Iraq, Jamaica, Malta, Palestine and Trinidad.
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DWS
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Diplomatic Wireless Service
British communication system used by the Foreign Office from 1945 onwards
for communications with their representatives overseas. It was established
by Brigadier Richard Gambier-Parry and grew out of the wartime Special
Communications Unit (SCU) of MI6. Originally based in Whaddon Hall, but moved
to Hanslope Park at the end of 1946.
It was succeeded by HMGCC.
➤ Wikipedia
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Eastern Bloc
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During the Cold War,
Europe was divided into two separate areas, divided
by an ideological and physical border
known as the Iron Curtain.
The area to the east of this border was commonly known as the Eastern Bloc,
and consisted of the Soviet Union (USSR), the Soviet-controlled
satellite states, and the countries of the Warsaw Pact.
➤ Wikipedia
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GCHQ
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Government Communications Headquarters
British intelligence agency.
➤ More
➤ Wikipedia
➤ Website
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Gladio
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Italian Stay-Behind
Name of the Italian Stay-Behind organisation in the Cold War era,
that would be activated as soon as Italy was invaded by the Russians.
In polular culture, the name 'Gladio' is often used to identify
the Stay-Behind organisations of other European countries as well.
➤ Wikipedia
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HARPOON
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Telefunken FS-5000 spy radio set
Codename of a a secretly developed pan-European spy radio set,
that was intended to be used by all Stay-Behind organisations
in Europe and in some other countries, including non-NATO countries.
➤ More
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HMGCC
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Her Majesty's Government Communications Centre
British development centre for secure communications, hardware and software.
Mainly aimed at HM Government use, both in the UK and overseas.
Also known as Hanslope Park.
➤ Wikipedia
➤ Website
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Iron Curtain
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Ideological and physical border that divided Europe into two separate areas
from the end of WWII
to the end of the Cold War (1945-1991).
To the west of this border was the free Western Bloc
(NATO and West-European countries).
To the east of the border was the {Soviet Union
and its Soviet-controlled satellites
of the Warsaw Pact, also known as the Eastern Bloc.
➤ Wikipedia
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MfS
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Ministerium für Staatssicherheit
Ministery for State Security of the former DDR (East Germany);
one of most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police
agencies in the world.
The agency is commonly known as Stasi, which is the abbreviation of
Staats-Sicherheit, and had its headquarters in East-Berlin.
The Stasi had strong ties with the Russian intelligence service
KGB.
➤ Wikipedia
➤ Wikipedia Germany
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Morse
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Morse Code
Method for (manually) transmitting text based messages, by encoding them
into a series of dashes and dots, and sending them by means of sound,
light or radio waves. Often used on narrow-band (short wave) radio channels.
➤ More
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NATO
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Intergovernmental military alliance between 31 North American and European
countries, responsible for the implementation of the 1949 Atlantic Treaty.
➤ More
➤ Wikipedia
➤ Website
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Nazi Germany
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In English, Nazi Germany is the common name for Germany between 1933 and 1945,
when Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party (NSDAP) ruled the country through
dictatorship. It is also known as Drittes Reich (English: Third Reich,
or Third Empire) and Großdeutsches Reich (Greater German Reich).
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O&I
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Operatiën en Inlichtingen
Name of the Dutch Stay-Behind organisation during the Cold War.
The secret organisation is also known as A&B.
➤ More
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OSS
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Office of Strategic Services
Clandestine US organisation for infiltration and sabotage activities
during WWII.
The OSS is one of the predecessors of the current CIA.
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OTAN
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NATO
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OTP
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One-Time Pad
Theoretically unbreakable cipher, that involves mixing of plaintext
with random data on a pad of numbers or letters, which was used only once.
➤ More
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OTS
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Office of Technical Service
Technical applied research and developemt (R&D) department
of the CIA from 1973 onwards.
Previously known as TSD.
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OTT
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One-Time Tape
Teleprinter
variant of the One-Time Pad (OTP).
➤ More
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OWVL
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One-Way Voice Link
Method of sending messages to (secret) agents without revealing
the recipient's location, commonly by means of
unaddressed voice broadcasts via short-wave radio. Also known as
Numbers Stations. ➤ More
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POW
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Prisoner of War
Combatant or non-combatant person held in custody by a belligerent power
during or immediately after an armed conflict.
➤ Wikipedia
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RDF
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Radio Direction Finding
Direction Finding (DF) or Radio Direction Finding (RDF), is the measurement
of the direction from which a received radio signal was transmitted, with
the ultimate goal to locate the transmitter.
➤ More
➤ Wikipedia
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RSS
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Radio Security Service
Secret British WWII organisation for intercepting and locating illicit wireless
radio stations operated by enemy agents, established in 1939. The RSS was
largely staffed by licenced amateur radio operators, which were known as
Voluntary Interceptors (VI). Also known as MI8c.
➤ More
➤ Wikipedia
➤ Website
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SAC
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Strategic Air Command
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SAS
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Special Air Service
Special Forces (SF) unit of the British Army, established in 1941,
specialised in covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action,
hostage rescue and human intelligence gathering.
➤ Wikipedia
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SBO
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Stay-Behind Organisation
Secret organisation, consisting of intelligence and operational agents,
tasked to gather information, pass this information to the government (in
exile) and execute orders and (sabotage) operations, activated in the event
of a war. During the Cold War, many West European countries had an SBO.
➤ More
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SDR
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1. Surveillance Detection Route
Method used by an agent to ensure that he or she is not being followed.
Commonly involves several changes in direction and means of transport.
Also known as Surveillance Detection Run or Surveillance Detection
Routine.
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SDR
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2. Surveillance Detection Routine Surveillance Detection Route
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SDR
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3. Software Defined Radio
Receiver (or transceiver) in which (most of) the analogue circuits have
been replaced by digital alternatives implemented in software.
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SF
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Special Forces
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SHAPE
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Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
Headquarters of the Allied Command Operations (ACO),
one of NATO's
two strategic military commands.
➤ Website
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SIGINT
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Signals Intelligence
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SIME
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Security Intelligence Middle East
Regional MI5 branch in the Middle East during WWII.
Established in December 1939 based at the Grey Pillars compound in
Cairo (Egypt) and represented by local defence security
officers (DSOs) in Aden, Palestine, Iraq, Türkiye and Syria.
The main task of SIME was conducting counterespionage investigations.
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SIS
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1. Secret Intelligence Service (UK)
Foreign intelligence service of the UK government, also known
as MI6.
➤ More
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SIS
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2. Signals Intelligence Service (US)
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SIS
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3. Special Intelligence Service (US)
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SIS
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4. Servizio di Informazione Segrete (Italy)
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SOE
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Special Operations Executive
British espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance organisation during WWII,
active from 22 July 1940 to 15 January 1946. Also known
as Churchill's Secret Army and as the Ministry of Ungentlemanly
Warfare. Approx. 13,000 people were involved in the SOE, 3200 of which
were women.
➤ More
➤ Wikipedia
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Soviet Union
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The USSR, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly abbreviated
Soviet Union, was a Marxist-Leninist federation of states on the Eurasian
continent that existed between 1922 and 1991. It was controlled by the
Communist Party with Moscow (Russia) as its capital.
➤ Wikipedia
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SRAC
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Short-range agent communications
One-way or two-way short-range wireless communications used for intelligence
purposes. Generally consisting of a small transmitter that allows an agent
to deliver or collect a message whilst being in the vicinity of an
electronic dead drop.
➤ More
➤ Example
➤ Wikipedia
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Stasi
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Ministerium für Staatssicherheit
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Third Reich
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Nazi Germany
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USSR
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Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soviet Union
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VI
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Voluntary Interceptor
Private individual working voluntarily as a radio interceptor for
the Radio Security Service (RSS) during WWII. Most VIs
were licenced amateur radio operators working from their homes.
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WP
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Warsaw Pact
Collective defense treaty among eight communist states in Central
and Eastern Europe, lead by the Soviet Union (USSR),
that existed during the Cold War.
The members were Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia,
East-Germany (DDR),
Hungary,
Poland,
Romania and the Soviet Union (USSR).
➤ More
➤ Wikipedia
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WWI
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World War I
Global war from 1914 to 1918.
Also known as the First World War, WW1 and The Great War
(the war to end all wars).
➤ Wikipedia
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WWII
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World War II
Global war from 1939 to 1945 between two military alliances:
the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread and probably
also the most well-documented war in history.
Also known as The Second World War and WW2.
➤ Wikipedia
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