ABWEHR Foreign Bureau/Defense of the Armed Forces High Command: the German intelligence organization founded in 1921; after WWII, in order to appease the Allies, the organization supposedly focused only on defense, i.e. counterespionage [Germany]

AIVD General Intelligence and Security Office: the Dutch domestic counterespionage agency [Netherlands]

APT(N) Atlantic Patrol Task (North): standing Royal Navy patrol in the Caribbean and North Atlantic area [UK]

BLACK (Pertaining to an organization or project) Secret and off the record, except to governmental intelligence oversight bodies [All]

BLACK CHAMBER American cryptanalysis agency, officially disbanded in 1929; predecessor to the NSA; nickname for the contemporary superblack agency dealing with occult intelligence [US]

CESG Communications Electronics Security Group: a division within GCHQ [UK]

CIA Central Intelligence Agency; also known as the Company [US]

COBRA Cabinet Briefing Office Room “A”: where the Civil Contingencies Committee meets and is thus often referred to as COBRA; able to invoke Section Two powers under the Civil Contingencies Act (aka Martial Law) [UK]

THE COMPANY Nickname: see CIA [US]

COTS Commercial, Off The Shelf: computer kit; a procurement term [US/UK]

DERA Defense Evaluation and Research Agency, privatized as QinetiQ [UK]

FAUST FORCE Nickname: see GSA [Germany]

FSB Federal Security Service, formerly known as KGB [Russia]

GCHQ Government Communications HQ (UK equivalent of NSA) [UK]

GMDI Hughes Global Marine Development, Inc. [US]

GRU Russian Military Intelligence; an intense rivalry existed between the GRU and KGB [Russia]

GSA Geheime Sicherheit Abteilung: contemporary German domestic occult intelligence agency [Germany]

HMG Her Majesty’s Government [UK]

HUMINT Human Intelligence: intelligence gathered from human (as opposed to electronic) sources [All]

INTERPOL International Criminal Police Organization: created in 1923 to assist international criminal police cooperation [All]

KGB Committee for State Security, principal Soviet intelligence agency; renamed FSB in 1991 after disintegration of the Soviet Union [USSR]

THE LAUNDRY Nickname of the former Department Q of the SOE, dealing with occult intelligence; spun off as a separate black organization in 1945, no publicly known name [UK]

MI5 (originally Military Intelligence Section 5) Security Service, also known as SS, responsible for internal security [UK]

MI6 (originally Military Intelligence Section 6) Secret Intelligence Service, also known as SIS, responsible for external security [UK]

MOD Ministry of Defense [UK]

NSA National Security Agency (US equivalent of GCHQ) [US]

NUMBER TEN 10 Downing Street, London: the historic office and home of the British Prime Minister [UK]

ONI Office of Naval Intelligence [US]

OSS Office of Strategic Services (US equivalent of SOE), disbanded in 1945, remodeled as CIA [US]

POLITBURO Political Bureau: the executive organization for the Communist Party [USSR]

Q DIVISION Division within the Laundry associated with R&D [UK]

QINETIQ See DERA [UK]

SAS Special Air Service: British Army Special Forces [UK]

SBS Special Boat Service: Royal Marines Special Forces [UK]

SIS See MI6 [UK]

SOE Special Operations Executive (UK equivalent of OSS), officially disbanded in 1945; see also the Laundry [UK]

SUPERBLACK (Pertaining to a black organization or black project) Secret and off the record to all, including governmental intelligence oversight bodies [All]

TERRITORIAL SAS Territorial Army, British equivalent of the US National Guard: Territorial SAS, the part-time, weekend soldier arm of the SAS; mostly staffed by veterans [UK]

TLA Three Letter Acronym [All]

TWO-ONE SAS 21 Special Air Service Regiment; also known as Artists’ Rifles [UK]