Counterfeit Currency, Technology and the Manufacture
In the past, counterfeiters produced false banknotes with printing presses, and some of the more skillful counterfeiters went to great lengths to imitate the original. Today, sophisticated computer printers and copiers enable even unskilled would-be counterfeiters to produce notes that bear at least a superficial resemblance to real ones.
Counter-Intelligence
Counter-intelligence is the use of intelligence resources to identify, circumvent, and neutralize the intelligence activities of a foreign power. That foreign power may be an enemy nation or a putative ally.
Counter-Terrorism Rewards Program
The Counter-Terrorism Rewards Program, administered by the United States Department of State offers monetary compensation for individuals who volunteer information that leads to the location, capture, and trial of suspected terrorists. The program also seeks information relevant to finances, assets, and plans of terrorist organizations.
Covert Operations
Covert operations are activities carried out by an intelligence or security agency, usually in a foreign country, in such a way that it is difficult to connect that agency with its action.
Crib
A crib is a section of an encoded or enciphered message that can easily be rendered into plain text, thus providing a tool whereby a skilled cryptanalyst can crack the entire code or message. A famous example of a "crib" from outside the world of espionage is the Rosetta Stone, used to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Crime Prevention, Intelligence Agencies
The relationship between law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and intelligence is straightforwardly recognized, as exemplified by the fact that the FBI is regularly involved in intelligence and counterintelligence activities. Less obvious, however, is the interaction between operations such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and crime prevention or law enforcement.
Critical Infrastructure
Critical infrastructure is a general term for physical and computer-based systems essential to the functions of the government and economy. Among these are telecommunications, energy, banking and finance, transportation, water systems, and emergency services.
Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office (CIAO), United States
Croatia, Intelligence and Security
Following World War I, the ethnic nations in the Balkan region were unified into a single state, known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Tensions between the various ethnic populations remained high, and the government unstable.
Cruise Missile
Cruise missiles come in several varieties, the most well known being the Tomahawk.
Cryptology and Number Theory
Cryptography is a division of applied mathematics concerned with developing schemes and formula to enhance the privacy of communications through the use of codes. More specifically, cryptography is the study of procedures that allow messages or information to be encoded (obscured) in such a way that it is extremely difficult to read or understand encoded information without having a specific key (i.e., procedures to decode) that can be used to reverse the encoding procedure.
Cryptology, History
Cryptology is the study of both cryptography, the use of messages concealed by codes or ciphers, and cryptanalysis, or the breaking of coded messages. It is nearly as old as civilization itself, although ciphers and codes prior to the late medieval period in western Europe tended to be extremely simple by today's standards.
Cryptonym
Cryptonym, or code names, are words, symbols, or numbers used in place of the actual name of a person, item, or planned event. The term is derived from two Latin roots, crypto meaning secret, and nym, meaning name.
Cuba, Intelligence and Security
Cuba has a security and intelligence apparatus that, when considered in light of the nation's size and its weak economy, is on a scale many times larger than that of the United States. Whereas its poverty, lack of exports, and depressed economic conditions would normally make Cuba an irrelevant player on the international scene, its clandestine operations extend its influence throughout the globe.
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 was triggered by the Soviet deployment to Cuba of medium-range, nucleararmed ballistic missiles. The United States demanded that the Soviet Union remove these missiles and imposed a naval blockade on Cuba, threatening to sink any Soviet ships that approached the island without permitting their cargoes to be inspected.
Customs Service, United States
One of the oldest bureaus of the federal government, the United States Customs Service was founded in the first year of George Washington's presidency, and for decades the tariffs it collected funded virtually all government activities. Today, Customs is a vast border security force that yearly interdicts hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of illegal goods.
Cyanide
The prospects for an intelligence operative captured by enemy forces are grim. Soldiers and other war fighters have recourse to Geneva Convention protocols concerning treatment, but personnel working in intelligence and covert operations are effectively denied such protection by virtue of their mission's clandestine nature.
Cyber Security
Cyber security—measures taken to protect computers and computer networks from accidental or malicious harm—is an ongoing process. The security of a system is only as strong as its weakest link.
Cyber Security Warning Network
Communication is critical during a time of national crisis. Emergency personnel need the ability to communicate quickly and effective with their colleagues in other parts of the country.
Czech Republic, Intelligence and Security
Like all of the socialist governments of Eastern Europe, the Czechoslovakian regime used its intelligence and security services to clamp down on political dissent from the time it eliminated its opposition in 1948, until it was finally deposed in 1989. Although the scope and tactics of the Czech Statni Bezpecnost (StB) never reached the extent of its secret-police counterparts in East Germany or Romania, political repression was a feature of daily life in the country for its citizens.
D Notice
D Notice (defense notice) refers to an alert given by intelligence services or the armed forces to the media, alerting them of sensitive content that could damage national security or defense if reported in part or in whole. In Britain, the system is somewhat voluntary and various media corporations are not obliged to report or refrain from reporting, potentially sensitive issues.
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) central United States Department of Defense agency dedicated to advancing research in areas of science and technology that may directly enhance military effectiveness.
Data Mining
Data mining refers to the statistical analysis techniques used to search through large amounts of data to discover trends or patterns.
DCI (Director of the Central Intelligence Agency)
The director of Central Intelligence (DCI) is the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), principal intelligence advisor to the president, and leader of the U.S.
DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is the lead agency of the United States government for the enforcement of federal statutes on narcotics and controlled substances. Created in 1973, it is a division of the Department of Justice with offices throughout the United States, and in 56 countries.
Dead Drop Spike
A dead drop spike is one of several types of equipment for concealing, and protecting from the elements, materials left at a dead drop. The latter term refers to the site at which an intelligence agent leaves materials—documents, film, etc.—for a handler or intelligence agent to retrieve at a later time.
Dead-Letter Box
A dead-letter box is a covert location where messages or other items are deposited for retrieval by other intelligence operatives. Also called a dead drop, it is most often used as a means of transferring documents and messages, but can also be used to funnel equipment and money to agents in the field.
Decontamination Methods
Decontamination refers to the efforts to safeguard property and people that have been exposed to chemical, nuclear, or biological agents. The intent of decontamination is twofold.
Decryption
Decryption is simply the reverse of encryption, the process by which ordinary data, or plain text, is converted into a cipher. A cipher, often incorrectly identified as a code, is a system in which every letter of a plain text message is replaced with another letter so as to obscure its meaning.
Defense Information Systems Agency, United States
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has the responsibility of planning, developing, and supporting the C4 (command, control, communications, and computers) and information systems that serve the president of the United States and other national leaders. DISA is also responsible for Department of Defense (DOD) telecommunications and information processing facilities and systems.