From Russia Without Love

GLOSSARY

Agency: Central Intelligence Agency.

AK: Abbreviated form of AK-47 and its variants.

AK-47: Contraction of Russian, Automat Kalashnikova abraztsa 1947 goda (Kalishnikov’s 1947 automatic rifle). Holds thirty rounds of .308 (7.62 × 39 mm) ammunition.

Azeri: Shortened word for Azerbaijani people or the Azerbaijani language.

Blowout kit: Slang for first aid kit.

BUD/S training: Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training. Where all prospective SEALs must begin training, located in Coronado, California.

Bug-out bag: A three-day survival kit kept handy in the event of having to suddenly evacuate, or bug out.

Bubkes: Yiddish word meaning nothing, having no value.

Circus: Slang for MI6.

Comms: Communications devices.

Delta Force: US Army’s Special Forces Operational Detachment — Delta. Has used cover name of Combat Applications Group (CAG) and Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), but its men simply refer to it as “the Unit.” Recruits mostly from top-performing Army Rangers and Green Berets. Similar to SEAL Team Six, Delta Force is the Army’s Tier One unit that conducts counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations. For the most sensitive operations, they also work under the CIA’s umbrella of Special Operations Group (SOG).

DEVGRU: Development Group, one of the cover names for SEAL Team Six.

E&E: Escape and Evasion. For each mission, SEALs make an E&E plan for what to do when they can’t make it to the extraction. They also carry a small kit to help them escape and evade the enemy.

Federal Security Service: The Federal’naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (FSB), Russia’s version of the CIA. Formerly part of the KGB. FSB headquarters is in the Lubyanka building, northeast of Red Square, in Moscow.

FSB: See Federal Security Service.

Gulag: Originally a Russian acronym for Glavnoye Upravleniye Lagery, literally translated as the “Main Camp Administration,” the government agency in charge of Stalin’s forced labor camps. Although they imprisoned criminals, they also functioned to suppress opposition to Stalin.

KGB: Russian acronym for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, directly translated as Committee for State Security. From 1954 to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the KGB served as part of the Soviet Union’s military, acting as secret police within the country and spies abroad. Following the end of the Soviet Union, the KGB was divided into the Federal Security Service and Foreign Intelligence Service.

Kit: Gear.

Klick: Kilometer.

MI6: The United Kingdom’s equivalent of the Central Intelligence Agency.

MNS: Ministry of National Security, Azerbaijan’s intelligence agency, similar to America’s CIA.

NOC: Stands for Non-Official Cover. An illegal resident spy. Rather than work as an official spy with diplomatic cover in an embassy, a NOC works away from embassies and trade missions. If captured, a NOC doesn’t have diplomatic immunity, but he does have more independence and can mingle more easily in the target country in deep cover. Even if the embassy or trade mission in the target country is dissolved, the NOC can remain to continue conducting intelligence operations.

PC: Precious Cargo, such as a hostage being rescued.

Resident spy: An intelligence officer who operates in a foreign country for an extended period of time.

RHIB: Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat. A boat with a solid, V-shaped hull and large inflatable collar at the gunwale, often used by SEALs and other military personnel.

RSO: Regional Security Officer, who works for the State Department overseas and is in charge of law enforcement at US embassies.

SDR: Surveillance Detection Route. A tactical route taken to notice surveillance, which can also be used to lose surveillance, making oneself clean.

SEAL: US Navy commandos who operate in the environments of SEa, Air, and Land. The odd-numbered SEAL Teams (One, Three, Five, and Seven) are based in Coronado, California, and the even-numbered Teams (Two, Four, Six, Eight, and Ten) are based at Little Creek, Virginia. (If the Teams expanded, Team Nine would probably be created next.)

SEAL Team Six: Team Six selects from the best SEALs to serve in its Tier One unit, also known as DEVGRU. Team Six SEALs conduct counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations. For the most sensitive operations, they work under the CIA’s umbrella of Special Operations Group (SOG).

Selection: The course for weeding out who would become a Delta operator and who wouldn’t.

SIGINT: Signal Intelligence. SIGINT collects electronic signals and can break encryptions and analyze who is sending/receiving signals and the quantities of signaling.

Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki: Abbreviated as SVR. Russia’s foreign intelligence service, successor of the KGB after the dissolution of the USSR.

SOG: Special Operations Group conducts high-threat military and intelligence operations that the US government may deny knowledge of, such as SEAL Team Six’s raid of bin Laden’s headquarters — each Team Six SEAL signed a contract temporarily placing him under SOG’s command. SOG also utilizes Army Delta Force operators and others.

SOP: Standard Operating Procedure.

Southern Gas Corridor: A plan by the European Commission for Caspian and Middle Eastern countries (Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and Syria, and possibly Uzbekistan and Iran) to supply Europe with natural gas. The plan includes a network of pipelines, part of which consists of SCP, TANAP, and TAP.

SCP: South Caucasus Pipeline. The pipeline that carries natural gas from the Caspian Sea, through Azerbaijan, and to Turkey.

Spook: Slang for CIA officer.

TANAP: Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline, which would cross Turkey. Construction was estimated to be completed by 2018.

TAP: Trans-Adriatic Pipeline. A pipeline to carry natural gas from the Turkish border, through Greece, Albania, and the Adriatic Sea, to Italy. The route (with originating pipelines in parentheses) would be from the Shah Deniz gas field in Caspian Sea (SCP) → Azerbaijan → Georgia → Turkey (TANAP) → Greece (TAP) → Albania → Italy.

TECHINT: Technical Intelligence. The use of technology and gizmos to gather intelligence, as opposed to HUMINT, human intelligence.

UKP: United Kingdom Petroleum.

The Unit: See Delta Force.