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The Lang When terrorists bombed London in 2005, some intelligence commentators used the words ‘Clean Skins’ to describe the men who had avoided the ‘Police Radar’ and were basically ‘Unknowns’. Eye Spy presents words and expressions used in the intelligence world... some well known and others forgotten or rarely spoken today
n 1899, the word Spy was defined by the Hague Convention as: “One who, acting clandestinely, or on false pretences, obtains, or seeks to obtain, information in the zone of operations of a belligerent, with the intention of communicating it to the hostile party.” And probably from that date forth those who worked in this shadowy industry started to use terminology that had an association with a specific task, though not always.
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The language of spies and the intelligence services constantly evolves and new words are always added. Most people are familiar with common phrases such as Mole - a hostile spy who burrows into an intelligence agency to report to his handler. Slightly more clandestine, but equally as well known, the Honeytrap - an operation performed to compromise a person sexually. Other phrases are less well known and some even refer to equipment. For example Tiger in the Tank is spy talk for a linear amplifier, and Stroller is an agent working with a communication set.
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EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE