Ever wanted to be a spy? Here are the secret codewords you need to know…

YOU wouldn’t be much of a spy if you didn’t have a wide collection of secret words and phrases at your fingertips.

Thankfully, for all those budding James Bonds out there, a new book written by a spycraft expert will help you understand many of the codewords spies have used for years.

Written by Nigel West, who has penned over 40 books on security, intelligence and all kinds of dark arts, it makes fascinating reading.

Here, Nigel explains what a few key spy phrases mean . . .

MAIL DROP

“Known also as a live letterbox, but known to the FBI as a mail drop, this is an individual who allowed their home to be used as an accommodation address for espionage,” says Nigel.

“It’s an effort to circumvent likely interception of mail at the addresses more closely associated with the true correspondents.”

ACTIVE MEASURES

“A SOVIET term for an aggressive operation or propaganda campaign, often involving disinformation, and roughly equivalent to the CIA definition of covert action, active measures embrace every component of aggressive operations,” Nigel explains.

DENIED AREA

“Environments in which intelligence collection is hard, or downright impossible, such as Moscow, Havana, Beijing and Baghdad,” says Nigel.

“During the Cold War, the CIA was reluctant to establish a station at the US embassy in Moscow because of the pervasive security apparatus, ubiquitous surveillance and the degree of harassment experienced by the diplomatic community.”

ROLLING CAR MEET

“A CASE officer’s rendezvous with an agent, where the ‘asset’, often in a denied territory, is picked up in a car at an agreed location at a particular time,” explains Nigel.

“The vehicle’s interior light may have been disabled to avoid showing that a door has been opened.”

JIB

“The Jack-In-The-Box was a device which enabled a pop-up dummy to replace a passenger in a vehicle when a Rolling Car Meet was in progress,” says Nigel.

“Designed for use in denied territory, the JIB was developed in 1980 by the CIA’s Office of Technical Services, from an inflatable doll purchased to deceive hostile surveillance.”

POCKET LITTER

“Casual items, such as keys, photos, wallets and ticket stubs which are intended to convey a false impression, or support an alias,” explains Nigel.

“A classic example is the case of ‘Major William Martin’, an entirely bogus British officer whose body was placed in the sea off the Spanish coast near Huelva in April, 1943, as part of an ingenious MI5 deception operation, code-named Mincemeat.

“The cadaver was actually that of a homeless Welsh alcoholic, Glyndwr Michael.

“Confident that the body would be searched by the Spanish authorities, MI5 officers went to elaborate lengths by preparing the pocket litter.”

Spycraft Secrets: An Espionage A-Z, by Nigel West, is published by The History Press, ISBN No. 978-0-7509-6608-5, price £12.99.