by D S Kane
ayin. Tracker (surveillance) for the Mossad.
backstopping. Fake identification papers.
bat leveyha. Female agent for the Mossad.
better world, send to a. Euphemism for murdering an enemy agent.
blind dating. Meeting place chosen by an agent to meet his or her handler.
bodel. Courier for the Mossad.
BP. Israeli paramilitary Border Patrol.
Bug-Lok. Also called DeathByte, the device is a nanobug that can be ingested or injected into a subject. Bug-Lok was developed by the Ness Ziona in Herzliyya on contract with Gilbert Greenfield’s intelligence service. When ingested or injected, the nanobug then finds its way to the medulla oblongata of the subject and attaches itself to the neural bundles that carry visual and auditory signals into the subjects brain. The nanobug transmits these signals to the nearest local area network and from there onto the handler who gathers video and audio of the subject’s activities, in addition to the subjects GPS location. Bug-Lok can be fitted with a tiny concentrated ricin dose to kill the subject, activated by a remote when the handler no longer needs the subject.
burn notice. A termination notice for an official operative or an NOC; the burned spy has his or her bank accounts confiscated and identity documents redacted, and, in extreme cases, is subject to a terminate-on-sight order.
C-6. A more powerful and concentrated form of the C-4 explosive.
Chinese Secret Intelligence Services (CSIS). Chinese version of the FBI.
CHIPS. The Clearinghouse Interface Processing System, used by money-center banks to settle all outstanding transactions between them at the end of their day.
Collections Department. Intelligence Department abroad.
cutout. An intermediary, usually an innocent person, either a volunteer or paid by a covert operative to deliver or retrieve something valuable such as a message or a gadget, from a covert operative or an asset.
DARPA. Defense Department’s agency for advanced research projects, charged with development of weapons systems.
daylight alert. Highest priority alert.
DDOS. Distributed denial of service; a brute-force method of bringing down a website, by overloading it with traffic. Rarely used successfully by any except the most desperate and skillful of hackers.
dry cleaning. Counter-surveillance techniques.
ECHELON. An identity-tracking system developed by contract programmers and used by the United States as its primary terrorism prevention system prior to 9/11. There are currently in excess of forty systems developed since 9/11, used by the NSA to track the identities of US citizens and foreigners.
EFT. Electronic Funds Transfer, the basic term denoting a non-check payment.
EMP. Electromagnetic pulse device that unleashes a high-energy discharge that fries all electronic devices within its range.
exfiltrate. To retrieve an agent from hostile territory.
Farm, The. A camp in Virginia used to train CIA case officers and the case officers of intelligence services friendly to the United States.
FISA. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC, also called the FISA Court), was established and authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to oversee requests for surveillance warrants against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the United States by federal law enforcement agencies.
FSB. The Russian internal security and counterintelligence service, created in 1994 as one of the successor agencies of the Soviet-era KGB.
false flagging. An operation falsely made to appear mounted by another country.
fumigate. Sweeping an area for electronic bugs.
GNU Radio. Developed by Eric Blossom, it is a free & open-source software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios. It can be used with readily-available low-cost external RF hardware to create software-defined radios, or without hardware in a simulation-like environment. Prior to his involvement with software radio, Blossom was the co-founder and CTO of Starium, Ltd., where he oversaw the design and development of a line of cryptographic equipment for the commercial marketplace. He is also the founder of an international consulting company called Blossom Research.
go bag. A lightweight luggage carrier used by covert operatives to carry travel essentials, including emergency clothing and sundries, weapons and ammunition. When not being used, it is typically stored, fully loaded, near a door or under a window for fast access.
heth. Logistician for the Mossad.
honey trap. Sexual entrapment for intelligence purposes.
IDF. Israel Defense Forces; the Israeli army.
katsa. Case officer for the Mossad.
KGB. Soviet Union’s secret police, the Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopanosti was established in March 1954 in Moscow and was attached to the Council of Ministers, but operated independently. With over 500,000 employees, it was the largest spy agency in the world.
Liquid armor, or shear thickening fluid (STF). Developed by the US Army in 2003, STF can stop a .38 caliber bullet, but improved versions can stop anything up to a .50 caliber shell.
kidon. Operative specializing in assassination for the Mossad. (plural: kidonim.)
Krav Maga. Israeli martial art developed by Aman and used by IDF and Mossad. Now taught to many of the global spy agencies.
MI-6. Also known as Great Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service.
Mossad. The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations; originally called the Institute for Coordination; called “the Office” by those who work there.
Ness Ziona. Israeli weapons laboratory, located in Herzliyya, Israel.
neviot. Surveillance specialist for the Mossad.
NI. Intelligence branch of the Israeli navy.
NOC. Non-official cover; the status of a contractor working with the CIA in-country and without sanction or cover from the Agency.
NSA. National Security Agency; formed under the Truman administration and used as the technology management arm of the United States government.
Office, The. The name of the Mossad used by most of its case officers (katsas).
qoph. Communications officer for the Mossad.
RAID. Redundant array of independent disks; used as a physical non-cloud device for backup of high-value data.
RSA. An encryption algorithm, or key, used to safely send messages between parties on the Internet.
S-13 Russian World War II Submarine. S-13 was a Stalinets-class submarine of the Soviet Navy. Her keel was laid down by Krasnoye Sormovo in Gorky on 19 October 1938. She was launched on 25 April 1939 and commissioned on 31 July 1941 in the Baltic Fleet, under the command of Captain Pavel Malantyenko. About 600 tons this sub carries 12 torpedoes, 6 torpedo tubes, has a mounted 100mm machine gun and a 45mm cannon on its deck. S-13 was decommissioned on 7 September 1954.
S-56 Russian World War II Submarine. S-56 was a Stalinets-class submarine of the Soviet Navy. Her keel was laid down by Dalzavod in Vladivostok on 24 November 1936. She was launched on 25 December 1939 and commissioned on 20 October 1941 in the Pacific Fleet. During World War II, the submarine was under the command of Captain Grigori Shchedrin and was moved from the Pacific Fleet to the Northern fleet across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans via the Panama Canal. About 840 tons, this sub carries 12 torpedoes, 6 torpedo tubes, has a mounted 100mm machine gun and a 45mm cannon on its deck. Now decommissioned.
safe house. Apartment or house used covertly for base of operations.
sayan. A helper for the Mossad. (plural: sayanim.)
Shabak. Also known as GSS or Shin Bet; responsible for internal security and defense of Israeli installations abroad, including embassies, consulates, and other organizations.
siloviki. Russian word (the term silovik, literally translates as “person of force”) for politicians from the security or military services, often the officers of the former KGB, GRU, FSB, SVR, the Federal Drug Control or other security services who came into power. I
t can also refer to security-service personnel. siloviki are used to run errands between the Russian mafiya and the Russian government. Some work for the Russian mafiya.
slick. Hiding place for documents.
souk. A Middle Eastern marketplace, usually an open-air farmer’s market that also sells craft items.
surveillance detection route. A method used by covert agents, walking back and forth several city blocks, looking in the reflective surfaces to discern if they are being followed.
SWIFT. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, a European agency that sets standards for global financial messages used by banks for near-real-time settlement of electronic funds transfers. The transaction types (debit memo, credit memo, etc.) have numbers to identify them; e.g., MT100 is a credit memo sent by one bank to another to indicate payment via real-time book entry.
Tze’elim. Israel’s Urban Warfare Training Center in the Negev Desert.
Va’adet Rashei Hasherutim. The committee of the heads of service in Israel’s intelligence community. Mossad is a prime member.
virus (computer). A piece of code that is capable of copying itself and typically has a detrimental effect, such as corrupting the system or destroying data.
Vory. Russian criminal brotherhood, compatriots.
Wahhabi. Puritan doctrine of Islam, founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792) in Saudi Arabia.
wash. Recycling of a valid passport obtained by theft or purchase.
worm (computer). A standalone malware computer program that replicates itself in order to spread to other computers. Often, it uses a computer network to spread itself, relying on security failures on the target computer to access it. Unlike a computer virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program.
yahalom. A covert computer hacker, or cybercriminal working for the Mossad’s Yahalomim unit.
zombie patriot. A person with a terminal disease who decides to sacrifice their life to earn the money which might benefit those they love who remain alive.
Appendix A – Character List
for the Spies Lie series (alphabetical)
Harry Aimes. An aging retiree whose lack of medical insurance coverage is due to the company he worked for having reneged on it. They also retroactively reduced his pension, leaving him dying of cancer and without the money for any medical treatment. He faces a death that will leave his aging wife homeless and decides to become a “zombie patriot.”
Lee Ainsley. Director of Information Security at Gilbert Greenfield’s unnamed intelligence service in Washington, DC. He has a crush on Cassandra Sashakovich.
Hazret Ali. Tribal leader in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.
Yigdal Ben-Levy. Call-sign “Emah” or Mother. Ben-Levy is the Associate Director of the Mossad, a spymaster who also runs liaison between them and Aman. Ben-Levy runs the dirtiest black ops missions. His niece, Aviva Bushovsky, died one year ago.
Elizabeth Rochelle Brown. Call-sign Butterfly. Hacker living in Woodbine, Iowa. Self-proclaimed as the best hacker on earth. William Wing claims the same thing about himself.
Aviva Bushovsky. Call-sign Sweetthing, aka Lisa Gabriel. Under cover, she became engaged to Jon Sommers. She was a Mossad bat leveyha, niece of Yigdal Ben-Levy. Aviva died in a car bomb set in the parking garage in Herzliyya where she’d left her car to meet Ruth Cohen for lunch.
Lieutenant (later General) Benjamin Chan. A direct report to Xian Wing, Benjamin’s mother was English, and hence his Western first name.
Norman Cisco. Currency Custodian working at the Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan.
Ruth Cohen. Call-sign Toots, alias Ruth DeWitt. Cohen rose through the ranks from bat leveyha (honey pot) to kidon to katsa, and is now Mossad Station Chief, Berlin, Germany. Less than one year ago, she and Jon Sommers were lovers.
Sir Charles Crane. Call sign Mastercollector, a British spymaster at MI-6, whose career was almost terminated by Jon Sommers’ parents, Abel and Natasha Sommerstein.
Michael Drapoff. A kidon reporting to Yigdal Ben-Levy.
Lester Dushov. A katsa reporting to Yigdal Ben-Levy.
Simon Fiernen. A cover identity for Yigdal Ben-Levy.
Bob Gault. Call-sign Snakecharmer, works as a case officer at Gilbert Greenfield’s unnamed intelligence service in Washington, DC. Gault is overweight and unpromotable, but he is also an effective operative.
Oscar Gilead. Director of the Mossad, to whom Yigdal Ben-Levy reports.
Major Ralph Giondella. American Tactics Commander.
Gilbert Greenfield. Director in Charge of an intelligence agency in Washington DC so secret that it is “unnamed.” Aliases include Herr Flouber and Ellbert E. Friend.
Abdul Hassain. Abdul was hired by Pesi Houmaz to torture and murder Cassandra Sashakovich in Riyadh after first determining if she had learned of the Houmaz brothers plans to attach the United States. He raped and impregnated her, before Cassandra was able to kill him in self-defense.
Judy Hernandez. A personal trainer working at the YMCA in Manhattan.
Achmed Houmaz. Youngest of the brothers, Achmed was left to run Arab Oil Corporation after Tariq was disowned by their father and Pesi followed Tariq from the family. Achmed resides in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Pesi Houmaz. Second in command of a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot group headquartered at its training facility near Upper Pachir, Afghanistan. Pesi is the brother of Tariq Houmaz. Pesi resides in Saudi Arabia.
Tariq Houmaz. Leader of Muslim Brotherhood offshoot terrorism group, located near Upper Pachir, Afghanistan.
Maulvi Muhammed Khalis. Hazret Ali’s mullah, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.
Nomi Klein. Cobbler (document forger) working for the Mossad in the South Bronx, New York.
Misha Kovich. Cassandra Sashakovich’s uncle and Kiril Sashakovich’s brother. Worked for the KGB until the fall of the Soviet Union, then worked for the Russian Mafiya transporting weapons and money between Moscow and Vladivostok.
Lily Lee. A girlfriend of William Wing, she lives in Hong Kong. She is also a call girl and her father owns an upscale restaurant, Star Luk restaurant in Hong Kong’s harbor.
Major Jacques LeFleur. French North African Battle Operations Specialist.
Clyde MacIntosh. Case officer, MI-6, reporting to Sir Charles Crane.
Adam Mahee. Stanford University adjunct faculty, project manager and contractor, Silicon Valley.
Sharon Marconi. Louis Steponi’s girlfriend, who is, like Louis, a professional assassin.
Debra McCandless. Treasurer of Stillwater Technologies, Inc., a Silicon Valley chipset developer in San Jose, California.
Mark McDougal. Director, unnamed intelligence agency, Washington, DC. McDougal is Bob Gault and Cassandra Sashakovich’s boss. McDougal reports to Gilbert Greenfield, who runs an agency so secret that it is “unnamed.”
Major Alister McTavish. British Tactics Commander, hired as a mercenary by Major Avram Shimmel.
Samuel Meyer. Call-sign Uncle Sam. Associate Director of the Mossad and liaison to Aman, successor to Yigdal Ben-Levy. Meyer graduated from Harvard Law School.
Shula Ries. Call-sign Viper, Mossad kidon who reports to Yigdal Ben-Levy. Ries is more than just a honeypot for the Mossad. She is lethal with any weapon and has no conscience.
Lev Robinson. A Ness Ziona scientist who works on Bug-Lok, and was turned into a mole by Sir Charles Crane, an MI-6 spymaster.
Cassandra Sashakovich. Call-sign Swiftshadow, Multiple aliases, including Chandra Paklorri, Chrissie Card, Darla Kidon, Denise Hardcastle, Susan Blumenthal, Elaine Teman, and Emily Fishcallow. Former NOC and hacker at Gilbert Greenfield’s unnamed intelligence service in Washington, DC. She has gone black, outed by a mole within the agency, and now is hunted by the Houmaz family.
Kiril Sashakovich. Cassandra’s father, professor of economics, Stanford University, and former econometric planner for the now defunct Soviet Union.
Natasha Sashakovich. Cassandra's mother, member of the Half
Moon Bay, California city council, and former case officer for the KGB.
Gunda Schlein. Finance Manager, Dreitsbank, Munich. Schlein’s brother is held by MI-6 to compel her to spy on Jon Sommers. But Sommers has also tried to double her.
Dr. Henry Sheldorff. High-priced Manhattan plastic surgeon.
Avram Shimmel. Call-sign Clearcut, mercenary, former major in the IDF,and later, a Mossad kidon. Shimmel is 6’7” and a wall of muscle, but he also was one of the IDF’s most gifted tacticians. His pregnant wife and young daughter were killed by a car bomb set by Tariq Houmaz.
Ann Silbey Sashakovich. Homeless teenager living in the tunnels under Manhattan, adopted by Cassandra Sashakovich..
Jon Sommers. Call-sign Quicksilver, aka Friedrich Stamphil. Mossad katsa working for Ruth Cohen. A year ago, Jon was recruited by Yigdal Ben-Levy after Jon’s fiancée, Lisa Gabriel, died in a car bombing.
Abel Sommerstein. Jon Sommers’ father.
Natasha Sommerstein. Jon Sommers’ mother.
Sandhia Sorab. Funds Transfer Repair Station Specialist at the Bank of Trade, Karachi, Pakistan.
Louis Stepponi. A professional assassin.
Herr Rickard Stossler. A cover identity for Yigdal Ben-Levy.
Shimon Tennenbaum. A Mossad kidon who works for Yigdal Ben-Levy.
Nikita Tobelov. Head of Russian Mafiya’s Eastern District, in Vladivostok.
Benjamin Franklin Wagner. US Ambassador to Israel.
Phillip Watson. Graduate student at working in the Technology Centre of the University of London.
Jacob David “JD ” Weinstein. A Mossad kidon who works for Yigdal Ben-Levy.
Ari Westheim. A Mossad kidon who works for Yigdal Ben-Levy.
William Wing. Call-sign CryptoMonger. Hacker, living in Hong Kong, contract worker for corporations, MI-6, the Mossad, and other intelligence services. He was disowned by his father when he was twelve years old, for hacking into the CSIS servers.
Xian Wing. Director of Chinese Security Information Systems (CSIS). Father of William Wing.
Appendix B – On CyberWar
“A cyber attack perpetrated by nation states or violent extremist groups could be as destructive as the terrorist attack on 9/11. Such a destructive cyber-terrorist attack could virtually paralyze the nation.