Chemical Biological Incident Response Force, United States

The Chemical and Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) is a unit of the United States Marines devoted to countering chemical or biological threats at home and abroad. Activated in 1996, the unit served a number of protective functions.

Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (USCSB), United States

The United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigations Board (USCSB) is a federal agency formed to identify the causes of chemical accidents. Created in 1990 as part of an amendment to the Clean Air Act, the USCSB did not begin functioning until it received funding in 1998.

Chemical Safety: Emergency Responses

When the United States as a whole, or any portion or property of the federal or state governments, is threatened by a chemical hazard, a host of agencies go into action. Communities, neighborhoods, and localities are also encouraged—and in some cases required—to develop their own emergency response plans.

Chemical Warfare

Chemical warfare involves the aggressive use of bulk chemicals that cause death or grave injury. These chemicals are different from the lethal chemical compounds that are part of infectious bacteria or viruses.

Chemistry: Applications in Espionage, Intelligence, and Security Issues

From the detection of forgeries to the identification of criminal suspects, the techniques of chemistry have many applications in areas relating to espionage, intelligence and security. Analytical chemistry, the branch of chemistry concerned with the analysis of substances, is of particular importance.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident, Detection and Monitoring

On April 26, 1986, a nuclear reactor in the town of Chernobyl (in the Ukraine, then a member state of the Soviet Union) exploded, collapsing the building in which it was located and releasing a radioactive plume that deposited material over much of Europe and Scandinavia. Although the Soviet government was unwilling to release information, satellite photographs by military and civilian satellites, as well as direct radiation measurements downwind, confirmed the event.

Chile, Intelligence and Security

Following a coup on September 11, 1973, Augusto Pinochet assumed power of Chile and for nearly two decades, the dictatorial Pinochet regime created and utilized various intelligence and secret police forces to ferret out and persecute political dissidents. The political prisoners seized by Pinochet's forces became known as the Desaparecidos, or Disappeared Ones.

China, Intelligence and Security

China is the last communist-dominated world power. The nation reserves veto power on the United Nations Security Council, and is a declared nuclear power.

Chinese Espionage Against the United States

Church Committee

Following the Watergate Scandal, the Senate conducted a thorough review of the function, operation, and administration of the United States intelligence community. A special committee, the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities was established to conduct the sweeping audit of national intelligence services.

CIA (United States Central Intelligence Agency)

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an independent government organization, founded under the National Security Act of 1947. The agency is a leader among the 14 agencies and organizations in the United States Intelligence Community.

CIA (CSI), Center for the Study of Intelligence

The Center for the Study of Intelligence (CSI) of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a reference and resource center for scholars and others studying the history and practice of intelligence disciplines. According to CSI's mission statement, the center "seeks to promote study, debate, and understanding of the role of intelligence in American society." This it accomplishes by a number of means, including publications, conferences and seminars, the maintenance of historical records, and other programs.

CIA Directorate of Science and Technology (DS&T)

The Directorate of Science and Technology (DS&T) is one of four directorates within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides support to the CIA mission through research, development, acquisition, and operation of technical capabilities and systems.

CIA, Foreign Broadcast Information Service

The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) is the pre-eminent collector of open source information for the United States government; it collects, translates, and disseminates foreign open source material for U.S. Government use.

CIA, Formation and History

United States military planners had always relied on intelligence during wartime, but it was not until World War II that the U.S. government began collecting intelligence systematically.

CIA, Legal Restriction

James Angleton, former chief of Counterintelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency, answers questions before the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1975 regarding the CIA practice of opening mail of targeted Americans. Proceedings from the committee resulted in tighter controls concerning CIA covert actions.

Cipher Disk

A cipher disk is a handheld coding device for generating a limited number of substitution ciphers, that is, ciphers in which each letter of the regular alphabet is enciphered as a single character from a cipher alphabet. A typical cipher disk consists of an inner ring with the characters of the regular alphabet printed around its outer edge, and an outer ring that fits snugly around the inner ring and can be rotated.

Cipher Key

A cipher key is a sequence of symbols that a user of a given cipher system must possess in order to use the system. Without a key, a user cannot encipher messages (turn them from plaintext to ciphertext) or decipher messages (turn them from ciphertext to plaintext).

Cipher Machines

A cipher machine is a mechanical device that assists in the production of ciphertext from plaintext and vice versa. In this broad sense, any mechanical aid from a cipher wheel to a supercomputer can qualify as a cipher machine; however, the term is usually reserved for devices that are fairly complex and that operate on mechanical or electromechanical rather than on electronic principles.

Cipher Pad

A cipher pad is a printed list of cipher keys, each intended to be used for the encipherment and decipherment of a single message. Cipher pads (also termed one-time pads) are closely related to one-time tapes and stream ciphers, which are discussed below.

Civil Aviation Security, United States

A customs officer inspects a Body Search image, which uses x-ray technology to allow inspectors to detect contraband on arriving passengers who choose not to submit to the traditional "body pat down." AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS.

Civil War, Espionage and Intelligence

Classified Information

Alberta Lee, daughter of Los Alamos scientist Dr. Wen Ho Lee, protests her father's imprisonment outside the Federal Building in San Francisco.

Clinton Administration (1993–2001), United States National Security Policy

President William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton argued that the end of the Cold War did not mean that the United States could abandon its long-standing aim of ensuring national security by promoting democratization around the world. Now the sole surviving superpower, the U.S.

Clipper Chip

In 1993, officials in the administration of President William Jefferson Clinton announced the proposed use of a cryptographic device intended to protect private communications for all but authorized monitoring by government agencies. Termed the "clipper chip," the device would permit secure encrypted voice communications, but would also allow United States law enforcement and intelligence agencies to monitor those communications by obtaining the algorithm keys to decrypt the transmissions.

Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV)

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) involves the use of video cameras to produce images for display on a limited number of screens connected directly to a non-broadcast transmission system (e.g., a network of cables). Commercial cable TV is, technically, an example of CCTV, but the term "closed-circuit TV" is generally reserved for systems serving a small number of screens that are monitored for security purposes.

Coast Guard (USCG), United States

One of the world's leading maritime security forces, the United States Coast Guard (USCG), maintains public safety in American ports and shipping lanes while also enforcing laws against drug trafficking, environmental abuses, and illegal immigration. Created from a 1915 merger of the Life Saving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service, the Coast Guard is unique among the nation's armed services in that it has two masters.

Coast Guard National Response Center

The Coast Guard National Response Center (CGNRC) is the sole national point of contact for reports of oil spills, as well as information regarding discharges of chemical, radiological, and biological discharges into the environment. As a unit of the Coast Guard, CGNRC is part of the Department of Transportation (DOT), but due to the significance of its function, it often reports directly to the president of the United States.

Code Name

A code name is a word or phrase used to refer secretly to a specific person, group, project, or plan of action. Individual spies and large-scale military operations are often referred to by code names to protect their identity.

Code Word

A code word is a word or phrase that is used to convey a predefined message that differs from its own literal meaning. For example, the code word IRONBOUND might be used to convey the message "meet by the river at midnight." If a number (e.g., 785) is used instead of a word, it is termed a code number.