President of the United States (Executive Command and Control of Intelligence Agencies)

As commander in chief, the President of the United States oversees not only all U.S. military forces, but U.S.

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)

PGP, or Pretty Good Privacy, is a security software application used for the encryption and decryption of data. In 1991, Philip R.

Privacy: Legal and Ethical Issues

Among the foundational principles of the Western liberal tradition that binds the American political system is the belief that the rights of the individual, wherever possible, must be preserved against the authority of the state. Emanating from that principle is the implication that individuals have a right to privacy, a right implied—as noted by several distinguished Supreme Court justices over time—in the U.S.

Profiling

Profiling is the process of developing descriptions of the traits and characteristics of unknown offenders in specific criminal cases. It is often used in situations for which authorities have no likely suspect.

Propaganda, Uses and Psychology

Propaganda is a form of communication that attempts to influence the behavior of people by affecting their perceptions, attitudes and opinions. Propaganda can restructure hostile attitudes, reinforce friendly attitudes, or maintain the continued neutrality of those people who are undecided.

Pseudoscience Intelligence Studies

During the 1960s, Soviet intelligence services became interested in the possible use of paranormal abilities for "psychic intelligence" or "remote viewing"—the use of telekinetic powers to glimpse or otherwise comprehend objects not immediately available to the senses. Remote viewing, it was claimed, would help intelligence officers gain access to information that could not be seen or heard by ordinary means.

Psychotropic Drugs

Psychotropic drugs are a loosely defined grouping of agents that have effects on psychological function and include the antidepressants, hallucinogens, and tranquilizers. They are all compounds that affect the functioning of the mind through pharmacological action on the central nervous system.

Public Health Service (PHS), United States

The United States Public Health Service is a federal government agency that promotes the health of the people of the United States and the world. It is a principle component of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and is composed of eight agencies.

Pueblo Incident

The Pueblo incident involved the 1968 seizure and hijacking of the USS Pueblo by North Korean military forces. The Pueblo, a naval intelligence ship, was conducting offshore surveillance of North Korean radar and radio installations when it was overtaken by the North Korean fleet.

Purple Machine

The Purple Machine was an Allied codename for one of several Japanese cipher machines used during World War Two. The nickname Purple Machine was derived from the name of the code the machine produced.

Quantum Physics: Applications to Espionage, Intelligence, and Security Issues

Quantum physics, which has been called "the science of the very small," is essential to the design of modern microelectronics. Without quantum physics it would not be possible to design the microscopic structures that make today's digital circuits possible.

RADAR

RADAR—an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging— is the use of electromagnetic waves at sub-optical frequencies (i.e., less than about 1012 Hz) to sense objects at a distance. Hundreds of different RADAR systems have been designed for various purposes, military and other.

RADAR, Synthetic Aperture

Synthetic aperture RADAR (SAR) is used for high-resolution mapping of the ground from moving aircraft or spacecraft. A stationary RADAR system's angular resolution—that is, the clarity with which it can distinguish two small, side-by-side targets at a given distance—is determined by the physical width (aperture) of its antenna.

Radiation, Biological Damage

The nuclear explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945, demonstrated the immense power of the nuclear bomb. The effects of the explosion were immediate.

Radio Direction Finding Equipment

One of the earliest military applications for radio was in direction-finding (DF), which makes it possible to locate the positions of enemy aircraft and ships using four major components: an antenna, a receiver, a processor or processors, and a control and output system. Examples of radio DF equipment in use at the beginning of the twenty-first century include the OUTBOARD (Organizational Unit Tactical Baseline Operational Area Radio Detection) system of the U.S.

Radio Frequency (RF) Weapons

RF, or radio frequency weapons, also known as directedenergy weapons, use electromagnetic energy on specific frequencies to disable electronic systems. The principle is similar to that of high-power microwave (HPM) weapons, only HPM systems tend to be much more sophisticated, and are thus, more likely to be in the control of superpowers or near-superpowers.

Radioactive Waste Storage

The storage of radioactive waste generated by the use and production of radioactive materials within the United States remains a contentious national security issue. The security of these materials, many taking thousands of years to decay, requires not only security measures to prevent tampering or theft, but also important considerations of the physical environment of waste storage.

Radiological Emergency Response Plan, United States Federal

The Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (FRERP) is a blueprint for the response of the United States federal government to a radiological emergency—that is, a crisis involving the release of nuclear radiation. Drafted by a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) committee in 1985, FRERP is an agreement among 17 federal agencies, key among which are FEMA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Departments of Energy and Defense, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Reagan Administration (1981–1989), United States National Security Policy

To Ronald Reagan, national security meant battling the Soviet Union for world supremacy. Much more conservative than his predecessors, Reagan argued that international instability of the world could be traced to Moscow and he insisted that the United States needed to use military force to protect its global interests.

Real IRA (RIRA)

The Real Irish Republican Army (Real IRA, or RIRA), also known as the the True IRA, formed in early 1998 as a clandestine armed wing of the 32-County Sovereignty Movement, a "political pressure group" dedicated to removing British forces from Northern Ireland and unifying Ireland. The 32-County Sovereignty Movement opposed Sinn Fein's adoption in September, 1997, of the Mitchell principles of democracy and nonviolence and opposed the amendment in December 1999 of Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution, which laid claim to Northern Ireland.

Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance is a term for efforts to gain information about an enemy, usually conducted before, or in service to, a larger operation. The French word entered the English language in 1810—not coincidentally, at a time when British and other armies were at war with Napoleon's French forces.

Red Code

Red was a Japanese naval code created during World War I and used until the outbreak of World War II. The Red code used the additive encryption method.

Red Hand Defenders (RHD)

Red Hand Defenders (RHD) is an extremist terrorist group formed in 1998 and composed largely of Protestant hardliners from loyalist groups observing a cease-fire. RHD seeks to prevent a political settlement with Irish nationalists by attacking Catholic civilian interests in Northern Ireland.

Red Orchestra

The Red Orchestra was the name given to a network of communist, Soviet-affiliated spies during World War II. The group provided intelligence to the Soviet government, but also functioned as a resistance organization against the Nazis.

Remote Sensing

Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon by a device located a considerable distance from the object or phenomenon. The term was coined in the mid-1950s by an Office of Naval Research scientist to distinguish the information obtained from the first generation of meteorological satellites from that which had been traditionally obtained by airplane-based aerial photography.

Retina and Iris Scans

The retina is the neural part of the eye responsible for vision and the pattern of blood vessels serving the retina is as unique as a fingerprint.

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was established in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party. FARC is Colombia's oldest, largest, most capable, and best-equipped Marxist insurgency.

Revolutionary Nuclei

Revolutionary Nuclei (RN) (also known as Revolutionary Cells) emerged from a broad range of antiestablishment and anti-U.S./NATO/EU leftist groups active in Greece between 1995 and 1998. The group is believed to be the successor to or offshoot of Greece's most prolific terrorist group, Revolutionary People's Struggle (ELA), which, as of mid-2002, had not claimed an attack since January 1995.

Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17 November)

The Revolutionary Organization 17 November (a.k.a. 17 November) is a radical leftist group established in 1975 and named for the student uprising in Greece in November, 1973, in protest of the military regime.

Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C)

The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) was originally formed in 1978 as Devrimci Sol, or Dev Sol, a splinter faction of the Turkish People's Liberation Party/Front. Renamed in 1994 after factional infighting, it espouses a Marxist ideology and is virulently anti-U.S.