Telephone Tap Detector

A telephone tap detector aids communication security by providing electronic recognition of attempts to intercept a call through wiretapping or listening devices. Telephone tapping is, at least in certain particulars, an exact science, and tap detection technology must likewise be efficient to counteract those efforts.

Terror Alert System, United States

On March 12, 2002, President Bush created the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) by signing Homeland Security Presidential Directive 3. The HSAS is a five-tiered alert system designed to quickly notify government agencies, industry, and the public about terrorist threats to United States interests at home and abroad.

Terrorism, Domestic (United States)

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines domestic terrorism as terrorism involving groups based in, and operating entirely within, the United States and its territories, without foreign direction.

Terrorism, Intelligence Based Threat and Risk Assessments

In the 1990s, a terrorism risk assessment conducted by the General Accounting Office (GAO) led to preparedness recommendations for United States municipalities. By May 1998, GAO reported, only 11 cities had put in place the necessary emergency response systems.

Terrorism, Philosophical and Ideological Origins

Terrorism is the systematic belief in the political, religious, or ideological efficacy of producing fear by attacking—or threatening to attack—unsuspecting or defenseless populations, usually civilians, and usually by surprise. Terrorist attacks are desperate acts of those who feel themselves to be otherwise powerless.

Terrorism Risk Insurance

On November 26, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.

Terrorist and Para-State Organizations

Para-state organizations challenge some aspect of the authority of recognized governments or states. Many para-state groups, illegal within their own country or territory, seek international recognition at the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), a non-governmental organization headquartered in The Hague.

Terrorist Organization List, United States

The United States Secretary of State formally designates "Foreign Terrorist Organizations" (FTO) that threaten United States interests. Within the Department of State, the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism is assigned the primary responsibility for monitoring available intelligence and public news accounts of terrorist activities so that they may advise the Secretary on decisions related to terrorism-related designations.

Terrorist Organizations, Freezing of Assets

Monitoring the frozen assets of terrorist organizations is something that took on a new focus and urgency after the events of September 11, 2001. The United States and its allies have arrested about 2,290 suspected terrorists and terrorist financiers in 99 countries, designated about 250 individuals and organizations as terrorists or terrorist supporters, and seized more than $113 million in assets since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Terrorist Threat Integration Center

The Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) improves the ability of the United States to thwart terrorist attacks by analyzing and sharing intelligence emanating from anywhere in the world. Opened in May 2003, as part of President George W.

Thin Layer Chromatography

Thin layer chromatography, which is typically abbreviated as TLC, is a type of liquid chromatography that can separate chemical compounds of differing structure based on the rate at which they move through a support under defined conditions.

TIA (Terrorism Information Awareness)

The Terrorism Information Awarness (TIA) system (formerly the Total Information Awareness program) is a new intelligence database system that culls and stores information, and creates risk assessments for a variety of security and intelligence uses. Using communications and financial surveillance, as well as general intelligence information, the TIA system is able sort information, identify patterns, and create data models.

Tissue-Based Biosensors

The military recognizes that biological cells are excellent sensors of changes in the environment because they respond to external stimuli with highly reproducible and specific signals. Some toxins cause cells to release oxygen radicals or nitrogen products.

Tokyo Rose

During the Second World War, both Allied and Axis nations engaged in a multi-media propaganda battle. Leaflets, posters, film reels, and radio broadcasts were all used to spread misinformation and undermine the morale of enemy troops.

Toxicology

The science of toxicology is concerned with the adverse effects of chemicals on biological systems and includes the study of the detection, action and counteractions of poisons. Toxicologists today generally use the techniques of analytical chemistry to detect and identify foreign chemicals in the body, with a particular emphasis on toxic or hazardous substances.

Toxins

Toxins are compounds that are produced and released by a variety of microorganisms and other organisms. Toxins can be fast-acting and, because they are already preformed, do not require the growth of a microorganism in the host.

Tradecraft

Operatives of intelligence services and other covert organizations use the term tradecraft to refer to the techniques of the espionage trade, or the methods by which an agency involved in espionage conducts its business. Elements of tradecraft, in general terms, include the ways in which an intelligence officer arranges to make contact with an agent, the means by which the agent passes on information to the officer, the method for paying the agent, and the many precautions and tactics of deception applied along the way.

Transportation Department, United States

United States soldiers, left, stand watch in Grand Central Terminal in New York after the Transportation Department warned transit and other railroad systems about possible terrorist attacks in May 2002. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS.

Treasury Department, United States

The United States Department of the Treasury, the second-oldest department in the U.S. Government, was established by an Act of Congress on 2 September 1789 (I Stat.

Truman Administration (1945–1953), United States National Security Policy

The onset of the Cold War during the presidency of Harry S. Truman led the executive branch recognize a need to integrate domestic, foreign, and military policies to combat the expansionism of the Soviet Union.

Truth Serum

Truth serum is a term given to any of a number of different sedative or hypnotic drugs that are used to induce a person to tell the truth. Truth serums cause a person to become uninhibited and talkative, but they do not guarantee the veracity of the subject.

Tularemia

Tularemia is a plague-like disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. U.S.

Tunisian Combatant Group (TCG)

The Tunisian Combatant Group (TCG) also operates as, or is known as, the Tunisian Islamic Fighting Group.

Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA)

Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) is a traditional Marxist-Leninist revolutionary movement formed in 1983 from remnants of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, a Peruvian insurgent group active in the 1960s. The MRTA aims to establish a Marxist regime and to rid Peru of all imperialist elements (primarily U.S.

Turkey, Intelligence and Security

Turkey's intelligence service, MIT (Milli Istihbarat Teskilati; Special Organization) has roots that go back to the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Today, it is concerned largely with signals intelligence, and with monitoring threats from neighboring countries.

Turkish Hizballah

Turkish Hizballah is a Kurdish Islamic (Sunni) extremist organization that arose in the late 1980s in the Diyarbakir area in response to Kurdistan Workers' Party atrocities against Muslims in southeastern Turkey, where (Turkish) Hizballah seeks to establish an independent Islamic state. The group comprises loosely organized factions, the largest of which are Ilim, which advocates the use of violence to achieve the group's goals, and Menzil, which supports an intellectual approach.

Typex

Typex was the name for the principal encryption device, or cipher machine, used by the military, intelligence, and diplomatic services of the British Empire during World War II. In the 1920s, the British were still using book cipher systems, and became aware of the need to modernize using new cipher machinery.

U-2 Incident

The U-2 spy plane, a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft built by the U.S. starting in the 1950s, was the subject of many "incidents" or diplomatic confrontations with the Soviet Union during the Cold War; however, the debacle referred to as the U-2 incident began on May 1, 1960, when a U-2 plane flown by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) pilot Gary Powers took off from a U.S.

U-2 Spy Plane

The U-2 is a jet-powered reconnaissance aircraft specially designed to fly at high altitudes (i.e., above 70,000 ft [21 km]). It was used during the late 1950s to overfly the Soviet Union, China, the Middle East, and Cuba; flights over the Soviet Union, the primary mission for which the plane was designed, ended in 1960 when a U-2 flown by CIA pilot Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union.

Ukraine, Intelligence and Security

Much of Ukraine's intelligence and special operations structure bears the imprint of the nation's Soviet past. Both the Security Service of Ukraine (Sluzhba Bespeky Ukrayiny; SBU) and its principal action unit are based on Soviet models.