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List of slang terms for federal agents

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A federal agent (also known as a special agent, federal police officer, or federal operative) is an employee of an agency or branch of the federal government, typically one responsible for investigating organized crime and terrorism, handling matters of domestic or national security, and who practices espionage, such as the FBI, CIA, NSA, or MI5. The following is a list of slang terms used to refer to federal agents, which are used by the public, members of organized crime, anti-establishment political groups or individuals, and occasionally other federal employees. This list does not encompass slang terms used to refer to local police departments, nor those that denote the agencies themselves.

List

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Term Notes
Alphabet, Alphabet agent, Alphabet boy Commonly used by users of online far-right forums[1] in reference to the many government agencies that use acronyms.
Clancy In reference to American novelist Tom Clancy. Most often used by CIA agents to refer to new recruits who overestimate their knowledge of the field, specifically those who are overconfident as a result of having read a lot of Tom Clancy novels.
Cousin Term used by American federal agents to refer to British government agents.
Babylon Jamaican slang for members of establishments (including the police and federal agents) that are perceived as oppressive due their association with white people.[2]
Downtown gang FBI
Fed Abbreviation of "federal agent" or "federal police officer".[3]
Federales, Federale Informal Spanish word used to denote security forces operating for the federal government. Equivalent of "fed".[4]
Glow in the dark, Glowie, Glows, Glowfag, Glownigger The term was coined by Terry A. Davis, a computer programmer diagnosed with schizophrenia, who allegedly believed that the CIA was stalking and harassing him. "Glowie" is often used in online forums to refer to government agents, especially undercover operatives who infiltrate online extremist spaces.

"Glow in the dark" and its derivative terms have been used to refer to various groups: newcomers that do not fit in with the culture of certain forums and are thus suspected to have bad intentions, journalists who report on extremist groups, tech companies that collect users' personal data, and others.[1][5][6][7]

G-man, Government-man, G-woman First used in 1928.[8] According to popular legend, when American gangster Machine Gun Kelly was arrested, he shouted "Don't shoot, G-men! Don't shoot!".[9] The term is primarily used to refer to FBI agents.
KGB Acronym for the principal security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991, now used as a slang term.
Little girl In reference to FBI agents who pose as children online to catch child predators.
Men in black A term often used by UFO conspiracy theorists, referring to alleged government agents who wear black suits and are responsible for the suppression of information related to UFOs, including testimonies of those who claim to have witnessed them.[10]
Militia A term used in some post-soviet countries to refer to a member of the secret police.
Mukhabarat, Al-Amn Arabic terms for "intelligence" and "security", the former is mainly used for foreign intelligence whereas the latter is used for domestic intelligence.
Moscas Border Patrol Police.[11]
Narc, Nark, Narq An informant or an undercover DEA agent.[11]
Pepos Mexican State Police[11]
Sleeper Derived from the term Sleeper agent, which refers an agent who spends a long time working to blend into a community they are surveilling.[12]
Spook Typically used to refer to an undercover agent.[13]
The man Can be used to refer to any figure of authority, but in some contexts federal agents specifically. It is associated with the Anti-authoritarian slogan "stick it to the man". Somewhat paradoxically, it can also be used as a compliment to indicate that someone is worthy of their position of power.[14]
Three letter agent Commonly used by users of online far-right forums, in reference to the numerous government agencies represented by three letter acronyms.[15]
12, Twelve The DEA or police concerned with investigating drug-related crimes. Originating from police radio codes, it is now often used by drug dealers as warning phrase.

References

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  1. ^ a b Khazan, Olga (2021-01-25). "The Far Right's Fear of 'Glowies'". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  2. ^ "Babylon: definition of Babylon in Oxford dictionary (British & World English)". 2014-11-29. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  3. ^ "Definition of FED". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  4. ^ Jowett, Philip S. (2006). The Mexican Revolution, 1910-20. A. M. De Quesada, Stephen Walsh. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84176-989-9. OCLC 62265685.
  5. ^ J. Nordbø, Katharina (2021). "Among Us, Around Us, Against Us: The Alt-Right's Metaphoric Construction of Black, Muslim, Jewish, and Transgender Others as Monstrous in Anonymous Fora" (PDF). Department of Foreign Languages University of Bergen.
  6. ^ Kinneholm, Alva; Bergman, Julia. "No friends, no job, no girlfriend" (PDF).
  7. ^ Balan, Matei. "The New Right 2.0" (PDF). UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Department of Media and Communication.
  8. ^ "Definition of G-MAN". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  9. ^ "Federal Bureau of Investigation - Timeline of FBI History". 2006-11-21. Archived from the original on 2006-11-21. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  10. ^ Alexander, John B. (2020-03-23). "The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomena from the Beginning (3rd ed., 2 vol.) by Jerome Clark". Journal of Scientific Exploration. 34 (1): 137–140. doi:10.31275/20201717. ISSN 0892-3310.
  11. ^ a b c "Slang Terms and Code Words: A Reference for Law Enforcement Personnel" (PDF). Drug Enforcement Administration.
  12. ^ "sleeper", Wiktionary, 2022-12-12, retrieved 2022-12-25
  13. ^ "Definition of SPOOK". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  14. ^ "Definition of stick it to the man". www.allwords.com. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  15. ^ Bigley, Sean (2021-09-26). "Applying to a Three-Letter Agency? Don't Overlook Their Suitability Criteria". ClearanceJobs. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
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