Glossary

Adaptors: Actions to release stress, as defined by body language expert Gregory Hartley

Advocacy journalism: News coverage that openly espouses a point of view

Agent: A person who volunteers or is recruited to provide information covertly to intelligence services

Analytic listening: Purposeful listening; a term created for this book

Asset: A person (see “Agent”) or other resource supporting cover operations

Asset validation: The process used to vet a source

Barriers: Postures and objects that put separation between one person and another, as defined by body language expert Gregory Hartley

Cognitive Interview: Developed by Ronald P. Fisher and R. Edward Geiselman as a tool to help investigators improve their interviews with cooperative witnesses and victims

Compound question: A question that poses two or more questions at once; considered a bad question

Confabulation: A way of inadvertently conveying false information that has its roots in neurological disease

Control question: A question you know the answer to when you ask it

Cryptomnesia: Literally means “hidden memory”; refers to a phenomenon in which a person essentially steals from his or her own memory; a way of inadvertently conveying false information

Direct question: A straightforward question that opens with a basic interrogative

Dissembling phrase: A phrase designed to conceal the truth

Follow-up question: Also known as a persistent question; the same question either reshaped or repeated

HUMINT: Human intelligence

Illustrators: Movements that punctuate a statement, as defined by body language expert Gregory Hartley

Kinesics: An area of non-verbal communication that focuses on movement

Leading question: A question that supplies the answer; considered a bad question

Maximizing: A method to make your source feel more guilty than is warranted

Minimizing: A method to make your source feel less guilty than is warranted

Mis attribution: The phenomenon of memory involving incorrect attribution; a way of inadvertently conveying false information

Negative question: A question relying on negative words with the result being confusing as to what is sought (a yes or a “no”); considered a bad question

Non-pertinent question: A question ostensibly unrelated to the information sought that may be used to get the source talking

Power pose: A standing or seated posture that conveys self-assuredness

Proxemics: An area of non-verbal communication that focuses on spatial relationships

Proximate reality: A phrase coined by Mark Lowenthal, former assistant director of Central Intelligence for Analysis & Product, to describe what intelligence professionals seek

REBLE: The acronym created by Lena Sisco to describe key skills she teaches through The Congruency Group: Relax, Establish rapport, Baseline, Look for deviations, and Extract the truth

Regulators: Movements used to regulate another person’s speech, as defined by body language expert Gregory Hartley

Reliable facial muscles: A concept defined by psychologist Paul Ekman; he asserts that activation of these muscles communicates the presence of specific emotions

Repeat question: A question related to an earlier question that is seeking the same information

Shiin: The Japanese word to describe an awkward silence in a conversation

Somatic experience: A way of getting in touch with emotions and thoughts by focusing on body sensations

Sorting style: The way an individual sorts information (for example, in a sequential or random fashion)

Source amnesia: A memory phenomenon in which there is an inability to remember where knowledge came from; a way of inadvertently conveying false information

Summary question: A question allowing a source to revisit an answer

Vague question: A question that lacks clarity such that the source isn’t sure what information is being requested; considered a bad question

Vocalics: An area of non-verbal communication studies focused on how words are spoken