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Alphabet Soup Trivia Quiz

Think you know your intelligence acronyms? Find out here.

A multiple-choice quiz by Stillman. Estimated time: 8 mins.

Author
Stillman

Time
8 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
140,392

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
4 / 10

Plays
1333

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. This organization was also known as the Committee for State Security.

Answer: (Three letters)

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Question 2 of 10

2. This agency was the ancestor of today's CIA.

Answer: (Three letters)

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Question 3 of 10

3. This organization is responsible for the United State's signals security and intelligence.

Answer: (Three letters)

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Question 4 of 10

4. Although not normally thought of as an espionage agency, this outfit performs a lot of intelligence gathering in the counter-narcotics business.

Answer: (Three letters)

5. Technical and geolocation intelligence information derived from foreign noncommunications electromagnetic radiations emanating from other than nuclear detonations or radioactive sources is known as...? Hint

COMINT

HUMINT

SIGINT

ELINT

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Question 6 of 10

6. What US organization is responsible for domestic counter-terrorist intelligence gathering?

Answer: (Three letters)

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Question 7 of 10

7. This organization provides advisement to the President and Joint Chiefs of Staff on matters of national security.

Answer: (Three letters)

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Question 8 of 10

8. This organization is (or was) the Soviet Union's answer to the United States' Defense Intelligence Agency.

Answer: (Three letters)

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Question 9 of 10

9. Hard question time: This agency provides intelligence investigations and support for the German government.

Answer: (Three letters)

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Question 10 of 10

10. Another hard one: This organization provides intelligence investigations and support to the government of Spain.

Answer: (Three letters)

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. This organization was also known as the Committee for State Security.

Answer: KGB

KGB stands for "Komitet Gosudarstvenoy Bezoposnosti" (please excuse the awkward looking transliteration from the Cyrillic alphabet). This is translated from the Russian as "Committee for State Security".

2. This agency was the ancestor of today's CIA.

Answer: OSS

The OSS, or the Office of Strategic Services, was America's first true espionage organization. Formed during World War II by William "Wild Bill" Donavan, the OSS eventually gave rise to the CIA.

3. This organization is responsible for the United State's signals security and intelligence.

Answer: NSA

The National Security Agency (or "No Such Agency" if you prefer) is headquartered at Ft. Meade, Maryland. They monitor signals traffic and electronic intelligence for the US.

4. Although not normally thought of as an espionage agency, this outfit performs a lot of intelligence gathering in the counter-narcotics business.

Answer: DEA

The Drug Enforcement Agency is America's premier drug-fighting agency, and works closely with US Customs Service and the Coast Guard.

Answer: ELINT

ELINT stands for Electronic Intelligence. COMINT (Communications Intelligence) refers to information gathered by monitoring communications signals. SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) is a group that includes both ELINT and COMINT. HUMINT (Human Intelligence) is gathered from a human source.

6. What US organization is responsible for domestic counter-terrorist intelligence gathering?

Answer: FBI

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is much like a domestic counterpart to the CIA. They have similar duties, although the FBI has authority to work outside the US, but the CIA cannot work within the US. Also, the FBI works primarily to investigate crimes against the laws of the United States, and is not authorized to conduct investigations that are outside that purview.

7. This organization provides advisement to the President and Joint Chiefs of Staff on matters of national security.

Answer: NSC

The National Security Council (NSC) is headed by the National Security Advisor, and exists solely to keep the President and Joint Chiefs appraised of security issues.

8. This organization is (or was) the Soviet Union's answer to the United States' Defense Intelligence Agency.

Answer: GRU

The GRU, or Glavnoye Razvedovatelnoye Upravlenie (again, excuse the transliteration), was the Soviet Union's military intelligence directorate. They still exist in the same role for Russia.

9. Hard question time: This agency provides intelligence investigations and support for the German government.

Answer: BND

The BND, or Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service in English), functions like a mix of the American CIA and FBI... they work inside and outside of German borders and conduct foreign intelligence and domestic law enforcement investigations.

10. Another hard one: This organization provides intelligence investigations and support to the government of Spain.

Answer: CNI

CNI stands for Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, of the National Center for Intelligence. Again, they are very much like the American CIA in structure and duties.

Source: Author Stillman

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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