Glossary

**"Must Know" Terms and Phrases**

These are the terms and phrases that you need to know; they don't *quite* need a separate page and might never need one - so they get defined here.

How to Use This Page
Please, don't link to individual entries on this page like this:
[[Glossary#Rolodex]]

Instead, put that in a page called Rolodex, a page that contains one line, in the following format:

```
#REDIRECT [[Glossary#Rolodex]]

```

Done like this, pages that link to [[Rolodex]] (the REDIRECT page) will continue to work correctly when Glossary items are moved to their own article.

AD
--

short for Assistant Director

## CIA

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a real-life civilian foreign intelligence service of the United States federal government, tasked with gathering, processing and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT).

Most CIA operatives had been taken out after the Arrival.. Phyllis was one of the surviving operatives, allowed to live because of her special abilities.

## CIA, Operations Division

This is a core competency of the agency; it is what most people think of as the role of the Central Intelligence Agency: gather information otherwise known as actionable intelligence , turning people into agents, or assets, persons who will gather information on the agency's behalf and etc

## Collaborators

These are the people who cooperate with the Transitional Authority, work for the TA and get extra benefits for themselves and their families. This meaning of "traitorous cooperation with the enemy" dates from 1940, originally in reference to the Vichy Government of Frenchmen who cooperated with the Nazi Germans, 1940-44.

## Congress

The United States Congress was the legislative branch of the old United States of America. Snyder said that his Congressman had been zapped by a Drone. Implying that the same fate happened to the rest of the Congressmembers.

## DARPA

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a real-life agency of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. The internet was originally called ARPANET and then for a time, DARPANET

## Defense Threat Reduction Agency

The real-life agency Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is responsible for tracking, containing, and neutralizing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), such as Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical agents (NBC for short). The work is also known as counter-proliferation. Please note, in the episode it is referred to as the "Defense Nuclear Agency", an accepted abbreviation for the DTRA.

## EMP

Acronym for **E**lectro**M**agnetic **P**ulse. It is a short, intense, burst of electromagnetic energy which it can be natural or artificial. In the context of this series, it's implied that it's artificial in origin.

### Background

The first documented cases of the this are from the first nuclear explosions. The detonation of a nuclear bomb releases an EMP.

In order to generate this pulse, there has to be a large build-up of charge, and this charge has to be moved. When a device is set-off, an intense amount of pressure and heat is unleashed, which pushes "charge" away at an accelerated rate (otherwise known as current, as in a quantifiable charge passing over a fixed point per unit time). This sudden change in the electric and magnetic fields induces currents in anything that can conduct electricity. This can cause arcing and overload circuits, especially sensitive electronics on which many modern devices rely.

Nuclear explosions are not necessary to generate an EMP. Large enough conventional explosions, and solar flares, can generate the same effect.

## FBI

Wil Bowman was a former FBI agent. He mentions that his fellow FBI agents were disappeared during the Arrival.

## Green Zone

An area of an occupied city or country which is regarded as safe. In the series *Colony*, it is an area inhabited by wealthy and influential members of society.

## Governor General

Governor-General or governor general (plural governors-general), in modern usage, is the title of an office-holder appointed to represent the monarch of a sovereign state in the governing of an independent realm.

In the context of the TV show *Colony*, the Governor General is Helena Goldwin and she has responsibility for the greater LA area. Several (at least three) Proxy Governors report to her.

## IED

An **I**mprovised **E**xplosive **D**evice.

## Internal Affairs

The department within a law enforcement agency which is responsible for dealing with internal issues such as professional misconduct, corruption, etc. (originally more fully "Internal Affairs Bureau", "Internal Affairs Division").

## Interpol

Short for the **Inter**national Criminal **Pol**ice Organization, based in Lyon, France. Despite its portrayal in fiction, Interpol does not have arrest or investigative powers. It serves as an intermediary between a foreign government and the host country, especially when government needs access to law enforcement resources outside its jurisdiction. It also maintain an extensive database of facial photos, DNA, fingerprints, lost / stolen travel documents, "wants" (lists of wanted persons) and warrants, known as blue and red notices.

## Maquis

"Maquis" is French for "underbrush", and is an allusion to the partisans of the French Resistance.

## MI6

Short for Military Intelligence, Section 6, a holdover from when the agency was a part of the War Office (now called the Ministry of Defence) is correctly called the "Secret Intelligence Service". It is the UK's Civilian External or Foreign Intelligence Service (as oppose to Domestic Intelligence Service like MI5). It reports directly to the Foreign Office and is the UK's equivalent of the USA's CIA.

## National Geospatial Agency

The real-life organization National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is both a combat support agency, under the United States Department of Defense, and an intelligence agency of the United States Intelligence Community. It collects, analyzes, and distributes geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national security.

## National Reconnaissance Office

National Reconnaissance Office - The real-life agency National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) develops and operates overhead (satellite) reconnaissance systems and conducts intelligence-related activities for U.S. National Security.

## New York

Referred to by Helena Goldwin, in a satellite phone conversation, as if it were occupied and controlled in a similar way to Los Angeles, California.

## Numbers Station

A numbers station is a channel on the short-wave radio, which is unlicensed with the respective authority and on which an announcer rattles off a string of numbers. It was a way to broadcast a coded message to the intended party, who would then use a "code book" to decipher the message. It was primarily used during the "Cold War", between the United States and the Former Soviet Union, which ended in the Twentieth-Century.

## Panic Room

A panic room is a secret area built into the structure of a building, in which occupants can hide if they find themselves in danger. Usually these rooms will have some supplies, camera screens to allow the occupants to see what is happening outside and a phone line allowing them to call for help. During The Arrival (S2E1 Eleven.Thirteen), many important people are said to be going missing. Will Bowman and his partner Devon Howard are investigating the disappearance of someone named Mr Lawes. During their search of Mr Lawes’ house, they notice a security camera following them, Will states that they are FBI and a voice asks to see their IDs. Will then comments to Devon that there is a panic room. After showing their FBI identity cards, the VIP exits his panic room which was seen to be hidden behind a set of shelves.

## Proxy Governor

A proxy is a figurehead, someone who appears to rule and govern, but in fact takes orders from someone else, who prefers to remain hidden.

## Raps

Short for Raptors, presumably because of the bird of prey in the logos of both the Transitional Authority and Homeland Security. There's been some discussion regarding whether "Raps" refers to one particular organisation, to all of the occupying forces, government or to whatever The Hosts are. The problem with it referring to The Hosts is that no one knows what they look like, so it's not clear why they should be taken to look like birds of prey when that logo seems to come from the USA's pre-existing Homeland Security logo. It's not been made clear in the show, on USA Network websites or by the show's creators - so for the moment "The Raps" is used to refer to all or any of them. MikeLacey (talk) 12:03, February 10, 2016 (UTC)

## Rolodex

A police style database used by The Occupation to track people down. It's said to pre-date The Arrival but it's not known if it uses Human or Host technology. The Hosts used the data from the Rolodex to "screen" people after The Arrival. Jennifer McMahon said in "Broussard" that it had information from every computer system, right up to the time of The Arrival. Access to the system is restricted, when Will Bowman needs access for McMahon after Phyllis' death he has to ask Alan Snyder to arrange it. The original Rolodex, was a combination of two words: rolling + index, was actually a contact list where you could access any card-entry with a flip of your fingers.

## Sequester

To isolate or hide away (someone or something)

## SOCOM

SOCOM is the name given to the Special Operations Command in the United States. It is the unified combatant command that oversees the various Special Operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Armed Forces. It is part of the Department of Defense and based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

## Surveillance Annex

The large hall in Homeland Security HQ where the Surveillance Pool work.

The Surveillance Annex
## Surveillance Pool

A team of Homeland Security personnel whose role it is to monitor individuals and places in the LA bloc.

## Total Rendition

When an entire bloc is rounded up and transported to the Factory, formerly used when an entire bloc was to be bombed from orbit and "turned to glass", which was what happened to Dallas. The Hosts switched to transportation due to labour shortages.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.askamathematician.com/2011/11/q-why-do-a-nuclear-weapons-cause-emps-electromagnetic-pulses