Street name

A Western intelligence professional jargon for a cover name used by an officer, an agent-group leader or a courier in their day-to-day communication (in the company of assets or contacts of an intelligence service.) Usually, a common first name. In Russian, a street name would be designated by a broad term, “klichka” (cover name.)

A “street name” should not be confused with an operational pseudonym – a cover name used primarily in the ciphered cable traffic. As a rule, assets and contacts do not know their operational pseudonyms, nor operational pseudonyms of their handlers and couriers, whom they usually know only as Karl, Bill, Alex, Sam, and not by true name or even an alias.