WarScope Glossary
ACLED(Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project)
Category: Data
A disaggregated data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping project.
ADS-B(Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast)
Category: Data
A surveillance technology in which an aircraft determines its position via satellite navigation and periodically broadcasts it.
AIS(Automatic Identification System)
Category: Data
An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services for identifying and locating vessels.
Alert
Category: Intelligence
A high-priority notification triggered by a significant, verified escalation or severe event cluster indicating an active crisis.
Armistice
Category: Diplomacy
A formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting; it is not necessarily the end of a war, but rather a cessation of hostilities.
Asymmetric warfare
Category: Diplomacy
Warfare between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly.
ATGM(Anti-Tank Guided Missile)
Category: Military
A guided missile primarily designed to destroy heavily armored military vehicles.
Attribution
Category: Intelligence
The process of identifying the perpetrator or source of an attack or action, often difficult in cyber warfare.
Belligerent
Category: Diplomacy
A nation or person engaged in war or conflict, as recognized under international law.
Big Data
Category: Data
Extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions.
C4ISR(Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance)
Category: Military
A framework that provides military commanders with timely and accurate information to make decisions and manage operations.
CBRN(Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear)
Category: Military
A set of weapons or events characterized by these types of agents, often associated with mass destruction.
Ceasefire
Category: Diplomacy
A temporary suspension of fighting, typically by mutual consent and often as a prelude to peace negotiations.
Child Soldier
Category: Humanitarian
Any person under 18 years of age who is part of any regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity.
Civilians
Category: Humanitarian
Persons who are not members of the armed forces.
Close air support
Category: Military
Air action by fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft against hostile targets that are in close proximity to friendly forces.
COIN(Counterinsurgency)
Category: Military
Military and paramilitary efforts taken by a government to defeat an insurgency.
Confidence
Category: Intelligence
A measure of the reliability of an assessment or data point, based on the convergence of multiple independent sources and data availability.
Contradiction
Category: Data
A scenario where primary data sources conflict with one another or with dominant news narratives, requiring further validation or highlighting an information gap.
Data Fusion
Category: Data
The process of integrating multiple data sources to produce more consistent, accurate, and useful information.
Diplomatic Immunity
Category: Diplomacy
A form of legal immunity that ensures diplomats are safe from prosecution under the laws of the host country.
DMZ(Demilitarized Zone)
Category: Military
An area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities or personnel.
ELINT(Electronic Intelligence)
Category: Intelligence
Intelligence derived from foreign non-communications electromagnetic radiations emanating from other than nuclear detonations or radioactive sources.
Emergency Relief
Category: Humanitarian
Assistance provided in response to an immediate crisis, typically involving food, water, shelter, and medical care.
EW(Electronic Warfare)
Category: Military
Any military action involving the use of electromagnetic energy to control the electromagnetic spectrum or to attack the enemy.
Fire support
Category: Military
Lethal and non-lethal fires used to create a specific lethal or non-lethal effect on a target.
FIRMS(Fire Information for Resource Management System)
Category: Data
Provides near real-time fire data from NASA satellites.
Food Security
Category: Humanitarian
The state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
Fusion score
Category: Data
An aggregated metric calculated by WarScope's algorithm that combines multiple data streams (events, anomalies, structural fragility) to assess the overall risk or intensity in a theater.
GDELT(Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone)
Category: Data
A project to identify, geolocate, and categorize human societal events from global news media.
Gender-based violence (GBV)
Category: Humanitarian
Harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender. It is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power, and harmful norms.
Geocoding
Category: Data
The process of converting addresses or place names into geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude).
GEOINT(Geospatial Intelligence)
Category: Intelligence
The exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information to describe, assess, and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on Earth.
Human Shields
Category: Humanitarian
The deliberate placement of non-combatants in or around combatants or military targets to deter attacks.
Humanitarian Aid
Category: Humanitarian
Material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until long-term help can be given.
HUMINT(Human Intelligence)
Category: Intelligence
Intelligence gathered by means of interpersonal contact.
ICRC(International Committee of the Red Cross)
Category: Humanitarian
An independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence.
IDP(Internally Displaced Person)
Category: Humanitarian
Someone who is forced to flee his or her home but who remains within his or her country's borders.
IED(Improvised Explosive Device)
Category: Military
A bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action.
IMINT(Imagery Intelligence)
Category: Intelligence
Intelligence derived from the exploitation of imagery collected by various systems.
ISR(Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance)
Category: Military
The coordination and integration of sensors, assets, and processing, exploitation, and dissemination systems to optimize the planning and execution of operations.
ITSTAR(Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance)
Category: Intelligence
A military doctrine that links the collection and dissemination of intelligence with the execution of targeting.
Kinetic event
Category: Military
An event involving the active use of lethal force, such as artillery strikes, bombings, or firefights, as opposed to cyber, electronic, or psychological operations.
Kinetic strike
Category: Military
A military attack that involves the use of force or projectiles to destroy or damage a target.
LOC(Line of Control)
Category: Military
A demarcation line separating territories under the control of different military forces, often disputed.
Logistics Cluster
Category: Humanitarian
A group of humanitarian organizations providing coordination, information management, and operational services to facilitate humanitarian logistics.
MANPADS(Man-Portable Air-Defense System)
Category: Military
A lightweight, shoulder-fired missile system used to engage aircraft.
MASINT(Measurement and Signature Intelligence)
Category: Intelligence
Intelligence obtained from quantitative and qualitative analysis of data (e.g., radar, optical, acoustic) to identify unique characteristics of targets.
Mediation
Category: Diplomacy
Intervention in a dispute in order to resolve it; arbitration.
MHPSS(Mental Health and Psychosocial Support)
Category: Humanitarian
Refers to a range of actions covering basic services and security, community and family support, and focused individual support for mental health in emergencies.
MLRS(Multiple Launch Rocket System)
Category: Military
A type of rocket artillery system that fires multiple rockets simultaneously.
NFI(Non-Food Items)
Category: Humanitarian
Essential items distributed in humanitarian emergencies, such as blankets, cooking sets, shelter materials, and hygiene products.
Non-kinetic strike
Category: Military
A military attack that does not involve the use of force or projectiles, such as cyber warfare or electronic warfare.
OCHA(United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)
Category: Humanitarian
A UN body responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies.
OSINT(Open-Source Intelligence)
Category: Intelligence
Intelligence collected from publicly available sources.
Peacekeeping
Category: Diplomacy
The active maintenance of a truce or peace by an international military force.
Protection Cluster
Category: Humanitarian
A group of humanitarian organizations responsible for ensuring the protection of affected populations in humanitarian crises.
Proxy war
Category: Diplomacy
A conflict in which two opposing countries support combatants that are fighting against each other instead of engaging in direct warfare.
R2P(Responsibility to Protect)
Category: Humanitarian
A global political commitment endorsed by all member states of the United Nations at the 2005 World Summit to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
Refugee
Category: Humanitarian
A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
ROE(Rules of Engagement)
Category: Military
Directives issued by military authority specifying the circumstances, conditions, degree, and manner in which military forces may use force.
RSF(Reporters Without Borders)
Category: Humanitarian
An international non-profit organization that safeguards the right to freedom of information.
SAM(Surface-to-Air Missile)
Category: Military
A missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy airborne targets.
Sanctions
Category: Diplomacy
Penalties applied by one country on another, often to influence policy changes without resorting to military force.
Sentiment Analysis
Category: Data
The process of computationally identifying and categorizing opinions expressed in a piece of text, especially in news and social media, to determine if the writer's attitude towards a particular topic is positive, negative, or neutral.
SIGINT(Signals Intelligence)
Category: Intelligence
Intelligence gathered from electronic signals and systems, such as communications and radar.
SitRep(Situation Report)
Category: Intelligence
A periodic update that provides a comprehensive overview of the current status, recent events, and intelligence assessments of a specific conflict zone or operation.
Soft Power
Category: Diplomacy
The ability to attract and co-opt rather than coerce, use force or give money as a means of persuasion.
Stand-off weapon
Category: Military
A weapon that can be launched from a distance, outside the range of enemy defenses.
Strategic bombing
Category: Military
A military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying their morale or their economic ability to produce and transport materiel.
Theater
Category: Military
An area or place in which important military events occur or are progressing. In WarScope, it refers to a specific geographic conflict zone.
Thermal anomaly
Category: Data
A localized area of high temperature detected by satellite sensors (like VIIRS or MODIS), which may indicate fires, explosions, or active combat.
TLE(Two-Line Element set)
Category: Data
A data format encoding a list of orbital elements of an Earth-orbiting satellite for a given point in time.
UNHCR(United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)
Category: Humanitarian
A UN agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself.
WASH(Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)
Category: Humanitarian
A term used in international development for ensuring access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene.
Watch
Category: Intelligence
An intelligence status indicating an elevated risk or early signs of escalation in a specific region, warranting closer monitoring but not yet a full alert.
White noise
Category: Intelligence
In intelligence, refers to irrelevant or misleading information that can obscure valuable intelligence.
WHO(World Health Organization)
Category: Humanitarian
A specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.
WMD(Weapons of Mass Destruction)
Category: Military
Nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological, or other weapons that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans.