Tradecraft

For the UK fair trade organisation, see Traidcraft.

This Mark IV microdot camera could be used to take pictures of documents. The microdot film was so tiny it could be hidden in a spy's personal effects and smuggled out of a location.

Tradecraft, within the intelligence community, refers to the techniques, methods, and technologies used in modern espionage (spying) and generally as part of the activity of intelligence assessment. This includes general topics or techniques (dead drops, for example), or the specific techniques of a nation or organization (the particular form of encryption (encoding) used by the National Security Agency, for example).