scalphunter

English

Etymology

scalp +‎ hunter

Noun

scalphunter (plural scalphunters)

1. A warrior who collects the scalps of vanquished enemies.
2. (espionage) An agent who vets potential defectors.
   • 1982, Richard Deacon, With My Little Eye: The Memoirs of a Spy-Hunter, page 103:

     There is one class of spook we have not encountered as yet. This is the scalp-hunter, or defector-hunter. Quite often a scalp-hunter will be more valuable than almost any other intelligence operator.

   • 2002, Angelo Codevilla, Informing Statecraft, page 82:

     But agency policy is that the case officer is, in the jargon, a "scalp hunter" who must turn a contact into an agent […]

Related terms

• scalphunting