Compromising material gathered in order to blackmail, discredit or manipulate a person.
The CIA glossary points to the Russian origin of the term: kompromat is compromising material collected by Soviet or Russian officials, and in a broader sense any material used to blackmail or manipulate someone.1
Kompromat is sometimes obtained through a honey trap, which the CIA glossary associates particularly with Soviet practice during the Cold War. In the security apparatus of the Polish People’s Republic, compromising material was also a recruitment tool: according to the glossary of the IPN Archival Inventory, the motivation of a secret collaborator could include compromising material and evidence of crimes, and the vetting of a candidate for secret collaborator (TW) could serve to obtain such material.1,2,3
Sources
- CIA, Spy Speak Glossary
- Institute of National Remembrance, IPN archival inventory – Glossary, letter T (in Polish)
- Institute of National Remembrance, IPN archival inventory – Glossary, letter K (in Polish)
Checked: 4 November 2026