Cabal

A cabal is a group of people who try to control things in a secret way. Cabals are often an important part of a conspiracy theory.

Sometimes people say "There Is No Cabal", or use the abbreviation TINC to mean "There Is No Cabal". The joke is that since a cabal is necessarily secret, only those who are in the cabal can know.

Politics

The former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, of the Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the foreign policy of George W. Bush's administration were run by a "Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal". With this word he meant that the President had not really the power that he is given by the constitution and that the Vice President and the Secretary of Defense had more influence than they should have.