What term refers to commercial entities that are utilized for intelligence gathering?

The term that refers to commercial entities used for intelligence gathering is indeed Foreign Government-Sponsored Enterprises. This term encompasses organizations that, while primarily aimed at commercial purposes, are often utilized by foreign governments for gathering intelligence, leveraging their operations, networks, or resources to achieve strategic objectives that may involve collecting information on economic, technological, or political aspects of other countries.

These entities can operate in various sectors, using legitimate business activities as a cover to collect sensitive data or influence decisions that align with their parent governments' interests. This is a known tactic in the realm of counterintelligence, where identifying and understanding the roles of such enterprises is crucial for security and defense strategies.

In contrast, embassies and consulates are official diplomatic missions representing a country's government abroad, primarily focused on political and diplomatic relations rather than intelligence gathering in a commercial sense. Terrorist organizations may engage in intelligence activities, but their primary purpose is generally not aligned with commercial operations or the formal intelligence gathering that occurs within a government-sponsored context.