Office of the Historian

Abbreviations and Terms

  • A–1, U.S.-made single engine, propeller driven, attack aircraft
  • AAA, anti-aircraft artillery
  • ABF, attacks by fire
  • ABM, anti-ballistic missile
  • ACA, Office of Asian Communist Affairs, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Department of State
  • AF, Air Force
  • AID, Agency for International Development
  • AK–47, Soviet-designed Kalashnikov assault weapon
  • Amb, Ambassador
  • AMH, Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr.
  • ANZUS, Australia, New Zealand, United States
  • APC, Accelerated Pacification Campaign
  • Arc Light, code name for U.S. B–52 bombing strikes in Southeast Asia
  • ARDF, Aerial Radio Direction Finding
  • ARVN, Army of the Republic of (South) Vietnam
  • ASAP, as soon as possible
  • ASD, Assistant Secretary of Defense
  • ASPAC, Asian and Pacific Council
  • B–52, all weather, intercontinental, strategic heavy bomber
  • Backchannel, a method of communication outside normal bureaucratic procedure; the White House, for instance, used “backchannel” messages to bypass the Department of State.
  • Barrel Roll, code name for U.S. Air Force-Navy interdiction of North Vietnamese infiltration routed in northern Laos
  • BOB, Bureau of the Budget
  • BPP, Border Patrol Police (Thailand)
  • Breakfast, code name for initial secret U.S. bombing campaign in Cambodia
  • C–47, propeller-driven, twin engine, low-wing aircraft used for cargo or troop transportation
  • C–123, high-wing, 2 prop engine transport aircraft
  • C–130, high-wing, 4 turbo prop engine aircraft used for rapid transportation of troops and/or equipment.
  • C–141, high-wing, 4 turbo prop engine, long-range transport aircraft
  • CAP, Combined Action Platoon
  • CAS, Controlled American Source
  • Cherokee, special telegraphic distribution channel for the Secretary of State
  • CH–47, heavy transport helicopter (“Chinook”)
  • ChiCom, Chinese Communist(s)
  • CIA, Central Intelligence Agency
  • CINCPAC, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific
  • CIP, Commodities Import Program
  • CJCS, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • CL, classified
  • CM, Chairman’s (of JCS) memorandum
  • CMC, Commandant of the Marine Corps
  • CNO, Chief of Naval Operations
  • Cobras, U.S. helicopter gunship
  • CODEL, Congressional delegation
  • COMINT, communications intelligence
  • COMUSMACTHAI, Commander, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Thailand
  • COMUSMACV, Commander, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
  • CONUS, Continental United States
  • CORDS, Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support
  • COSVN, Central Office for South Vietnam
  • CPDC, Central Pacification and Development Council
  • CSA, Chief of Staff of the Army
  • CSAF, Chief of Staff of the Air Force
  • CTZ, corps tactical zone
  • CVA, attack aircraft carrier
  • CVT, Confederation of Vietnamese Labor (Travail)
  • CY, calendar year
  • Daniel Boone (DB), MACV reconnaissance operations in Cambodia
  • DAO, Defense Attaché Office
  • DCI, Director of Central Intelligence
  • DCM, Deputy Chief of Mission
  • DDI, Deputy Directorate for Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency
  • DIA, Defense Intelligence Agency
  • del, delegate; delegation
  • Delto, Delegation to (telegram series indicator from the Delegation to the Paris Peace Talks on Vietnam)
  • DMZ, demilitarized zone
  • DOD, Department of Defense
  • DOD/ISA, Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
  • DOS, Department of State
  • DPRG, Defense Program Review Group
  • DRV (also DRVN), Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)
  • EAP, (also EA), Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Department of State
  • EAP/ACA, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Office of Asian Communist Affairs
  • EC–121, unarmed, four engine propeller-driven reconnaissance aircraft
  • ECM, electronic counter measures
  • Embtel, Embassy telegram
  • EOB, Executive Office Building
  • EST, eastern standard time
  • Exdis, exclusive distribution (extremely limited distribution)
  • FAL, forward air liaison
  • FANK, Forces Armées Nationales Khmeres (Khmer National Armed Forces)
  • FARK, Forces Armées Royales Khmeres (Royal Khmer Armed Forces)
  • FDF, Free Democratic Forces (of South Vietnam)
  • FE, Division for Far East, Directorate of Operations, Central Intelligence Agency
  • FEOP, Foreign Exchange Operations Fund
  • Flash, indicates message of highest priority requiring the attention of the Secretary of State
  • FMS, foreign military sales
  • FUNK, National United Front of Kampuchea
  • FWF, Free World forces
  • FY, fiscal year
  • FYI, for your information
  • GMT, Greenwich Mean Time
  • GOC, Government of Cambodia
  • GRC, Government of China
  • GVN, Government of Vietnam
  • GVR, Government of the Republic of Vietnam
  • HAK, Henry A. Kissinger
  • HES, Hamlet Evaluation System
  • HEW, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
  • hq, headquarters
  • ICC, International Supervision and Control Commission
  • ICRC, International Committee of the Red Cross
  • IG, Interdepartmental Group
  • IMF, International Monetary Fund
  • INR, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/IL, Office of Information Liaison, Bureau of Intelligence and Research
  • ISA, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
  • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • JCSM, Joint Chiefs of Staff Memorandum
  • JGS, General Joint Staff, Vietnamese Armed Forces
  • JHH, John Herbert Holdridge
  • JUSMAG, Joint United States Military Assistance Group
  • JUSPAO, Joint United States Public Affairs Office
  • K, Kissinger
  • KK, Khmer Krom
  • KIA, killed in action
  • KW, kilowatt
  • LCM, landing craft, mechanized
  • LCT, landing craft, tracked
  • LCU, landing craft, utility
  • Lien Minh, Vietnamese acronym for National Social Democratic Front
  • Limdis, limited distribution
  • LOC, lines of communication
  • M–1, World War II-era U.S. military rifle
  • M–14, semi-automatic U.S. military rifle
  • MAAG, Military Assistance Advisory Group
  • MAC, Military Assistance Command
  • MACTHAI, Military Assistance Command, Thailand
  • MACV, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
  • MASF, Military Assistance Sales Funded
  • MAP, Military Assistance Program
  • Market Time, code name for coastal interdiction of South Vietnam
  • MAT(s), Mobile Advisory Team(s)
  • MENU, code name for U.S. bombings in Cambodia
  • MIG, Soviet fighter aircraft
  • MR, Military Region
  • MSTS, Military Sea Transport Ship
  • NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • NCO, non-commissioned officer
  • NIE, National Intelligence Estimate
  • NLF, National Liberation Front
  • NLHX, Neo Lao Hat Xat, political organization of the Pathet Lao
  • Nodis, no distribution (other than to persons indicated)
  • Noforn, no foreign dissemination
  • Notal, not to all
  • NSA, National Security Agency
  • NSAM, National Security Action Memorandum
  • NSC, National Security Council
  • NSDF, National Social Democratic Front (of South Vietnam)
  • NSDM, National Security Decision Memorandum
  • NSF, National Salvation Front (of South Vietnam)
  • NSSM, National Security Study Memorandum
  • NVA (also NVNA), North Vietnamese Army
  • NVN, North Vietnam
  • OASD/ISA, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
  • OEP, Office of Emergency Preparedness
  • ONE, Office of National Estimates, Central Intelligence Agency
  • OSD, Office of the Secretary of Defense
  • P, President Nixon
  • PARU, police aerial resupply unit (Thailand, paramilitary arm of BBP)
  • PAVN, People’s Army of Vietnam
  • PBR, river boat patrol
  • p.c., press conference
  • PDJ, Plaine des Jarres
  • PF, Popular Forces
  • PFIAB, President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
  • Phoenix, American name for the Phuong Hoang program to destroy the Viet Cong infrastructure
  • PL, Pathet Lao
  • PL–480, Public Law 480 (Food for Peace)
  • POL, petroleum, oil, and lubricants
  • POL, political issues in the Department of State Central Files
  • POW, prisoner of war
  • PR, public relations
  • Prairie Fire (PF), code name for U.S.-led South Vietnamese reconnaissance teams sent into Laos to seek targets for U.S bombing operations of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and to assess bombing damage
  • PRG, Provisional Revolutionary Government
  • PRU, Provincial Reconnaissance Unit (South Vietnam unit of the Phoung Hoang program to destroy the Viet Cong infrastructure)
  • PSDF, (also PS/DF), People’s Self Defense Force
  • PSYOPS(s), psychological operation(s)
  • RCT, regimental combat team
  • RD, rural development
  • Recce, reconnaissance
  • Reftel, reference telegram
  • RF/PF, Regional Forces/Popular Forces
  • RG, Record Group
  • RKG, Royal Khmer (Cambodian) Government
  • RLA, Royal Lao Army
  • RLAF, Royal Lao Air Force; Royal Lao Armed Forces
  • RLG, Royal Lao Government
  • RLGAF, Royal Lao Government Armed Forces
  • RN, Richard Nixon
  • ROK, Republic of Korea
  • RTAF, Royal Thai Air Force
  • RVN, Republic of Vietnam
  • RVNAF, Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces
  • SAC, Strategic Air Command
  • Salem House, code name for U.S.-led intelligence missions into Cambodia (formerly known as Daniel Boone)
  • SALT, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
  • SAM, surface-to-air missile
  • SEACOORDS, Southeast Asia Coordinating Group
  • SEATO, Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
  • Secto, series indicator for telegrams from the Secretary of State or his party to the Department of State
  • Septel, separate telegram
  • SGU(s), Special Group Unit(s)
  • Sierra Romeo, code name for Thai artillery units in Laos
  • SNIE, Special National Intelligence Estimate
  • SR, strategic reserve
  • SR–71, U.S. high altitude reconnaissance aircraft
  • S/S, Executive Secretariat of the Department of State
  • Steel Tiger, U.S. Air Force-Navy interdiction of North Vietnamese infiltration routes in southern Laos
  • SVN, South Vietnam
  • T–28, single engine 1950s-era propeller-driven trainer aircraft converted for tactical combat
  • Tacair, tactical air strikes
  • TAC, Tactical Air Command
  • TCC, Troop Contributing (to South Vietnam) Countries
  • TDY, temporary duty
  • TOT, time of target
  • TS, Top Secret
  • U, Office of the Under Secretary of State
  • UAR, United Arab Republic
  • UN, United Nations
  • US, United States
  • USA, United States Army
  • USAF, United States Air Force
  • USG, United States Government
  • USIA, United States Information Agency
  • USMC, United States Marine Corps
  • USN, United States Navy
  • VC, Viet Cong
  • VCI, Viet Cong Infrastructure
  • VC/VN, Viet Cong/North Vietnamese
  • VN, Vietnam
  • VNAF, Vietnam Air Force
  • VSSG, Vietnam Special Studies Group
  • WH, White House
  • WHO, White House Office (series indicator for White House messages)
  • WIA, wounded in action
  • WSAG, Washington Special Actions Group
  • Z, Zulu (Greenwich Mean) Time