Office of the Historian

Abbreviations and Terms

  • ABM, anti-ballistic missile
  • ACDA, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
  • AEC, Atomic Energy Commission
  • AH, Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
  • AMB, ambassador
  • AP, Associated Press
  • ARE, Arab Republic of Egypt
  • ARVN, Army of the Republic of Vietnam
  • ASAP, as soon as possible
  • ASW, anti-submarine warfare
  • B-52, all-weather, intercontinental, strategic heavy bomber
  • BDA, bombing damage assessment
  • BH, Bob Haldeman
  • BW, biological weapons
  • C-130, high-wing, 4 turbo prop engine aircraft used for rapid transportation of troops and/or equipment
  • CBW, Convention on Biological Weapons
  • CC, Central Committee
  • CCC, Commodity Credit Corporation
  • CDU, Christian Democratic Union
  • CDU/CSU, Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union
  • CEQ, Council on Environmental Quality
  • CES, Conference on European Security
  • ChiCom(s), Chinese Communist(s)
  • CIA, Central Intelligence Agency
  • CIEP, Council on International Economic Policy
  • CIEPDM, Council on International Economic Policy Decision Memorandum
  • CIEPSM, Council on International Economic Policy Study Memorandum
  • CPD, series indicator for communications sent by President Nixon while at Camp David
  • CPSU, Communist Party of the Soviet Union
  • CSCE, Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
  • D, Democrat; also Anatoly F. Dobrynin
  • DCI, Director of Central Intelligence
  • DCM, Deputy Chief of Mission
  • Dept, Department
  • Deptel, Department of State telegram
  • Dissem, dissemination
  • DMZ, demilitarized zone
  • DOD, Department of Defense
  • DOD/ISA, Office of International Security Affairs, Department of Defense
  • DOS, Department of State
  • DRV, Democratic Republic of Vietnam
  • EC-121, unarmed, four-engine propeller-driven reconnaissance aircraft
  • Emb, Embassy Embtel, Embassy telegram
  • EOB, Executive Office Building
  • ESC, European Security Conference
  • EST, Eastern Standard Time
  • ETA, Estimated Time of Arrival
  • EUR, Bureau of European Affairs, Department of State
  • EUR/SOV, Office of Soviet Union Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs
  • Exdis, Exclusive distribution (extremely limited distribution)
  • XIM (or Ex-Im), Export-Import Bank of Washington
  • FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  • FonMin, Foreign Minister
  • FRG, Federal Republic of Germany
  • FUNK, National United Front of Kampuchea
  • FYI, for your information
  • GDR, German Democratic Republic
  • GM, General Motors Corporation
  • GMT, Greenwich Mean Time
  • GVN, Government of (South) Vietnam
  • HAK, Henry Alfred Kissinger
  • HAKTO, series indicator for messages sent from Henry A. Kissinger while away from Washington
  • HEW, Department of Health, Education and Welfare
  • ICBM, intercontinental ballistic missile
  • IG, interdepartmental group
  • INR, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/DRR/RSE, Office of Research and Analysis for USSR and Eastern Europe, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/DRR/RSE/FP, Soviet Foreign Affairs Division, Officer of Research and Analysis for USSR and Eastern Europe, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • JFK, John Fitzgerald Kennedy
  • K, Kissinger
  • KGB, Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (State Security Committee)
  • LBJ, Lyndon Baines Johnson
  • LDX, Long Distance Xerography
  • Limdis, Limited Distribution
  • LP, liquefied petroleum
  • MACV, United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam
  • MARC, Modern ABM Radar Complex
  • MBFR, Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions
  • ME, Middle East Memcon, memorandum of conversation
  • MFN, Most Favored Nation
  • MIRV, multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicle
  • MR, Military Region (in Vietnam)
  • MSR, Missile Site Radar
  • NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • NBC, National Broadcasting Company
  • NCA, National Capital Area
  • NEA, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
  • Niact, night action, telegram indicator requiring immediate action
  • NIC, National Intelligence Council
  • NIE, National Intelligence Estimate
  • Nodis, No Distribution (other than to persons indicated)
  • Noforn, no foreign distribution
  • NPT, (Nuclear) Non-Proliferation Treaty
  • NSA, National Security Agency
  • NSC, National Security Council
  • NSC-IG, National Security Council Interdepartmental Group
  • NSDM, National Security Decision Memorandum
  • NSSM, National Security Study Memorandum
  • NVA, North Vietnamese Army
  • NVN, North Vietnam
  • OLPAR, Other Large Phased-Array Radar
  • OST, Office of Science and Technology
  • P, President
  • PFIAB, President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
  • PM, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of State
  • POL, petroleum, oil, and lubricants
  • POW, prisoner of war
  • PR, public relations
  • PRC, People’s Republic of China
  • PRG, Provisional Revolutionary Government (for South Vietnam)
  • R, Republican
  • Ref, reference
  • Reftel, reference telegram
  • RG, Record Group
  • RN, Richard Nixon
  • ROK, Republic of Korea
  • S, Office of the Secretary of State, or Secretary
  • SALT, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
  • Septel, separate telegram
  • SITTO, series indicator for messages sent to Henry A. Kissinger while away from Washington, especially during his secret trip to Moscow in April 1972, when communications were routed through the Situation Room in the White House
  • SLBM, submarine-launched ballistic missile
  • Sov, Soviet
  • SOV, Office of Soviet Union Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs
  • S/P, Policy Planning Staff, Department of State
  • SRG, Senior Review Group
  • SU, Soviet Union
  • SVN, South Vietnam
  • TAC, Tactical Air Command
  • TASS, Telegrafnoe Agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza (Telegram Agency of the Soviet Union)
  • Telcon, telephone conversation
  • TOHAK, series indicator for messages sent to Henry A. Kissinger while away from Washington
  • UAR, United Arab Republic
  • UK, United Kingdom
  • ULMS, Undersea Long-range Missile System
  • UN, United Nations
  • UNSC, United Nations Security Council
  • US, United States
  • USAF, United States Air Force
  • USDEL, United States Delegate/Delegation
  • USIA, United States Information Agency
  • USIB, United States Intelligence Board
  • USS, United States Ship
  • USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
  • USUN, United States Mission to the United Nations in New York
  • V, Vietnam
  • VC, Vietcong
  • VIP, very important person
  • VN, Vietnam
  • WH, White House
  • WSAG, Washington Special Actions Group
  • WTE, series indicator for messages sent from Henry A. Kissinger while away from Washington, especially during his secret trip to Moscow in April 1972, when communications were routed through Kissinger’s airplane at an airport outside Moscow
  • Z, Zulu Time (Greenwich Mean Time)