Office of the Historian

Abbreviations and Terms

  • AASO, Afro-Asian Solidarity Organization
  • ABM, anti-ballistic missile
  • ACDA, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
  • AD, Anatoly F. Dobrynin
  • AFL–CIO, American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations
  • AFP, Agence France-Presse, French news agency
  • ALCM, air-launched cruise missile
  • Amb, Ambassador
  • AP, Associated Press
  • APAG, Atlantic Policy Advisory Group
  • ASAP, as soon as possible
  • ASM, air-to-sea missile
  • ASW, anti-submarine warfare
  • B, Brezhnev
  • bpd, barrels per day
  • BW, biological weapons
  • C, Office of the Counselor of the Department of State
  • CBM, confidence-building measure
  • CBS, Columbia Broadcasting System
  • CCD, Conference of the Committee on Disarmament
  • CDT, Central Daylight Time
  • CDC, Control Data Corporation
  • CDU, Christian Democratic Union
  • CDU/CSU, Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union
  • CEA, Council of Economic Advisers
  • CEP, circular error probable; circular error probability
  • CES, Conference on European Security
  • CIA, Central Intelligence Agency
  • COCOM, Coordinating Committee on Export Controls
  • CPSU, Communist Party of the Soviet Union
  • CSCE, Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
  • CSU, Christian Social Union
  • CTB, Comprehensive Test Ban
  • CW, chemical weapons
  • D, Democrat; also Anatoly F. Dobrynin
  • DCI, Director of Central Intelligence
  • Dept, Department
  • Deptel, Department of State telegram
  • Dissem, dissemination
  • DOD, Department of Defense
  • DOS, Department of State
  • DRV, Democratic Republic of Vietnam
  • EA, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Department of State
  • EB, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, Department of State
  • EB/EWT, Office of East-West Trade, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, Department of State
  • EB/ITP, Office of International Trade Policy, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, Department of State
  • EC, European Community
  • EDT, Eastern Daylight Time
  • Emb, Embassy
  • EPB, Economic Policy Board
  • ERDA, Energy Research and Development Administration
  • 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, Department of State
  • Exdis, exclusive distribution (extremely limited distribution)
  • EXIM (or Ex-Im), Export-Import Bank of Washington
  • FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • FBS, forward-based systems
  • FEA, Federal Energy Administration; Federal Environmental Agency (West German)
  • FNLA, Frente Nacional de Libertacao de Angola (National Liberation Front of Angola)
  • FRG, Federal Republic of Germany
  • FYI, for your information
  • GATT, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
  • GDR, German Democratic Republic
  • GNP, gross national product
  • GPO, Government Printing Office
  • GRF, Gerald R. Ford
  • GVN, Government of (South) Vietnam
  • HAK, Henry A. Kissinger
  • Hakto, series indicator for message sent from Henry A. Kissinger while away from Washington
  • HE, high explosive
  • H.E., His Excellency
  • HEW, Department of Health, Education and Welfare
  • HK, Henry Kissinger
  • IBM, International Business Machines Corporation
  • ICBM, intercontinental ballistic missile
  • ICCM, intercontinental cruise missile
  • IEA, International Energy Agency
  • ILO, International Labor Organization
  • IMARSAT, International Maritime Satellite
  • INR, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/REA, Office of Research and Analysis for East Asia and Pacific, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/RES, Office of Research and Analysis for Europe and the Soviet Union, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/PMT, Office of Political-Military and Theatre forces, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • K, Kissinger
  • KGB, Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (State Security Committee)
  • km, kilometer
  • kt, kiloton
  • LBJ, Lyndon B. Johnson
  • LDC, lesser developed country
  • LNG, liquefied natural gas
  • LTBT, Limited Test Ban Treaty
  • MBFR, Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions
  • Memcon, memorandum of conversation
  • MFN, Most Favored Nation
  • MIA, missing in action
  • MIRV, multiple independently-targetable re-entry vehicle
  • MM, Minuteman (missile)
  • MPLA, Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola)
  • MRV, multiple re-entry vehicle
  • MT, megaton
  • MTN, multilateral trade negotiations
  • NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  • NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • NBC, National Broadcasting Corporation
  • NIE, National Intelligence Estimate
  • Nodis, no distribution (other than to personas indicated)
  • Noforn, no foreign distribution
  • NPT, (Nuclear) Non-Proliferation Treaty
  • NSA, National Security Agency
  • NSC, National Security Council
  • NSCIC, National Security Council Intelligence Committee
  • NSDM, National Security Decision Memorandum
  • NSSM, National Security Study Memorandum
  • OAS, Organization of American States
  • OAU, Organization of African Unity
  • OMB, Office of Management and Budget
  • OPEC, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
  • P, President
  • PA, Public Affairs
  • PA/M, Office of Plans and Management, Bureau of Public Affairs, Department of State
  • PFLP, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
  • PL, Public Law
  • PLO, Palestine Liberation Organization
  • PNE, Peaceful Nuclear Explosions
  • POW, prisoner of war
  • PRC, People’s Republic of China
  • prepcon, preparatory conference
  • PRG, Provisional Revolutionary Government
  • R, Republican
  • R&D, research and development
  • Ref, reference
  • RG, Record Group
  • RPV, remotely piloted vehicle
  • RSA, Republic of South Africa
  • RV, re-entry vehicle
  • S, Office of the Secretary of State, or Secretary
  • SALT, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
  • SAR, South African Republic (Republic of South Africa)
  • SAM, surface-to-air missile
  • SCC, Standing Consultative Commission
  • septel, separate telegram
  • SFRC, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
  • SLBM, submarine-launched ballistic missile
  • SLCM, submarine-launched cruise missile
  • SOTU, State of the Union
  • Sov, Soviet
  • SOV, Office of Soviet Union Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs, Department of State
  • S/P, Policy Planning Staff, Department of State
  • SRAM, short-range attack missile
  • STR, Special Trade Representative
  • SU, Soviet Union
  • TASS, Telegrafnoe Agenstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza (Telegram Agency of the Soviet Union)
  • telcon, telephone conversation
  • Tohak, series indicator for message sent to Henry A. Kissinger while away from Washington
  • TTB, Threshold Test Ban
  • UAW, United Auto Workers
  • UK, United Kingdom
  • UN, United Nations
  • UNEF, United Nations Emergency Force
  • UNGA, United Nations General Assembly
  • UNITA, Uniao Nacional para e Independencia Total de Angola (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola)
  • US, United States
  • USDA, United States Department of Agriculture
  • USDel, United States Delegation/Delegate
  • USIB, United States Intelligence Board
  • USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
  • V–E, Victory in Europe
  • VFW, Veterans of Foreign Wars
  • VIP, very important person
  • VP, Verification Panel; Vice President
  • WH, White House
  • WHCA, White House Communications Agency
  • Z, Zulu Time (Greenwich Mean Time)