Office of the Historian

Abbreviations and Terms

    • ABM, anti-ballistic missile
    • ACDA, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
    • ACDA/D, Office of the Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
    • ACDA/DD, Office of the Deputy Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
    • ACDA/IR, International Relations Bureau, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
    • ACDA/MEA, Military and Economic Affairs Bureau, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
    • ACDA/NWT, Nuclear Weapons and Advanced Technology Bureau, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
    • ACDA/NWT/AT, Weapons Test Ban Division, Nuclear Weapons and Advanced Technology Bureau, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
    • AEC, Atomic Energy Commission
    • AF, Bureau of African Affairs, Department of State
    • AID, Agency for International Development
    • ARA, Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, Department of State
    • ARPA, Advanced Research Projects Agency, Department of Defense
    • B–1, American long-range bomber
    • BW, biological (bacteriological) weapons
    • BWC, Biological Weapons Convention
    • CANDU, Canadian Deutrium Uranium (nuclear reactor)
    • CBR, chemical-biological-radiological
    • CCD, Geneva Conference of the Committee on Disarmament
    • CEQ, Council on Environmental Quality
    • CFR, Code of Federal Regulations
    • CIA, Central Intelligence Agency
    • CIEP, Council on International Economic Policy
    • COCOM, Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Exports
    • Cong., Congress
    • CONUS, continental United States
    • CPSU, Communist Party of the Soviet Union
    • CSCE, Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
    • CTB, comprehensive test ban
    • CTBT, Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
    • CW, chemical weapons
    • CY, calendar year
    • DCEF, demonstration centrifuge enrichment facility
    • DCI, Director of Central Intelligence
    • DCM, Deputy Chief of Mission
    • Del, delegate or delegation
    • DelOff, delegation officer
    • DG, Director General
    • Disto, series indicator for telegrams from the U.S. Delegation to the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva to the Department of State
    • DOD, Department of Defense
    • DOS, Department of State
    • EA, Bureau of East Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • EA/J, Office of Japanese Affairs, Bureau of East Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • EA/RA, Office of Regional Affairs, Bureau of East Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • EC–9, reference to the nine member states of the EC: Belgium, Denmark, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom
    • EmbOff, embassy officer
    • EnMod, environmental modification
    • ERDA, Energy Research and Development Administration
    • EST, Eastern Standard Time; also, estimate
    • EUR, Bureau of European Affairs, Department of State
    • EUR/CE, Office of Central European Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs, Department of State
    • EUR/RPM, Office of NATO and Atlantic Political-Military Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs, Department of State
    • EUR/SOV, Office of Soviet Union Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs, Department of State
    • EURATOM, European Atomic Energy Community
    • EURODIF, European Gaseous Diffusion Uranium Enrichment Consortium
    • Ex–Im, Export–Import Bank
    • Exdis, Exclusive Distribution
    • FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation
    • FBS, forward-basing system
    • FCO, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK)
    • FEA, Federal Energy Administration
    • FonOff, foreign office
    • ForMin, foreign ministry or foreign minister
    • FRC, Federal Records Center (Washington National Records Center)
    • FRG, Federal Republic of Germany
    • FY, fiscal year
    • FYI, for your information
    • GA, UN General Assembly
    • GDR, German Democratic Republic
    • GNZ, Government of New Zealand
    • GOA, Government of Argentina; Government of Australia
    • GOB, Government of Brazil
    • GOI,Government of Iran
    • H. Rpt., House Report
    • HAK or HK, Henry Kissinger
    • HAKTO, series designator for telegrams to Henry A. Kissinger
    • HEU, highly-enriched uranium
    • HEW, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
    • HMG, Her (His) Majesty’s Government
    • HTGR, high temperature gas reactor
    • IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency
    • ICBM, Inter Continental Ballistic Missile
    • ICC, International Control Commission
    • INR, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
    • IO, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Department of State
    • IO/UNP, Office of United Nations Political Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Department of State
    • IOPZ, Indian Ocean Peace Zone
    • IRBM, Intermediate-range ballistic missile
    • ISA, Office of International Security Affairs, Department of Defense
    • JCAE, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy
    • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • JCSM, Joint Chiefs of Staff Memorandum
    • KORI-II, South Korean, U.S.-built power reactor
    • KT, kiloton
    • KWU, Kraftwerke-Union
    • L, Legal Adviser, Department of State
    • L/UNA, Assistant Legal Adviser for United Nations Affairs, Department of State
    • LAP, loading, assembling, and packaging
    • LDC, lesser-developed country
    • Limdis, limited distribution
    • LTBT, Limited Test Ban Treaty
    • MBFR, Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions
    • MCA, military construction authorization
    • MDW, mass destruction weapons
    • ME, Middle East
    • memcon, memorandum of conversation
    • MFA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    • MIRV, Multiple Independently-Targeted Reentry Vehicle
    • MW, megawatt
    • MWe, megawatt-electric
    • NAC, North Atlantic Council
    • NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
    • NEA, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Department of State
    • NEA/INS, Office of Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Department of State
    • Negative security assurance, pledge not to use nuclear weapons against Non-Nuclear Weapon States who signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty
    • NEPA, National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
    • NFZ, nuclear free zone
    • NNWS, non-nuclear weapon states
    • Nodis, no distribution
    • Notal, not all
    • NPT, Non-Proliferation Treaty
    • NRC, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
    • NSC, National Security Council; also national supervisory committee
    • NSDM, National Security Decision Memorandum
    • NSSM, National Security Study Memorandum
    • NWS, Nuclear Weapons States
    • OASD, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense
    • OASD/ISA, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs
    • OBE, overtaken by events
    • OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
    • OMB, Office of Management and Budget
    • OPEC, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
    • OSD, Office of the Secretary of Defense
    • OSI, Office of Scientific Intelligence
    • PermRep, permanent representative
    • PM, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of State
    • PM/DCA, Office of Disarmament and Arms Control, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of State
    • PNE, peaceful nuclear explosion
    • PNW, prevention of nuclear war
    • PolCouns, political counselor
    • PRC, People’s Republic of China
    • Prepcom, preparatory committee
    • QTB, quota test ban
    • R&D, research and development
    • RCA, riot control agent
    • REF or Reftel, reference telegram
    • REP, representative
    • Revcon, review conference
    • RG, Record Group; Review Group
    • ROB, reduction of military budgets
    • ROC, Republic of China
    • ROK, Republic of Korea
    • RV, re-entry vehicle
    • S, Office of the Secretary of State; Senate; Secret
    • S/P, Policy Planning Council or Staff, Department of State
    • S/S, Executive Secretariat, Department of State
    • SALT, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
    • SC, Security Council
    • SCC, Special Coordination Committee
    • SCI, Bureau of International Scientific and Technological Affairs, Department of State
    • SCI/AE, Office of Atomic Energy Affairs, Bureau of International Scientific and Technological Affairs, Department of State
    • SEA, Southeast Asia
    • SecGen, UN Secretary-General
    • SEN, Sensitive
    • Septel, separate telegram
    • SFRC, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
    • SIPRI, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
    • SLIFER, seismometer and electric yield measurement device
    • SNIE, Special National Intelligence Estimate
    • SOV, Office of Soviet Union Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs, Department of State
    • SOVDEL, Soviet delegate
    • SRG, Senior Review Group
    • SYG, Secretary General
    • TASS, Telegrafnoye Agentsvo Sovetskogo Soiuza (Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union)
    • TS, Top Secret
    • TTB or TTTB, Threshold Test Ban Treaty
    • U, Unclassified; uranium
    • UEA, Uranium Enrichment Associates
    • UK, United Kingdom
    • UN, United Nations
    • UNEP, United Nations Environmental Program
    • UNGA, United Nations General Assembly
    • UNSYG, Secretary General, United Nations
    • U.S., United States
    • USA, United States of America; also U.S. Army
    • USAEC, United States Atomic Energy Commission
    • USC, Under Secretaries Committee of the National Security Council; also, United States Code
    • USDel, U.S. delegate
    • USG, United States Government
    • USNATO, United States Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
    • USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
    • USUN, United States Mission to the United Nations
    • VP, Verification Panel
    • VPWG, Verification Panel Working Group
    • WDC, World Disarmament Conference
    • WMD, weapons of mass destruction
    • WSAG, Washington Special Actions Group
    • Z, Zulu time (Greenwich mean time)