Office of the Historian

Abbreviations and Terms

  • ABM, anti-ballistic missile
  • AC, alternating current
  • ACDA, U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
  • A/DCM, Assistant Deputy Chief of Mission
  • AD, Anatoly F. Dobrynin
  • AF, Bureau of African Affairs, Department of State
  • AFL–CIO, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
  • AFSSO, Air Force Special Security Office
  • ALCM, air-launched cruise missile
  • Amcit, American citizen
  • ANZUS, Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty
  • APC, armored personnel carrier
  • ARA, Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, Department of State
  • ARA/CCA, Office of Cuban Affairs, Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, Department of State
  • ARPV, advanced remotely piloted vehicle
  • ASAP, as soon as possible
  • ASAT, anti-satellite
  • ASBM, air-to-surface ballistic missile
  • ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations
  • ASW, anti-submarine warfare
  • A/SY, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Security
  • AWACS, Airborne Warning and Control System
  • backchannel, a method of communication outside normal bureaucratic procedure; the White House, for instance, used “backchannel” to bypass the Department of State
  • BW, biological weapons
  • BWC, Biological Weapons Convention
  • C, Carter; Office of the Counselor of the Department of State
  • CCC, Commodity Credit Corporation
  • CCD, Conference of the Committee on Disarmament
  • CEMA, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
  • CIA, Central Intelligence Agency
  • CINCEUR, Commander-In-Chief, European Command
  • CINCLANT, Commander-In-Chief, Atlantic Command
  • CINCNORAD, Commander-In-Chief, North American Aerospace Defense Command
  • CINCPAC, Commander-In-Chief, Pacific Command
  • CINCSAC, Commander-In-Chief, Strategic Air Command
  • CM, cruise missile
  • COB, close of business
  • COCOM, Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls
  • Codel, Congressional delegation
  • COMNAVINTCOM, Commander, Naval Intelligence Command
  • CONUS, Continental United States
  • COS, Chief of Staff
  • CPSU, Communist Party of the Soviet Union
  • CSCE, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
  • CTB, Comprehensive Test Ban
  • CW, chemical weapons
  • D, Office of the Deputy Secretary of State
  • DA, David Aaron
  • DAS, Deputy Assistant Secretary
  • DC, direct current
  • DCI, Director of Central Intelligence
  • DCM, Deputy Chief of Mission
  • DEPTOFF, Department of State Officer
  • DIA, Defense Intelligence Agency
  • DOD, Department of Defense
  • DRA, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
  • DSB, Dresser Science Board
  • DUSD/PP, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy
  • EA, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Department of State
  • EDT, Eastern Daylight Time.
  • EEC, European Economic Community
  • EJC3, Director for Operations Directorate, EUCOM Plans and Operations Center
  • EM, Edmund Muskie
  • EMBOFF, Embassy Officer
  • ER, Office of Economic Research, Central Intelligence Agency
  • ERW, enhanced radiation weapon
  • EUCOM, European Command
  • EUR/EE, Office of Eastern 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
  • EXDIS, exclusive distribution
  • FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • FBS, forward-based systems
  • FCO, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
  • FMS & ESF, Foreign Military Sale and Economic Support Fund
  • FONOFF, Foreign Office
  • FRG, Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
  • FSO, Foreign Service Officer
  • FYI, for your information
  • GBS, global broadcast system
  • GDR, German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
  • GLCM, ground-launched cruise missile
  • GNP, gross national product
  • GOK, Government of Kenya
  • GSO, General Services Officer
  • H, Bureau of Congressional Relations, Department of State
  • HA, Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Department of State
  • HMG, Her Majesty’s Government
  • IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency
  • IBM, International Business Machines Corporation
  • ICA, International Communication Agency
  • ICBM, intercontinental ballistic missile
  • IFI, international financial institution
  • INFCE, International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation
  • INR, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/PMT, Office of Research and Analysis for Politico-Military Research, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/RAR, Office of Research and Analysis for American Republics, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/RSE, Office of Research and Analysis for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INS, Immigration and Naturalization Service
  • 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
  • IOC, International Olympic Committee
  • IOU, I owe you
  • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • JDT, joint draft text
  • JFK, John F. Kennedy Airport, New York, New York
  • KM, kilometer
  • KOR, Committee in Defense of the Workers (Poland)
  • KTS, kilotons
  • LAOOC, Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee
  • LDC, least developed country
  • LDX, long distance xerography
  • LOU, limited official use
  • L/PM, Office of the Legal Adviser, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of State
  • LRTNF, long range theater nuclear force
  • MBFR, Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions
  • MDS, Marshall Shulman
  • MEMCON, memorandum of conversation
  • MFA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • MFN, most favored nation
  • MHD, magnetohydrodynamic channel
  • MIA, missing in action
  • MIRV, multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicle
  • MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • MLBM, mobile land-based missile
  • MPLA, Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
  • MUTS, military utility tests
  • MW/CM, multiple warhead/cruise missile
  • NAM, non-aligned movement
  • NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • NBC, National Broadcasting Company
  • NCSJ, National Conference on Soviet Jewry
  • NEA, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
  • NEA/ARP, Office of Arabian Peninsula Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
  • NEA/IAI, Israel and Arab-Israeli Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
  • NEA/IWG, Interdepartmental Working Group, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
  • NEA/PAB, Office of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
  • NIACT, needs immediate action
  • NNFU, nuclear non-first use
  • NOCONTRACT, not releasable to contractors
  • NODIS, no distribution
  • NOFORN, not releasable to foreign nationals
  • NORAD, North American Aerospace Defense Command
  • NPT, Non-Proliferation Treaty
  • NSA, National Security Agency
  • NSC, National Security Council
  • NSS, national security strategy
  • NTM, national technical means
  • N.W., Northwest
  • NYT, The New York Times
  • OAS, Organization of American States
  • OAU, Organization of African Unity
  • OMB, Office of Management and Budget
  • OPEC, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
  • ORCON, Originator’s Control
  • P, Bureau of Political Affairs, Department of State
  • PAK, Pakistan
  • PDRY, People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen
  • PERMREPS, Permanent Representatives
  • PLO, Palestine Liberation Organization
  • 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
  • PNG, persona non grata
  • PRC, People’s Republic of China; Policy Review Committee
  • PRK, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
  • PRM, Presidential Review Memorandum
  • PROPIN, proprietary information involved
  • R, Romeo time zone (Eastern Standard Time)
  • REFTEL, reference telegram
  • REVCON, Review Conference
  • RF, radio frequency
  • RFE/RL, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
  • RPM, regional and political memorandum
  • RPT, repeat
  • RPV, remote-piloted vehicle
  • RSFSR, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
  • RV, re-entry vehicle
  • RW, radiological warfare
  • S, Office of the Secretary of State
  • S/MS, Special Adviser to the Secretary, Department of State
  • S/P, Policy Planning Staff, Office of the Secretary of State, Department of State
  • S/S, Office of the Secretariat Staff, Department of State
  • S/S-I, Information Management Section of the Office of the Secretariat Staff, Department of State
  • S/S-O, Department Duty Officer, Operations Center, Department of State
  • SAG, Saudi Arabian Government
  • SALT, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
  • SAR, South African Republic
  • SAWG, Special Actions Working Group
  • SC, Security Council (United Nations)
  • SCC, Special Coordination Committee
  • SEPTEL, separate telegram
  • SFRC, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
  • SHAPE, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe
  • SIGINT, signals intelligence
  • SLCM, surfaced-launched cruise missile; submarine-launched cruise missile; and sea-launched cruise missile
  • SMUN, Soviet Mission at the United Nations
  • SNDV, strategic nuclear delivery vehicle
  • SPECAT, special category message
  • SRV, Socialist Republic of Vietnam
  • SSCI, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
  • SSOD, Special Session on Disarmament
  • SU, Soviet Union
  • SW, Office of Scientific and Weapons Research, Central Intelligence Agency
  • SWAPO, South West Africa People’s Organization
  • SY, Office of Security Affairs, Department of State
  • TASS, official Soviet news agency
  • TNF, theater nuclear forces
  • TSO, Technical Security Officer
  • T.V., television
  • UK, United Kingdom
  • UN, United Nations
  • UNK, unknown
  • U.S., United States
  • U.S.A., United States of America
  • USAF, United States Air Force
  • USDA, United States Department of Agriculture
  • USDELMC, United States Delegation to the NATO Military Committee
  • USEUCOM, United States European Command
  • USG, United States Government
  • USIB, United States Intelligence Board
  • USLOSACLANT, United States Liaison Officer Supreme Allied Command, Atlantic
  • USNATO, United States Mission at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • USNMR, United States National Military Representative
  • USOC, United States Olympic Committee
  • USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
  • USUN, United States Mission at the United Nations
  • VAC, volts of alternating current
  • VDC, volts of direct current
  • VOA, Voice of America
  • WH, White House
  • YAR, Yemen Arab Republic
  • Z, Zulu Time Zone (Greenwich Mean Time)