Office of the Historian

Abbreviations and Terms

    • A-6, U.S. long-range attack aircraft
    • AA,anti-aircraft
    • ACQ, acquired
    • ADA, Air Defense Artillery
    • AFB, Air Force Base
    • Amb, Ambassador
    • ARAMCO, Arabian-American Oil Company
    • AWB, Australian Wheat Board
    • AWACS, Airborne Early Warning and Control
    • B, Christian Bourguet
    • B-52, U.S. bomber
    • B&V, Bourguet and Villalon
    • BDG, Bangladesh Government
    • bpd, barrels per day
    • C, Jimmy Carter; Confidential
    • C-5, U.S. military transport aircraft
    • C-9, U.S. aeromedical transport aircraft
    • C-130, Hercules, general purpose, four-engine fixed wing military transport aircraft
    • C-141, Starlifter, fixed wing military transport aircraft
    • C-5, Galaxy, fixed wing military transport aircraft
    • C&R,communications and records
    • C3I, Communications, Command, Control, and Intelligence
    • CA, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Department of State
    • CENTO, Central Treaty Organization
    • Cherokee, telegraphic distribution channel for the Eyes Only messages between the Secretary of State and an Ambassador
    • CIA, Central Intelligence Agency
    • CINC, Commander in Chief
    • CINCPAC, Commander in Chief, Pacific Command
    • CJCS, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • COG, Continuity of Government
    • COMSAT, Communications Satellite Corporation
    • CONUS, Continental United States
    • CPX, Command Post Exercise
    • CRICON, Crisis Confrontation
    • COMJTF, Commander Joint Task Force:
    • CT, Counterterrorism
    • CTJTF, Counterterrorism Joint Task Force
    • CVA, U.S. Navy Attack Aircraft Carrier
    • D, Office of the Deputy Secretary of State
    • DA, David Aaron
    • DAO, Defense Attaché Office
    • DCA, Defense Cooperation Agreement
    • DCI, Director of Central Intelligence
    • DCM, Deputy Chief of Mission
    • DDCI, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
    • DDN, David D. Newsom
    • DDO, Deputy Director for Operations, Central Intelligence Agency
    • DDSO, Deputy Director for Special Operations
    • Delta, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment D, commanded by Colonel Charlie Beckwith
    • Desert One, designated landing spot for Delta Team and helicopters inside Iran, U.S. rescue mission
    • Desert Two,designated mountain hideout southeast of Tehran
    • DIA,Defense Intelligence Agency
    • DJS, Director, Joint Staff
    • DOE, Department of Energy
    • DOI, date of information
    • DOUBLESTAR, an operational test and evaluation activity for JTF procurement and training for a second rescue operation
    • DRE, Defense Research and Engineering
    • E-3, AWACS aircraft
    • Eagle Claw, code name for the rescue operation, operational phase
    • EC, European Community
    • EC-9, nine members of the European Community
    • EDS, Electronic Data Systems
    • EUCOM,European Command
    • Exdis, Exclusive Distribution
    • F-4, U.S. jet interceptor and fighter-bomber
    • F-5, U.S. light fighter aircraft
    • F-111, U.S. supersonic tactical attack aircraft
    • FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation
    • FBIS, Foreign Broadcast Information Service
    • FCO, U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office
    • Fedayeen al-Khalq, secular Marxist group
    • FI, Foreign Intelligence
    • FLAG, Family Liaison Action Group
    • FMS, Foreign Military Sales
    • FOI, Freedom of Information
    • FRG, Federal Republic of Germany
    • G (GH), Ghotbzadeh
    • G-3, rifle produced in Iran under license from Heckler and Koch
    • GA, General Assembly
    • GDP, Gross Domestic Product
    • GOI, Government of Iran
    • GOP, Government of Pakistan; Government of Panama
    • GS, Gary Sick
    • H, Bureau of Congressional Relations, Department of State
    • HB, Honey Badger; Harold Brown
    • helo(s), helicopters
    • HUMINT, human intelligence
    • ICA, International Communication Agency
    • ICJ, International Court of Justice
    • ICRC, International Committee of the Red Cross
    • IEA, International Energy Agency
    • IEEPA, International Emergency Economic Powers Act
    • INR, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
    • INS, Immigration and Naturalization Service
    • INTELSAT, Global Fixed Satellites and Telecommunications Services; International Telecommunications Satellite Organization
    • IO/UNP, Office of UN Political Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Department of State
    • IRG, Islamic Revolutionary Guard
    • IRP, Islamic Republican Party
    • IWG, Iran Working Group, Department of State
    • J-2, Joint Staff Intelligence Division
    • J-3, Joint Staff Operations Division
    • J-3/DDSO, Joint Staff Operations Division/Deputy Director for Special Operations
    • J-5,Joint Staff Plans Directorate
    • J, JC, Jimmy Carter
    • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • JTD, Joint Task Delta
    • JTF, Joint Task Force
    • JW, Jasper Welch
    • KC-135, U.S. aerial refueling aircraft
    • Komiteh, self-appointed revolutionary committees that sprang up spontaneously in most neighborhoods of Tehran
    • L, Office of the Legal Adviser, Department of State
    • LDC, less developed country
    • LOH, Light Observation Helicopter
    • LPH, Amphibious Assault Ship (helicopter); Landing Platform/Helicopter
    • MAAG, Military Assistance Advisory Group
    • Majles (Majlis),Iranian Parliament
    • MB, Marshall Brement
    • Mbd, Million barrels per day
    • MC-130, Combat Talon, U.S. four-engine fixed-wing special operations military aircraft
    • MD, Military District
    • MEDEVAC, medical evacuation
    • MFA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    • Mujahidin, Islamic guerrilla fighters; person who wages jihad
    • Mujahiddin al-Khalq, People’s Mujahiddin of Iran, Islamic Marxist anti-Shah group founded in 1960s
    • NCA, National Command Authority
    • NE, Near East
    • NEA, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • NEA/IRN, Office of Iranian Affairs (Iran Desk), Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • NEA/IWG, Iran Working Group, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • NESA, Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency
    • NFAC, National Foreign Assessment Center, Central Intelligence Agency
    • NIOC, National Iranian Oil Company
    • NM, nautical miles
    • Noforn, Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals
    • NSA, National Security Agency
    • NSC, National Security Council
    • OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
    • OER, Office of Economic Research, Central Intelligence Agency
    • OJCS, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • OPEC, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
    • Oplan, operation plan
    • OPSDEPS, Service Operations Deputies
    • OPSEC, Operational Security
    • OSD, Office of the Secretary of Defense
    • Otter, U.S. low-level research airplane
    • P, Office of the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; President
    • PACOM, U.S. Pacific Command
    • Pasdaran, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
    • PD, Presidential Directive
    • PDB, President’s Daily Brief
    • PFLP, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
    • PLO, Palestine Liberation Organization
    • PN, Panama, Panamanian
    • PNG, persona non grata
    • PRC, Policy Review Committee
    • PRM,Presidential Review Memorandum
    • RDF, Rapid Deployment Force
    • RDJTF, Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force
    • REDCOM, U.S. Readiness Command
    • RG, Record Group
    • RH-53, U.S. Navy (Marine Corps) Sea Stallion Helicopter
    • Rice Bowl, code name of the rescue operation in its planning stages
    • RSO, Regional Security Office(r)
    • S, Office of the Secretary of State; Secret
    • SALT, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
    • SAMA, Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency
    • SAR, search and rescue
    • SASC, Senate Armed Services Committee
    • SATCOM, Satellite Communications
    • SAVAK, Farsi language acronym for Iranian National Security and Information Organization (Sazman-i Ittili’at va Amniyat-i Kishvar)
    • SAVAMA, Farsi language acronym for Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and National Security (Sazman-E Ettela’at Va Amniat-E Melli-E Iran); replaced SAVAK
    • SCC, Special Coordinating Committee
    • SDR, Special Drawing Rights, International Monetary Fund
    • SEAL, Sea/Air/Land Force, U.S. Navy
    • SecGen, Secretary General
    • Secto, series indicator for telegrams sent from the Secretary of State
    • SFRC, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
    • SOD, J-3 Special Operations Division, Joint Staff
    • SOG, Special Operations Group (Central Intelligence Agency)
    • SNOWBIRD, Department of Defense planning for a second rescue operation
    • S/P, Policy Planning Staff, Department of State
    • SR-71, Blackbird, U.S. reconnaissance aircraft
    • S/S, Executive Secretariat, Department of State
    • Stadis, State Department distribution only
    • SY, Office of Security, Bureau of Administration, Department of State
    • SYG, Secretary General
    • T, Tabatabai
    • Tabas, Iranian name for Desert One
    • TACAIR, tactical air
    • TASS, official Soviet news agency
    • TS, Top Secret
    • Tudeh, Iranian Peoples (Communist) Party
    • Twin Otter, codename for reconnaissance flights into Iran to locate what would become Desert One
    • U-2, U.S. high-altitude reconnaissance airplane
    • UAE, United Arab Emirates
    • UN, United Nations
    • UNGA, United Nations General Assembly
    • UNSC, United Nations Security Council
    • UNSYG, United Nations Secretary General
    • 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
    • V, Hector Villalon
    • V&B, Villalon and Bourguet
    • VHF, Very High Frequency
    • VOA, Voice of America
    • VP, Vice President
    • WO, William Odom
    • Z, Zulu time, Greenwich Mean Time
    • ZB, Zbigniew Brzezinski