Office of the Historian

Abbreviations and Terms

    • ABM, Anti-Ballistic Missile
    • A/C, arms control
    • ACDA, U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
    • ALCM, Air-Launched Cruise Missile
    • ANZUS, Australia-New Zealand-United States (security treaty)
    • ASAT, Anti-Satellite
    • ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations
    • ATB, Advanced Technology Bomber
    • C, Confidential; Office of the Counselor of the Department of State
    • CBM, Confidence Building Measures
    • CC, Central Committee
    • CCP, Chinese Communist Party
    • CD, Conference on Disarmament
    • CDE, Conference on Disarmament in Europe
    • CI, counterintelligence
    • CIA, Central Intelligence Agency
    • COCOM, Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls
    • CODEL, Congressional Delegation
    • COMECON, Council for Economic Assistance (also COMCON, CEMA)
    • CORRTEX, Continuous Reflectometry for Radius Versus Time Experiments (a hydrodynamic yield measurement for nuclear testing)
    • CP, Communist Party
    • CPPG, Crisis Pre-Planning Group
    • CPSU, Communist Party of the Soviet Union
    • CSBM, confidence- and security-building measures
    • CSCE, Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
    • CTB, Comprehensive Test Ban
    • CW, chemical weapons
    • D, Office of the Deputy Secretary of State
    • DASD, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
    • DATT, Defense Attaché
    • DCM, Deputy Chief of Mission
    • Dept, Department
    • DIA, Defense Intelligence Agency
    • DOD, Department of Defense
    • DOE, Department of Energy
    • DST, Defense and Space Talks
    • EST, Eastern Standard Time
    • EUR, Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs, Department of State
    • EUR/RPM, Office of Security and Political Affairs, Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs, Department of State
    • EUR/SOV, Office of Soviet Union Affairs, Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs, Department of State
    • Exdis, Exclusive Distribution
    • FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation
    • FBS, Forward-Based Systems
    • FM, Foreign Minister
    • ForMin, Foreign Ministry; Foreign Minister
    • FRG, Federal Republic of Germany
    • FTO, Foreign Trade Organization
    • G–7, Group of Seven, Canada, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States
    • GDR, German Democratic Republic
    • GLCM, Ground-Launched Cruise Missile
    • GNP, Gross National Product
    • GON, Government of Nicaragua
    • GPS, George Pratt Shultz
    • GRU, Soviet military intelligence agency
    • HA, Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Department of State
    • IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency
    • ICAO, International Civil Aviation Organization
    • ICBM, Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
    • IG, Interagency Group
    • IMEMO, Institute of World Economy and International Relations
    • INCSEA, Incidents at Sea
    • INF, Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces
    • INR, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
    • INR/PMA, Office of Politico-Military Analysis, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
    • INR/SEE, Office of Analysis for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
    • IO, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Department of State
    • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • JP, John Poindexter
    • KAL, Korean Airlines
    • KGB, Committee for State Security in the USSR
    • Limdis, Limited Distribution
    • LRINF, Long-Range Intermediate Nuclear Forces
    • LTA, Long-Term Agreement on grain
    • M, Office of the Under Secretary for Management
    • MBFR, Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions
    • Memcon, Memorandum of Conversation
    • MFA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    • MIRV, Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicle
    • MLM, Military Liaison Mission
    • MOD, Minister of Defense; Ministry of Defense
    • MW, megawatt
    • M–X, missile experimental (intercontinental ballistic missile)
    • NAC, North Atlantic Council
    • NAM, Non-Aligned Movement
    • NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
    • NF, Noforn
    • Niact, Night Action
    • NIO, National Intelligence Officer
    • Nocontract, Not Releasable to Contractors
    • Nodis, No Distribution
    • Noforn, No Foreign Dissemination
    • NPT, Non-Proliferation Treaty
    • NRC, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
    • NRRC, Nuclear Risk Reduction Center
    • NSC, National Security Council
    • NSDD, National Security Decision Directive
    • NSPG, National Security Planning Group
    • NST, Nuclear and Space Talks
    • NUF, non-use of force
    • OAS, Organization of American States, Department of State
    • OBE, Overtaken by Events
    • OMB, Office of Management and Budget
    • Orcon, Originator Controlled
    • OSD, Office of the Secretary of Defense
    • OSI, on-site inspection
    • OVP, Office of the Vice President
    • P, Under Secretary for Political Affairs
    • PFIAB, President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
    • P–IB, Pershing IB missile
    • PII or P–II, Pershing II missile
    • P.L., Public Law
    • PM, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of State
    • PNE or PNET, Treaty on Peaceful Nuclear Explosions
    • PNG, persona non grata
    • PolCouns, Political Counselor
    • PRC, Policy Review Committee; People’s Republic of China
    • PROFs notes, internal White House and NSC electronic messages
    • RADM, Rear Admiral
    • RBMK, class of nuclear power reactor designed and built by the Soviet Union
    • Reftel, reference telegram
    • RR, Ronald Reagan
    • RV, re-entry vehicle
    • S, Office of the Secretary of State
    • SACG, Senior Arms Control Group
    • SAG, South African Government
    • SALT, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
    • SCC, Special Coordinating Committee; Standing Consultative Commission
    • SCG, Special Consultative Group
    • SDI, Strategic Defense Initiative
    • Secto, series indicator for telegrams sent from the Secretary of State
    • Septel, separate telegram
    • SFRC, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
    • SHAPE, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe
    • SIG, Senior Interagency Group
    • SIG/I, Senior Interagency Group on Intelligence
    • SIG–IEP, Senior Interagency Group-International Economic Policy
    • SIPRI, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
    • SLBM, Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile
    • SLCM, Surfaced-Launched Cruise Missile; Submarine-Launched Cruise Missile; Sea-Launched Cruise Missile
    • SNDV, Strategic Nuclear Delivery Vehicle
    • SNIE, Special National Intelligence Estimate
    • S/P, Policy Planning Council, Department of State; after May 7, 1985, Policy Planning Staff
    • Specat, special category
    • SRAM, Short-Range Attack Missile
    • SRINF, Short-Range Intermediate Nuclear Forces
    • S/S, Executive Secretariat, Department of State; Secret/Sage
    • S/S–O, Operations Center, Executive Secretariat, Department of State
    • S/S–S, Secretariat Staff, Executive Secretariat, Department of State
    • Stadis, State Distribution Only
    • START, Strategic Arms Reduction Talks; Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
    • TASS, official Soviet news agency
    • TNF, Theater Nuclear Forces
    • Tosec, series indicator for telegrams sent to the Secretary of State while away from Washington
    • TS, Top Secret
    • TTBT, Threshold Test Ban Treaty
    • U, Unclassified
    • UK, United Kingdom
    • UN, United Nations
    • UNGA, United Nations General Assembly
    • UNITA, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
    • UNSC, United Nations Security Council
    • UNSYG, United Nations Secretary-General
    • US, United States
    • USA, United States of America; United States Army
    • USAF, United States Air Force
    • USCD, United States Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva
    • USDel, United States Delegation
    • USG, United States Government
    • USIA, United States Information Agency
    • USN, United States Navy
    • USNMR SHAPE, United States National Military Representative, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe
    • USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
    • USTEC, U.S.-USSR Trade and Economic Council
    • V-E Day, Victory in Europe Day
    • VOA, Voice of America
    • WHO, World Health Organization
    • WHSR, White House Situation Room
    • WJC, World Jewish Congress
    • Z, Zulu Time (Greenwich Mean Time)