Office of the Historian

Abbreviations and Terms

    • A, Bureau of Administration, Department of State
    • ABM, Anti-Ballistic Missile
    • AC, Alternating Current
    • ACDA, U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
    • AD, Anatoly Dobrynin
    • AF, Bureau of African Affairs, Department of State
    • AFL-CIO, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
    • AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
    • ALCM, Air-Launched Cruise Missile
    • ASAP, as soon as possible
    • ASAT, Anti-Satellite
    • ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations
    • ASW, Anti-Submarine Warfare
    • CBM, Continental Ballistic Missile
    • CD, Conference on Disarmament
    • CDE, Conference on Disarmament in Europe
    • CIA, Central Intelligence Agency
    • CJCS, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • CNO, Chief Naval Officer
    • COCOM, Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls
    • CPSU, Communist Party of the Soviet Union
    • CTB, Comprehensive Test Ban
    • CW, Chemical Weapons
    • D, Office of the Deputy Secretary of State
    • DAS, Deputy Assistant Secretary
    • DC, Direct Current
    • DCI, Director of Central Intelligence
    • DCM, Deputy Chief of Mission
    • DOD, Department of Defense
    • DOD/ISA, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
    • DPC, Defense Planning Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
    • DPRK, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
    • DRA, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
    • D&S, Defense and Space Negotiations
    • EA, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Department of State
    • EmbOff, Embassy Officer
    • EUR, Bureau of European Affairs, Department of State
    • EUR/RPM, Bureau of European Affairs, Office of NATO and Atlantic Political-Military Affairs, Department of State
    • EUR/SOV, Bureau of European Affairs, Office of Soviet Union Affairs, Department of State
    • EXDIS, Exclusive Distribution
    • FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation
    • FBS, Forward-Based Systems
    • FCC, Frank Charles Carlucci
    • FNU, first name unknown
    • FonMin, Foreign Minister
    • FRG, Federal Republic of Germany
    • FYI, For Your Information
    • GDR, German Democratic Republic
    • GLBM, Ground-Launched Ballistic Missle
    • GLCM, Ground-Launched Cruise Missile
    • GNP, Gross National Product
    • GSO, General Services Officer
    • H, Office of Congressional Relations, Department of State
    • HA, Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Department of State
    • IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency
    • IBM, International Business Machines Corporation
    • ICBM, Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
    • INCSEA, Incidents at Sea Agreement
    • INF, Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces
    • INR, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
    • IO, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Department of State
    • IO/UNP, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Office of United Nations Political Affairs, Department of State
    • IOC, International Olympic Committee
    • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • JFK, John F. Kennedy Airport
    • JVE, Joint Verification Experiment
    • KAL, Korean Airlines
    • KGB, Russian Committee for State Security
    • KM, Kilometers
    • LPAR, Large Phased-Array Radar
    • LRINF, Long-Range Intermediate Nuclear Forces
    • MBFR, Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions
    • MEMCON, Memorandum of Conversation
    • MFA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    • MFN, Most Favored Nation
    • MGEN, Major General
    • MIA, Missing in Action
    • MIRV, Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicle
    • MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • MOU, Memorandum of Understanding
    • NAC, North Atlantic Council
    • NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
    • NEA, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • NIACT, Night Action
    • NNA, Neutral and Non-Aligned
    • NODIS, No Distribution
    • NPT, Non-Proliferation Treaty
    • NRRC, Nuclear Risk Reduction Center
    • NSA, National Security Agency
    • NSC, National Security Council
    • NSPG, National Security Planning Group
    • NST, Nuclear Space Talks
    • NTM, National Technical Means
    • NTT, Nuclear Test Treaty
    • OAU, Organization of African Unity
    • OMB, Office of Management and Budget
    • OSI, on-site inspection
    • OSTP, Office of Science and Technology, White House
    • P, Under Secretary for Political Affairs
    • PAK, Pakistan
    • PDC, Perez de Cuellar
    • PDPA, People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan
    • PERMREPS, Permanent Representatives
    • PFIAB, President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
    • PLO, Palestine Liberation Organization
    • PMA, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of State
    • PNET, Peaceful Nuclear Explosion Treaty
    • PNG, Persona Non Grata
    • POW/MIA, Prisoners of War/Missing in Action
    • PRC, People’s Republic of China; Policy Review Committee
    • PRG, Policy Review Group
    • R, Romeo Time Zone (Eastern Standard Time, USA)
    • REFTEL, Reference Telegram
    • RSFSR, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
    • ROK, Republic of Korea
    • S, Office of the Secretary of State
    • SDI, Strategic Defense Initiative
    • S/P, Office of the Secretary of State, Policy Planning Staff
    • S/S, Executive Secretariat
    • S/S-I, Information Management Section of the Executive Secretariat
    • S/S-O, Operations Center of the Executive Secretariat
    • SALT, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
    • SC, Security Council
    • SCC, Special Coordination Committee
    • SDI, Strategic Defense Initiative
    • SECDEF, Secretary of Defense
    • SHAPE, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe
    • SRINF, Short-Range Intermediate Nuclear Forces
    • SLCM, Surfaced-Launched Cruise Missile; Submarine-Launched Cruise Missile; and Sea-Launched Cruise Missile
    • SNDV, Strategic Nuclear Delivery Vehicle
    • SRAM, Short-Range Attack Missile
    • SSOD, Special Session on Disarmament
    • START, Strategic Arms Reductions Talks/Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
    • SU, Soviet Union
    • SY, Office of Security Affairs
    • TASS, official Soviet news agency
    • TNF, Theater Nuclear Forces
    • TTBT, Threshold Test Ban Treaty
    • UK, United Kingdom
    • UN, United Nations
    • UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
    • UNGA, United Nations General Assembly
    • UNGOMAP, United Nations Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan
    • UNITA, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
    • UNSC, United Nations Security Council
    • US, United States
    • U.S., United States
    • U.S.A., United States of America
    • USAF, United States Air Force
    • USG, United States Government
    • USIB, United States Intelligence Board
    • USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
    • USUN, United States Mission at the United Nations
    • VOA, Voice of America
    • WH, White House
    • Z, Zulu Time Zone (Greenwich Mean Time)