Office of the Historian

Abbreviations and Terms

    • ACDA, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
    • ADF, Arab Deterrent Force
    • AF, Air Force
    • AID, Agency for International Development
    • Ammo, ammunition
    • AMOCO, American Oil Company (Standard Oil Company)
    • AMVIP, American Very Important Person
    • AO, area of operations
    • APC, armored personnel carrier
    • Art., article
    • Backchannel, a method of communication outside normal bureaucratic procedure; the White House, for instance, used “backchannel” messages to bypass the Department of State
    • BEQ, bachelor enlisted quarters
    • BOQ, bachelor officers’ quarters
    • Bpd., barrels per day
    • C, Jimmy Carter; Confidential
    • CD, Camp David; Christine Dodson
    • CDA, Camp David Accords
    • Cherokee, a telegraphic distribution channel for the Eyes Only messages between the Secretary of State and an Ambassador
    • CIA, Central Intelligence Agency
    • CIP, Commodity Import Program
    • CJCS, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • Codel, Congressional delegation
    • Col., Colonel
    • ConGen, Consul General; Consulate General
    • CONUS, Contiguous United States
    • CV, Cyrus Vance
    • Cy, Cyrus Vance
    • D, Deputy Secretary of State; Office of the Deputy Secretary of State
    • DA, David Aaron
    • DAS, Deputy Assistant Secretary
    • DCI, Director of Central Intelligence
    • DCM, Deputy Chief of Mission
    • DefMin, Defense Minister
    • DEM, David E. McGiffert
    • DOD, Department of Defense
    • dols, dollars
    • DPO, deputy principal officer
    • DSAA, Defense Security Assistance Agency
    • EB, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, Department of State
    • EB/ORF/FSE, Division of Fuels and Energy, Office of International Resources, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, Department of State
    • EC, European Community
    • ER, evening report
    • EUR, Bureau of European Affairs, Department of State
    • EUR/RPE, Office of OECD, European Community and Atlantic Political-Economic Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs, Department of State
    • EUR/RPE/EEC, European Economic Community Affairs, Office of OECD, European Community and Atlantic Political-Economic Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs, Department of State
    • EW, Ezer Weizman
    • Exdis, exclusive distribution
    • FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
    • FMS, Foreign Military Sales
    • FonMin, Foreign Minister
    • FY, fiscal year
    • FYDP, Five-Year Defense Program
    • FYI, for your information
    • Gen, General
    • GNP, gross national product
    • GOE, Government of Egypt
    • GOI, Government of Israel
    • GOJ, Government of Jordan
    • GOL, Government of Lebanon
    • HASC, House Armed Services Committee
    • HB, Harold Brown
    • Helos, helicopters
    • HHS, Harold H. Saunders
    • HO, Henry Owen
    • HRH, His Royal Highness
    • ICA, International Communication Agency
    • ICJ, International Court of Justice
    • IDF, Israel Defense Forces
    • IG (also I-G), inter-agency group; Interdepartmental Group
    • IMF, International Monetary Fund
    • INOC, Israeli National Oil Company
    • INR, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
    • INR/DDC, Deputy Director for Coordination, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
    • INR/RNA, Office of Research and Analysis for the Near East and South Asia, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
    • INR/RNA/NE, Near East Division, Office of Research and Analysis for the Near East and South Asia, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
    • Intsum, intelligence summary
    • IO, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Department of State; Indian Ocean
    • IO/UNP, Office of UN Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Department of State
    • J, Jimmy Carter
    • JC, Jimmy Carter
    • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • LAF, Lebanese Armed Forces
    • LD, Leslie Denend
    • L/NEA, Assistant Legal Adviser for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Office of the Legal Adviser, Department of State
    • LOA, letter of agreement
    • LOC, lines of communication
    • m., million
    • MAP, Military Assistance Program
    • MB, Menachem Begin
    • MD, Moshe Dayan
    • Memcon, memorandum of conversation
    • Memrec, memorandum for the record
    • MFA, Ministry for Foreign Affairs
    • Milcon, military construction
    • MOA, Memorandum of Agreement
    • NAC, North Atlantic Council
    • NAM, Non-Aligned Movement
    • NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
    • NEA, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • NEA/ARN, Office of Lebanon, Jordan, Syrian Arab Republic, and Iraq Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • NEA/EGY, Office of Egypt Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • NEA/IAI, Office of Israel and Arab-Israeli Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • NEA/RA, Office of Regional Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State
    • Niact, telegram indicator requiring immediate action
    • NIO/NESA, National Intelligence Officer for Near East and South Asia, Central Intelligence Agency
    • Nm, nautical mile
    • Nodis, no distribution
    • Noforn, not releasable to foreign nationals
    • Notal, not received by all addressees
    • NPT, Non-Proliferation Treaty
    • NRP, National Religious Party (Israel)
    • NSA, National Security Agency
    • NSC, National Security Council
    • OASD/ISA (NESA), Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Department of Defense
    • Ofc, office
    • OMB, Office of Management and Budget
    • OMC, Office of Military Cooperation
    • Opns, operations
    • OSD, Office of the Secretary of Defense
    • P, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; Office of the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; President.
    • P&D, planning and design
    • PAO, public affairs officer
    • para, paragraph
    • PDRY, People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen)
    • PG, Persian Gulf
    • PLO, Palestine Liberation Organization
    • PM, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of State; Prime Minister
    • PNC, Palestinian National Council
    • POL, petroleum, oil, lubricants
    • Pr., President
    • PRC, People’s Republic of China; Policy Review Committee; Presidential Review Committee
    • PriMin, Prime Minister
    • RDF, rapid deployment force
    • Reftel, reference telegram
    • RG, record group; Robert Gates
    • RH, Robert Hunter
    • RO/RO, roll on/roll off
    • Rpt, repeat
    • S, Secretary of State; Office of the Secretary of State
    • SA, Saudi Arabia
    • S/AA, Ambassador at Large, Department of State
    • SAG, Saudi Arabian Government
    • SAM, surface-to-air missile
    • SARG, Syrian Arab Republic Government
    • SASC, Senate Armed Services Committee
    • SC, Security Council; Susan Clough
    • SCC, Special Coordination Committee
    • SecDef, Secretary of Defense
    • Secto, series indicator for telegrams from the Secretary of State
    • Septel, separate telegram
    • SFM, Sinai Field Mission
    • SGA, Self-governing authority
    • SISN, Personal Representative of the President
    • SNIE, Special National Intelligence Estimate
    • Spt., support
    • Sqd, squadron
    • S/S, Office of the Secretariat Staff, Department of State
    • SSM, Sinai Support Mission
    • S/S-O, Operations Center, Office of the Secretariat Staff, Department of State
    • Stadis, Department of State distribution only
    • Tac, tactical
    • Telcon, telephone conversation
    • Tosec, series indicator for telegrams sent to the Secretary of State
    • UAE, United Arab Emirates
    • UAR, United Arab Republic
    • UN, United Nations
    • UNDP, United Nations Development Programme
    • UNEF, United Nations Emergency Force
    • UNGA, United Nations General Assembly
    • UNHCR, (Office of) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
    • UNICEF, United Nations Children’s Fund
    • UNIFIL, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
    • UNSC, United Nations Security Council
    • UNTSO, United Nations Truce Supervision Organization
    • U.S., United States
    • USA, United States Army
    • USAF, United States Air Force
    • USDEL, United States delegation
    • USEC, United States Mission to the European Community
    • USG, United States Government
    • USINT, United States Interests Section
    • USLO, United States Liaison Office
    • USMTM, U.S. Mililary Training Mission
    • USN, United States Navy
    • USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
    • USUN, United States Mission to the United Nations
    • VBB, Vance-Brown-Brzezinski
    • VP, Vice President
    • WB/G, West Bank/Gaza
    • WQ, William Quandt
    • YAR, Yemen Arab Republic
    • Z, Zulu Time (Greenwich Mean Time)
    • ZB, Zbigniew Brzezinski
    • ZBB, zero-based budgeting
    • Zbig., Zbigniew Brzezinski