CIA cryptonym

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CIA cryptonyms are code names or code words used by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to refer to projects, operations, persons, agencies, etc.^{[better source needed]}

Format of cryptonyms

CIA cryptonyms sometimes contain a two character prefix called a digraph, which designates a geographical or functional area. Certain digraphs were changed over time; for example, the digraph for the Soviet Union changed at least twice.

The rest is either an arbitrary dictionary word, or occasionally the digraph and the cryptonym combine to form a dictionary word (e.g., AEROPLANE) or can be read out as a simple phrase (e.g., WIBOTHER, read as "Why bother!"). Cryptonyms are sometimes written with a slash after the digraph, e.g., ZR/RIFLE, and sometimes in one sequence, e.g., ZRRIFLE. The latter format is the more common style in CIA documents.

Examples from publications by former CIA personnel show that the terms "code name" and "cryptonym" can refer to the names of operations as well as to individual persons.^{[citation needed]} TRIGON, for example, was the code name for Aleksandr Ogorodnik, a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the former Soviet Union, whom the CIA developed as a spy; HERO was the code name for Col. Oleg Penkovsky, who supplied data on the nuclear readiness of the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. According to former CIA Director Richard M. Helms: "The code names for most Agency operations are picked in sequence from a sterile list, with care taken not to use any word that might give a clue to the activity it covers. On some large projects, code names are occasionally specially chosen—GOLD, SILVER, PBSUCCESS, CORONA. When Robert F. Kennedy requested a code name for the government-wide plan that Richard Goodwin was drafting, an exception was made. Goodwin was on the White House staff, and the plan concerned Cuba. Occasionally the special code names come close to the nerve, as did MONGOOSE." A secret joint program between the Mexico City CIA station and the Mexican secret police to wiretap the Soviet and Cuban embassies was code-named ENVOY.

Some cryptonyms relate to more than one subject, e.g., a group of people. In this case, the basic cryptonym, e.g., LICOZY, will designate the whole group, while each group member is designated by a sequence number, e.g., LICOZY/3, which can also be written LICOZY-3, or just L-3.

Digraphs

Known cryptonyms

Operations and projects

See also

• Secret Service codename
• List of U.S. government and military acronyms
• Callsign § Military call signs
• 00 Agent § Inspiration
• List of military operations

Notes

Bibliography

• Agee, Philip. 1975. Inside the Company: CIA Diary. Stonehill Publishing ISBN 0-14-004007-2, p. 48
• Carl, Leo D. 1990. The International Dictionary of Intelligence. Mavin Books, p. 107
• Central Intelligence Agency (June 2007). Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group (ed.). Research Aid: Cryptonyms and Terms in Declassified CIA Files (PDF) (Report). National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
• DPD Contracting Officer, Change of Project Funds Obligated under Contract No. SS-100. CIA DPD-2827-59, 30 April 1959.
• Helms, Richard and Hood, William. 2003. A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency. Random House, pp. 378–379
• Pedlow, Gregory W. and Welzenbach, Donald E. 1992. The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954–1974. CIA History Staff.
• Sharp, David (2012). The CIA's Greatest Covert Operation: Inside the Daring Mission to Recover a Nuclear-Armed Soviet Sub. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. p. 344. ISBN 978-0-7006-1834-7. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
• Smith W. Thomas. 2003. Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency. Checkmark Books ISBN 0-8160-4666-2
• Stockwell, John. 1978. In Search of Enemies
• Waldron, Lamar and Hartmann, Thom. 2009. Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination. Counterpoint (LS)
• Waldron, Lamar and Hartmann, Thom. 2005. Ultimate Sacrifice: John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK Carroll & Graf Publishers (US)
• Wallace, Robert and H. Keith Melton. 2008. Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda. Dutton.
• Weiner, Tim. 2008. Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. Anchor Books.
• Wise, David. 1992. Molehunt. Random House, p. 19.

External links

• CIA Cryptonyms at Mary Ferrell Foundation
• Research Aid: Cryptonyms and Terms in Declassified CIA Files
• Acronyms/Abbreviations/Crypts/Organizations Identification Guide by the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB)