CIA cryptonym

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

Partial list of digraphs and probable definitions

Unidentified digraphs

DT, ER, FJ, HB, HO, HT, JU, KM, KO, QK, SC, SE, SG, WO, WS, ZI

Known cryptonyms

Operations and projects

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Guatemala: Abbreviations and Cryptonyms". US Department of State Office of the Historian. May 15, 2003. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Assassination Records Review Board (September 30, 1998). "Chapter Five: The Standards for Review: Review Board "Common Law"". Final Report of the Assassination Records Review Board (PDF). Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. pp. 52–53. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "False Names in CIA Documents". maryferrell.org. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  4. ↑ Wallace and Melton, pp. 88–102
  5. ↑ Helms 2003, p. 216
  6. ↑ Helms 2003, p. 197
  7. ↑ Weiner 2008, p. 258
  8. 1 2 3 4 David Wise, Nightmover: How Aldrich Ames Sold the CIA to the KGB for $4.6 Million, HarperCollins Publishers, 1996 p.15
  9. ↑ "'Our War' in Angola". Time. May 22, 1978.
  10. ↑ Spy Anonymous. (2013). True Accounts of Espionage: The Anonymous Spy (Vol. 3). Retrieved March 8, 2016, from https://www.amazon.com/TRUE-ACCOUNTS-ESPIONAGE-Spy-Book-ebook/dp/B00EX5K0WG/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1457488683&sr=1-3
  11. 1 2 Seymour M. Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy, New York, Random House, 1991 pp. 5
  12. ↑ Friedman, John S. (2005). The Secret Histories: Hidden Truths That Challenged the Past and Changed the World. Macmillan. pp. 278–279. ISBN 0-312-42517-1.
  13. 1 2 Kai Bird, The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames, Crown Publishing Group, New York, 2014 p. 95
  14. ↑ Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison, The CIA's Secret War in Tibet, Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2002, p. 269
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Richard H. Cummings, "From the Secret Pages of History", Kyiv Post, December 21, 2021
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Cummings, Richard H. Cold War Radio: The Dangerous History of American Broadcasting in Europe, 1950-1989.
  17. ↑ CIA/IWG 2007, p. 5.
  18. ↑ Ronald Kessler, Spy vs. Spy: Stalking Soviet Spies in America, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988 p. 53
  19. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2005, p. 878
  20. ↑ Escalante, Fabian. 1995. The Secret War: CIA Covert Operations Against Cuba, 1959–62, p. 93, ISBN 1-875284-86-9
  21. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2009, p. 262
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Waldron & Hartmann 2009, p. 204
  23. 1 2 Waldron & Hartmann 2005, p. 215
  24. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2009, p. 38
  25. 1 2 3 4 Waldron & Hartmann 2005, p. 794
  26. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2009, p. 35
  27. 1 2 Waldron & Hartmann 2005, p. 216
  28. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2009 p. 224
  29. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2009, p. 19
  30. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2009, p. 13
  31. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2005, p. 589
  32. ↑ Russo, Gus; Molton, Stephen (2008). Brothers in Arms: The Kennedys, the Castros, and the Politics of Murder (1st ed.). New York: Bloomsbury USA. pp. 46–47, 72–75, 77, 93–94, 227–228, 411–414. ISBN 978-1-59691-532-9.
  33. ↑ Newman, John M. (2008). Oswald and the CIA: The Documented Truth About the Unknown Relationship Between the U.S. Government and the Alleged Killer of JFK. New York: Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60239-253-3.
  34. ↑ CIA/IWG 2007, p. 13.
  35. 1 2 Benjamin Weiser, A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save His Country, New York: PublicAffairs, 2003 p. 344
  36. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mendez, Antonio J.; Mendez, Jonna (2019). The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics That Helped America Win the Cold War.
  37. ↑ Smith 2003, p. 377.
  38. ↑ David Ignatius, "A Big Man To Watch In Baghdad", Washington Post, February 1, 2004
  39. ↑ Annie Jacobsen, Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins. (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2019), p. 371-383
  40. ↑ Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack
  41. ↑ CIA/IWG 2007, p. 26.
  42. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 The Case of Otto Albrecht Alfred von Bolschwing
  43. ↑ "JFK assassination system - identification form" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-10-29.
  44. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 CIA/IWG 2007, p. 36.
  45. 1 2 3 4 5 6 CIA/IWG 2007, p. 37.
  46. 1 2 3 4 Oct 12, 1964 CIA Memo for the Record, 180-10142-10199
  47. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Agee, Philip. 1975. Inside the Company: CIA Diary
  48. ↑ "Libro descubre labor de la CIA en México :: La Razón :: 4 de marzo de 2016". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  49. ↑ George Washington University
  50. 1 2 "El espía que impactó a México". [El Universal] (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
  51. ↑ "LITEMPO: Los ojos de la CIA en Tlatelolco".
  52. ↑ "La Jornada: Documenta periodista la cercanía de la CIA con el poder en México". 19 May 2011.
  53. ↑ "Archives". Los Angeles Times. 27 March 1996.
  54. ↑ "Nothing found for Blog 2008 04 Six Questions for Jefferson Morley on Our Man in Mexico".
  55. 1 2 3 4 Forging an Intelligence Partnership: CIA and the Origins of the BND, 1949–56
  56. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2009, pp. 35, 136
  57. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2005, p. 527
  58. ↑ CIA/IWG 2007, p. 47.
  59. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2009, p. 709
  60. ↑ Bill, James A. (January 1988). "The Islamic Republic and America". The Eagle and the Lion: The Tragedy of American-Iranian Relations. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-300-04412-6. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  61. ↑ Smith, W. Thomas Jr. (2003). "Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Code Names". Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency. New York: Facts on File, Inc. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-4381-3018-7. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
  62. ↑ CIA/IWG 2007, pp. 1, 62.
  63. ↑
  64. ↑ OBOPUS/BGFIEND, RG263, Various documents, include Vol. 6, Box 47, National Archives, College Park, MD
  65. 1 2 3 Sharp 2012
  66. 1 2 Smith 2003
  67. ↑ Antonio J. Mendez and Jonna Mendez, "How the CIA Used the Illusions of Magicians to Fool the KGB", Daily Beast, June 8, 2019
  68. 1 2 Steve Coll, Ghost Wars, p.372
  69. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2005, p. 894
  70. ↑ Kevin Conley Ruffner, Eagle and Swastika:CIA and Nazi War Criminals and Collaborators, draft working paper, chapter Thirteen, p.15
  71. ↑ Pedlow & Welzenbach, p. 274.
  72. ↑ Contracting officer, Change of Project Funds Obligated Under Contract No. SS-100, Convair, San Diego, California, Project CHAMPION, DPD-2827-59, CIA, Washington, DC, 30 April 1959.
  73. ↑ Robarge, David (2005). "McCone and the Secret Wars: Counterintelligence and Security". John McCone as Director of Central Intelligence, 1961–1965 (Part 2). Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence. pp. 328–329. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  74. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2005, p. 37
  75. ↑ Pedlow & Welzenbach, p. 129.
  76. ↑ John B. Roberts II and Elizabeth A. Roberts, Freeing Tibet: 50 Years of Struggle, Resilience, and Hope, New York: AMACOM, 2009 p. 82
  77. 1 2 Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison, The CIA's Secret War in Tibet, Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2002, p.
  78. ↑ Pocock, Chris. The Black Bats: CIA Spy Flights Over China From Taiwan, 1951–1969. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 2010. ISBN 978-0-7643-3513-6.
  79. ↑ Bissell, Richard M., Jr., "[...] Cable Handling Procedures", SAPC-21143, CIA, Washington, DC, 8 November 1957.
  80. ↑ OBOPUS/BGFIEND, AHMET KABASHI, RG263, Name Files, National Archives, College Park, MD
  81. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2005, p. 471
  82. ↑ Waldron & Hartmann 2005, p. 438

Bibliography