CIA cryptonyms are code words seen in declassified documents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. There has been much speculation as to the meaning of these. Each CIA cryptonym in these documents contains a two character prefix called a digraph, which designates a geographical or functional area. The rest is either an arbitrary dictionary word, or occasionally the digraph and the cryptonym combine to form a dictionary word (e.g.: AEROPLANE). Certain digraphs were changed at times, for example the digraph for the Soviet Union changed at least twice. Partial list of digraphs and probable definitions
AE: Soviet Union AM: Cuba BE: Poland CK: Soviet Union DI: Czechoslovakia DM: Yugoslavia DN: South Korea ES: Guatemala GT: Soviet Union IA: Angola KU: Part of CIA MH: Worldwide operation MK: Projects sponsored by the CIA's Technical Services Division OD: Other Department PB: President Board SD: Iran SM: United Kingdom TU: South Vietnam ZR: Normally prefixes the cryptonym for an intelligence intercept program. Seems to go with Staff D ops, Staff D being the group that worked directly with the NSA. Staff D was where ZR/RIFLE, a Castro assassination plot, was buried.
Unidentified digraphs AV, CA, DT, EC, ER, FJ, HB, HO, HT, JM, JU, KM, LC, LI, QK, SE, SC, WS, ZI
Partial list of CIA cryptonyms and probable definitions
Operations and Projects APPLE ARTICHOKE: Anti-interrogation project. Precusor to MKULTRA. AQUATONE: Lockheed U-2 Spy Plane Project BIRCH BLUEBIRD: mind control program CHALICE: Lockheed U-2 Spy Plane Project CHATTER CHERRY: Covert assassination / destabilization operation during Vietnam war, targeting Prince (later King) Norodom Sihanouk and the government of Cambodia. Disbanded. CONDOR: 1970s CIA interference in Latin American governments, some allege in the coup and assassination of Salvador Allende in Chile CORONA: Satellite photo system. DBACHILLES: 1995 effort to support a military coup in Iraq. FIR GUSTO: Lockheed U-2 Spy Plane Project HTAUTOMAT: Lockheed U-2 Spy Plane Project HTLINGUAL: Mail interception operation. IAFEATURE: Operation to support UNITA and FNLA during the Angolan civil war. LEMON LINCOLN: Ongoing operation involving Basque separatist group ETA LPMEDLEY: Surveillance of telegraphic information exiting or entering the United States MHCHAOS: Surveillance of antiwar activists during the Vietnam War MKDELTA: Stockpiling of lethal biological and chemical agents, subsequently became MKNAOMI MKNAOMI: Stockpiling of lethal biological and chemical agents, successor to MKDELTA MKULTRA: Mind control research. MKULTRA means MK (code for scientific projects) and ULTRA (top classification reference, re: ULTRA code breaking in WWII. Renamed MKSEARCH in 1964 MKSEARCH: MKULTRA after 1964, mind control research MKOFTEN: Testing effects of biological and chemical agents, part of MKSEARCH OAK: Operation to assassinate suspected South Vietnamese collaborators during Vietnam war OXCART: Lockheed A-12 Spy Plane Project PAPERCLIP: US recruiting of German scientists after the Second World War PHOENIX: Vietnam covert intelligence/assassination operation. PINE PBFORTUNE: CIA project to supply forces opposed to Guatemala's President Arbenz with weapons, supplies, and funding; predecessor to PBSUCCESS. PBHISTORY: Central Intelligence Agency project to gather and analyze documents from the Arbenz government in Guatemala that would incriminate Arbenz as a Communist. PBSUCCESS: (Also PBS) Central Intelligence Agency covert operation to overthrow the Arbenz government in Guatemala. SHERWOOD: CIA radio broadcast program in Nicaragua begun on May 1, 1954. TPAJAX: Joint US/UK operation to overthrow Mohammed Mossadeq, Prime Minister of Iran TSS: Technical Services Staff WASHTUB: Operation to plant Soviet arms in Nicaragua
Organizations KUBARK: CIA Headquarters KUCAGE: CIA Overseas Paramilitary / Propaganda Operations KUCLUB: Office of Communications KUDESK: Counterintelligence department KUDOVE: Office of the director KUFIRE: Intelligence KUGOWN: Propaganda KUHOOK: Negotiations/Logistics (unsure) KUSODA: CIA Interrogators ODACID: State Department / US Embassy ODEARL: US Department of Defense ODENVY: FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation ODOATH: US Navy ODUNIT: US Air Force ODYOKE: US Government QKFLOWAGE: United States Information Agency SKIMMER: The "Group" CIA cover organization supporting Castillo Armas. SGUAT: CIA Station in Guatemala SMOTH: British Secret Intelligence Service (also known as MI6) SYNCARP: The "Junta," Castillo Armas' political organization headed by Cordova Cerna. UNIFRUIT: United Fruit Company
Persons AEFOXTROT: Yuri Ivanovich Nosenko, a Soviet defector AELADLE: Anatoliy Golitsyn, a Soviet defector AMLASH: Rolando Cubela Secades, a Cuban official involved in plot to kill Fidel Castro in 1963 AMQUACK: Che Guevara, Argentinian guerrilla leader AMTHUG: Fidel Castro, president of Cuba GPFLOOR: Lee Harvey Oswald, J.F. Kennedy's assassin GPIDEAL: John F. Kennedy, US president GRALLSPICE: Pyotr Semonovich Popov, Soviet defector JMBLUG: John S. Peurifoy, U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala KUMOTHER: James Jesus Angleton, head of the CIAs counter intelligence PANCHO: Carlos Castillo Armas, President of Guatemala, also RUFUS RUFUS: Carlos Castillo Armas, President of Guatemala, also PANCHO SKILLET: Whiting Willauer, U.S. Ambassador to Honduras. STANDEL: Jacobo Arbenz, President of Guatemala
Places BOND: Puerto Barrios, Guatemala DTFROGS: El Salvador HTKEEPER: Mexico City HTPLUME: Panama JMMADD: CIA airbase near city of Retalhuleu, Guatemala JMTIDE: CIA airbase in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua JMTRAX: CIA covert airbase/training camp in Guatemala JMWAVE: CIA station in Miami (which operated against Cuba) KMFLUSH: Nicaragua KMPAJAMA: Mexico KMPLEBE: Peru LCPANGS: Costa Rica LIONIZER: Guatemalan refugee group in Mexico PBPRIME: the United States of America PBRUMEN: Cuba SARANAC: Training site in Nicaragua SCRANTON: Training base for radio operators near Nicaragua. WSBURNT: Guatemala WSHOOFS: Honduras
Other BGGYPSY: Communist ESCOBILLA: Guatemalan national ESMERALDITE: labor informant affiliated with AFL-sponsored labor movement ESSENCE: Guatemalan anti-Communist leader FJHOPEFUL: military base LCFLUTTER: Polygraph, sometimes supplanted by truth drugs: Sodium Amytal (amobarbital), Sodium Pentothal (thiopental), and Seconal (secobarbital) to induce regression in the subject. LIENVOY: Wiretap or Intercept Program RYBAT: Indicates that the information is very sensitive SLINC: Telegram indicator for PBSUCCESS Headquarters in Florida.
Unidentified codewords AEBARMAN, AEFOX, AEROPLANE, AVBLIMP, AVBRANDY, AVBUSY, CABOUNCE, CLOWER, ECJOB, ESGAIN, ESODIC, ESQUIRE, FJDEFLECT, GOLIATH, HBDRILL, HOPEFUL, JUBATE, JUBILIST, KUHOOK, KUJUMP, KUPALM, KURIOT, KUTUBE, LCPANES, LICOZY, LITEMPO, ODIBEX, PBCABOOSE
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
MOBILE | DESKTOP |