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.

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. 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

* AE: Soviet Union (1960s)David Wise, ''Nightmover: How Aldrich Ames Sold the CIA to the KGB for $4.6 Million'', HarperCollins Publishers, 1996 p.15
* AL: Brazil
* AM: Cuba (also JM)
* AV: Uruguay
* BE: Poland
* BG: Albania
* BI: Argentina
* CA: West Germany
* CK: CIA Soviet and East Europe division sensitive cases (late 1970s)
* DB: Iraq
* DI: Czechoslovakia
* DM: SFRY / Yugoslavia
* DN: South Korea
* DU: Peru
* EC: Ecuador
* ES: Guatemala (also PB)
* FU: Chile
* GT: CIA Soviet and East Europe division sensitive cases (1980s)
* HA: Indonesia (1958)
* IA: Angola
* IR: Philippines?
* JM: Cuba (also AM)
* KK: IsraelSeymour M. Hersh, ''The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy'', New York, Random House, 1991 pp. 5
* KU: CIA and CIA components
* LC: China
* LN: United States
* LI: Mexico City
* MH: Worldwide operation.
* MJ: Palestinian-relatedKai Bird, ''The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames'', Crown Publishing Group, New York, 2014 p. 95
* MK: CIA Technical Services Division (1950s/1960s)
* MO: Thailand
* OD: Other US Government Departments (1960s)
* PB: Guatemala (also ES)
* PD: Soviet Union (1980s)
* PO: Japan
* SD: Iran
* SM: United Kingdom
* ST: CIA Directorate of Operations, Far East division, China Branch
* SZ: Switzerland
* TP: Iran (1953)
* TU: South Vietnam
* WI: Democratic Republic of the Congo (1960s)
* EU-RN: Intelligence intercept program of CIA Staff D ops, t