Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume IX,
Vietnam, October 1972–January 1973
Abbreviations and Terms
-
A–1 Skyraider, a propeller-driven
attack aircraft that carried out close air support for U.S. Navy, U.S.
Marine Corps, and for the South Vietnamese Air Force
-
A–6 Intruder, twin jet-engine,
mid-wing attack aircraft
-
ABF, attack by fire
-
AC–130 Spectre, heavily armed U.S.
aircraft that provided close air support, air interdiction, and force
protection
-
AF, Air Force
-
AID, Agency for International
Development
-
Amb, Ambassador
-
ARC LIGHT, code name for U.S.
B–52 bombing missions in Vietnam,
Laos, and Cambodia
-
ARVN, Army of the Republic of
(South) Vietnam
-
Avenue Kléber, shorthand for the
public plenary talks held at the International Conference Center on Avenue Kléber in Paris
-
B–52 Stratofortress, a heavy bomber
used for both strategic and tactical bombing
-
BARREL ROLL, U.S. air campaign
in Laos to support Royal Lao Government forces in operations against the
Communist Pathet Lao near Long Tieng and the Plain of Jars
-
BDA, bomb damage assessment
-
BE Number, Basic Encyclopedia Number,
a target identifier system used by the Department of Defense
-
Binh Tram, military way station on the
Ho Chi Minh Trail
-
BN, battalion
-
Buffalo hunter, unmanned
drone aircraft that conducted reconnaissance missions over North
Vietnam
-
C–130,
see
AC–130
-
CAS, Controlled American
Source
-
CBS, Columbia Broadcasting
System
-
CBU, cluster bomb unit, small
explosive device, also called a bomblet, placed inside a canister with other
CBUs; when canister is dropped from an
aircraft it opens before reaching the ground; the bomblets can be configured
to explode on contact with the ground, when stepped on, or after a certain
amount of time has passed, and to carry a variety of payloads
-
Chaff, radar confusion reflectors,
consisting of thin, narrow, metallic strips of various lengths and frequency
responses, which are used to reflect echoes for confusion purposes and to
cause enemy radar guided missiles to lock on to it instead of the real
aircraft
-
CIA, Central Intelligence
Agency
-
CINCPAC, Commander-in-Chief,
Pacific Command
-
CINCPACAF, Commander-in-Chief,
Pacific Air Force
-
CINCPACFLT,
Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet
-
CINCSAC, Commander-in-Chief,
Strategic Air Command
-
CINCUSARPAC,
Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Army Pacific
-
CJCS, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of
Staff
-
CL, classified
-
CMD, Capital Military District
-
CNO, Chief of Naval Operations
-
CNCR, Committee of National Concord
and Reconciliation, variant of NCNRC
-
CNR, Committee of National
Reconciliation
-
COM, Commander
-
COMINT, communications
intelligence
-
Component Commander, senior military
officer responsible to the commander for a specific component (Air Force,
Army, Marines, Navy) in a unified or subordinate unified command
-
COMUSMACV, Commander, U.S.
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
-
CONUS, Continental United
States
-
CORDS, Civil Operations and
Revolutionary (later Rural) Development Support
-
COSVN, Central Office of South
Vietnam, Communist political and military headquarters for the southern half
of South Vietnam
-
CVT,
Confederation Vietnamienne des Travalleurs
(Vietnamese Confederation of Labor)
-
DCI, Director of Central
Intelligence
-
DCM, Deputy Chief of Mission
-
DD, destroyer
-
DIA, Defense Intelligence
Agency
-
Dikes, Red River Delta, an
intricate, centuries-old system of dikes that controlled irrigation in the
low-lying areas of the Red River Delta of North Vietnam and protected those
who lived and worked there
-
DJSM, Director, Joint Staff,
Memorandum
-
DMZ, demilitarized zone, established
roughly at Vietnam’s 17th parallel to a width not more than five kilometers
each side of the demilitarized zone line
-
DOD, Department of Defense
-
DOD/ISA, Office of the Assistant
Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
-
DOS, Department of State
-
DRV, Democratic Republic of Vietnam
(North Vietnam)
-
EA, Executive Assistant, Joint Chiefs
of Staff
-
EAP, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific
Affairs, Department of State
-
EO, electro optical
-
EOB, Executive Office Building
-
Exdis, exclusive
distribution
-
F–4 Phantom, an all-weather jet
fighter-bomber used by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy in
Vietnam
-
F–111, a U.S. Air Force heavy
fighter-bomber without an official name; nicknamed “Aardvark”
-
FAC, forward air controller
-
FANK,
Forces Armées Nationales Khmères (Khmer Republic
Armed Forces [Cambodia])
-
FAR,
Forces Armées Royales (Royal Armed Forces
[Laos])
-
FARK,
Forces Armées Royales Khmères (Royal Khmer Armed
Forces [Cambodia])
-
FBIS, Foreign Broadcast Information
Service
-
Flash, precedence indicator for an
extremely urgent message which requires instant action by the addressee
regardless of the time of day or night
-
FLT, fleet
-
FonMin, Foreign Minister
-
FRC, Federal Records Center
-
FSO, Foreign Service Officer
-
GAC, George A. Carver
-
GKR, Government of Khmer Republic
(Cambodia)
-
GVN, Government of Vietnam (South
Vietnam)
-
HAK, Henry A. Kissinger
-
HES, Hamlet Evaluation System, begun
in 1967 to rate individual villages in South Vietnam according to six
criteria of how secure they were
-
Hmong, ethnic minority in Laotian
hill country
-
Hue, major city in northern South
Vietnam and capital of former Vietnamese empire
-
ICC, International Control
Commission, established under the 1954 Geneva Accords and incorporated into
the 1962 Geneva agreement on Laos
-
ICCS, International Commission of
Control and Supervision
-
ICRC, International Committee of the
Red Cross
-
JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
-
JGS, Joint General Staff, Republic of
Vietnam Armed Forces
-
JMC, Joint Military Commission
-
JRC, Joint Reconnaissance
Command
-
KC, Khmer (Cambodian) Communist
-
KHR, Khmer Republic (Cambodia)
-
KI, Khmer insurgent
-
KIA, killed in action
-
Komar, Soviet-built missile boat
used by North Vietnamese in coastal waters
-
Kontum, a province in South
Vietnam’s Central Highlands opposite Laos
-
Lao Dong Party,
Dang Lao Dong Viet Nam (Vietnamese Workers’ Party),
Communist Party of North Vietnam
-
LDX, long distance xerography
-
LGB, laser guided bomb, also called a
“smart bomb”
-
LINEBACKER I, code name for
U.S. air interdiction campaign against North Vietnam, May 10–October 23,
1972
-
LINEBACKER II, code name for
U.S. strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam, December 18–29,
1972
-
LOC, line of communication
-
LORAN, long-range navigation system
for air and marine travel
-
LOU, limited official use
-
LPF, Lao Patriotic Front, political
arm of the Pathet Lao
-
MACV, Military Assistance Command,
Vietnam
-
MAP, Military Assistance
Program
-
MASF, military assistance
service-funded
-
MAT, Mobile Advisory Team
-
MEDTC, Military Equipment Delivery
Team, Cambodia
-
Meo,
see
Hmong
-
MIG–21, fighter aircraft provided
by Soviet Union to North Vietnam
-
mm, millimeter
-
MR, Military Region; Government of
Vietnam divided the country into four zones for military and administrative
purposes; MR1 contained the five
northernmost provinces of South Vietnam, MR2
included provinces in the central and north central sections, MR3 was made up of the south central part of
the country and included Saigon, and MR4 in
the Mekong Delta held the rest of the country; sometimes an MR was also called a Corps Tactical Zone
-
MSO, minesweepers, ocean
-
mtg, meeting
-
Muong,
see
Hmong
-
NCNRC, National Council for
National Reconciliation and Concord
-
NCO, non-commissioned officer
-
NCRC, National Council for
Reconciliation and Concord, variant of NCNRC
-
NGF, naval gunfire
-
NGFS, naval gunfire support
-
NIC, Naval Intelligence Command;
National Intelligence Council, Central Intelligence Agency
-
NIE, National Intelligence
Estimate
-
NLF, National Liberation Front
-
nm, nautical mile
-
NMCC, National Military Command
Center
-
Nodis, no distribution
-
Noforn, no dissemination to
foreign nationals
-
NSA, National Security Agency
-
NSAM, National Security Action
Memorandum
-
NSC, National Security Council
-
NSDF, National Social Democratic
Front
-
NSDM, National Security Decision
Memorandum
-
NSSM, National Security Study
Memorandum
-
NVA, North Vietnamese Army, also
PAVN
-
NVN, North Vietnam
-
ONE, Office of National
Estimates
-
OP, observation post
-
OSA, Office of the Special Assistant
to the Ambassador
-
OSD, Office of the Secretary of
Defense
-
PAC, Pacific Command
-
PAO, Public Affairs Office
-
PACFLT, Pacific Fleet
-
Paris Peace Talks, public talks
between U.S. and GVN on one side and the
DRV and PRG (NLF) on the other; also known as Plenary or Avenue Kléber talks
-
PAVN, People’s Army of Vietnam, also
NVA
-
PF,
see
RF/PF
-
PNM, Progressive Nationalist
Movement
-
POCKET MONEY, Operation, plan
to mine major North Vietnamese ports
-
POL, petroleum, oil,
lubricants
-
POW, prisoner of war
-
PPOG, Psychological Pressure
Operations Group
-
PR, public relations
-
PRC, People’s Republic of (Communist)
China
-
PRG, Provisional Revolutionary
Government, political wing of the South Vietnamese Communist movement,
replaced the NLF, but terms often used
interchangeably
-
Protocol, implementing
instrument to a treaty, frequently detailed and technical
-
PSDF, People’s Self Defense
Force
-
PX, Post exchange
-
RD, Revolutionary Development
-
RDV, Revolutionary Dai Viet
Party
-
Recce, reconnaissance or
reconnoiter
-
Reftel, reference telegram
-
RF/PF, Regional Forces/Popular
Forces, South Vietnamese provincial and district security (militia) forces,
respectively
-
RG, Record Group
-
ROK, Republic of Korea
-
ROKV, Republic of Korea Forces,
Vietnam
-
RP, route package, target areas for
airstrikes against North Vietnam, numbered 1 through 6, south to north, from
the DMZ to a bugger zone near the Chinese
border
-
RLG, Royal Lao Government
-
RN, Richard Nixon
-
RSC, Regional Supply Center
-
RTG, Royal Thai Government
-
RVN, Republic of Vietnam (South
Vietnam)
-
RVNAF, Republic of (South) Vietnam
Armed Forces
-
S/S, Executive Secretariat, Department
of State
-
SA–2, missile
-
SAC, Strategic Air Command
-
SAM, surface-to-air missile
-
SAR, search and rescue
-
SALT, Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks
-
SAVA, Special Assistant for
Vietnamese Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency
-
SDO, Special Development Office,
Defense Intelligence Agency
-
SEA, Southeast Asia
-
SEAsia, Southeast Asia
-
SecDef, Secretary of Defense
-
SecState, Secretary of
State
-
Septel, separate telegram
-
SGU, Special Guerrilla Unit
-
SIOP, Single Integrated Operational
Plan, the U.S. contingency plan for nuclear war
-
SNIE, Special National Intelligence
Estimate
-
Sortie, one attack by a single
military aircraft
-
Sparrow, a medium-range,
air-to-air missile used by U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps fighter
aircraft
-
Specat, special category
-
SR–71, a long-range, high-altitude,
strategic reconnaissance aircraft
-
SRG, Senior Review Group
-
Subj, subject
-
SVN, South Vietnam
-
Tacair, tactical air
support
-
Telcon, telecon, telephone
conversation
-
TPP, thermal power plant
-
TS, Top Secret
-
U, unclassified
-
UH, utility helicopter
-
UPI, United Press
International
-
USA, United States Army
-
USAF, United States Air Force
-
USG, United States Government
-
USIA, United States Information
Agency
-
USN, United States Navy
-
USSAG, United States Support
Activities Group
-
USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics
-
U Tapao, Royal Thai Air Force Base
from which USAF B–52s carried out missions
over Vietnam
-
VC, Viet Cong
-
Viet Minh,
Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh (League for the
Independence of Vietnam), a Communist-led coalition, formed in 1941, that
fought the Japanese in World War II and the French in the First Indochina
War
-
VNAF, (South) Vietnamese Air
Force
-
VNN, (South) Vietnamese Navy
-
VOA, Voice of America
-
VSSG, Vietnam Special Studies
Group
-
WH, White House
-
WSAG, Washington Special Actions
Group
-
Yankee Station, South China Sea
location of U.S. aircraft carrier or carriers from which Navy conducted air
operations against North Vietnam
-
Z, Zulu, time designator on White
House, Departments of State and Defense messages/cables based on Greenwich
Mean, aka Coordinated Universal, Time