| AA |
Air America: subsidiary airline of the Central
Intelligence Agency which was active in Asia during
the Vietnam War |
| Agroville |
(Khu Tru Mat): garrison community into which
rural Vietnamese were forcefully relocated in order
to isolate them from the Vietcong. |
| AID |
Agency for International Development: branch of
the U.S. State Department responsible for advising
the government of Vietnam, including the National
Police |
| AIK |
Aid-in-Kind: nonmonetary aid
|
| An Ninh |
The Vietcong's internal security and propaganda
service |
| APC |
Accelerated pacification campaign: pacification
program begun November 1968 to increase the
number of villages rated "secure" under the Hamlet
Evaluation System |
| APT |
Armed propaganda team: platoon-size unit
composed of soldiers with both a combat and
psychological-warfare mission |
| ARVN |
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
|
| ASA |
Army Security Agency: branch of the National
Security Agency working with the U.S. Army to
locate the Vietcong through its radio
communications |
| Biet Kich |
Commando
|
| Cadre |
Nucleus of trained personnel around which a larger
organization can be built |
| CAP |
Combined Action Patrol: platoon-size unit composed
of U.S. Marines and Vietnamese Territorial Forces |
| CAS |
Controlled American source: an employee of the
CIA |
| CD |
Civilian detainee: Vietnamese civilian detained by
U.S. or Vietnamese military forces |
| CDEC |
Combined Document Exploitation Center: formed
October 1966 to support allied military operations
primarily through the translation of captured enemy
documents |
| CG |
Census Grievance: CIA coven action program
designed to obtain information on the VCI through
static agents in villages, or mobile agents in armed
propaganda teams |
| CI |
Counterintelligence: that aspect of intelligence
devoted to destroying the effectiveness of enemy
intelligence activities |
| CICV |
Combined Intelligence Center, Vietnam: created in
1965 to coordinate U.S. and South Vietnamese
intelligence operations |
| CID |
Criminal Investigation Division: branch of the U.S.
Army charged with investigating crimes committed
by American soldiers |
| CIDG |
Civilian Irregular Defense Group: U.S. Special
Forces-trained village and tribal security and
reaction forces |
| CINCPAC |
Commander in Chief, Pacific: the U.S. military
headquarters in Hawaii to which the commander of
MACV reported |
| CIO |
Central Intelligence Organization: formed in 1961 to
coordinate South Vietnamese foreign and domestic
intelligence operations |
| CIS |
Combined Intelligence Staff: formed in November
1966 to manage the attack against the VCI in Saigon
and its environs |
| CMDC |
Capital Military District Command: formed in June
1968 to coordinate military and pacification
operations in Saigon and its environs |
| CMEC |
Combined Materiel Exploitation Center: formed in
1965 to coordinate intelligence gained from the
analysis of captured enemy materiel |
| CORDS |
Civil Operations
and Revolutionary Development
Support: organization established in May 1967
under MACV, designed to coordinate U.S. military
and civilian operations and advisory programs in
South Vietnam |
| COSVN |
Central Office of South Vietnam: mobile
headquarters of the South Vietnamese insurgency,
created in 1962 |
| CPDC |
Central Pacification and Development Council:
formed in 1968 by William Colby, who was then
chief of CORDS, as a liaison staff to the office of
the prime minister of South Vietnam |
| CPHPO |
Central Phung Hoang Permanent Office: formed in
July 1968 to manage the South Vietnamese attack
against the VCI |
| CSC |
Combined Security Committee: formed in 1964 to
protect U.S. government personnel and facilities in
Saigon and its environs |
| CT |
Counterterrorist: mercenary soldier employed by the
CIA to kill, capture, and/or terrorize the VCI |
| CT IV |
Cong Tac IV (also known as Counterterror IV):
joint U.S.-South Vietnamese program begun in
December 1966, designed to eliminate the VCI in
Saigon and its environs |
| CTSC |
Combined Tactical Screening Center: formed by the
U.S. Army in 1967 to distinguish prisoners of war
from civilian detainees |
| Cuc Nghien Cuu |
Central Research Agency: North Vietnamese
intelligence service |
| DAO |
Defense Attache Office: U.S. military headquarters
that replaced MACV in 1973 after the cease-fire |
| DCI |
Director of Central Intelligence: U.S. official in
charge of managing the affairs of the CIA |
| DEPCORDS |
Deputy to the MACV commander for Civil
Operations and Revolutionary Development Support |
| DGNP |
Director General of the National Police: Vietnamese
official in charge of the South Vietnamese police |
| DIOCC |
District Intelligence and Operations Coordination
Center: office of the Phoenix adviser in each of
South Vietnam's 250 districts |
| DMZ |
Demilitarized zone: stretch of land along the
seventeenth parallel, created in 1954 to separate
North and South Vietnam |
| DSA |
District senior adviser: senior CORDS official in
each of South Vietnam's 250 districts |
| FI |
Foreign Intelligence: branch of the CIA charged
with inserting agents within foreign governments |
| Free Fire Zone: |
Area in South Vietnam where U.S. military
personnel had the authority to kill anyone they
targeted |
| GAMO |
Group administrative mobile organization: French-advised and -outfitted combat unit composed of
South Vietnamese soldiers |
| GCMA |
Composite airborne commando group: French-advised and -outfitted antiguerrilla unit composed
mostly of Montagnards |
| GVN |
Government of Vietnam
|
| HES |
Hamlet Evaluation System: computer system
developed by the U.S. Defense Department in 1967
to measure trends in pacification |
| HIP |
Hamlet Informant program: CIA-funded program
managed by CIA officers in liaison with the Special
Branch of the South Vietnamese National Police in
which secret agents were paid to identify VCI in
hamlets |
| hooch: |
Dwelling occupied by rural Vietnamese
|
| Hop Tac: |
Pacification Intensive Capital Area program, begun
July 1964 to bring security to Saigon and its
environs |
| HVRP |
High Values Rewards Program: bounty program
proposed by the Phoenix Directorate in July 1971 to
induce low- level VCI to turn in high-level VCI |
| ICEX |
Intelligence coordination and exploitation: original
name of the Phoenix program, formed in June 1967 |
| IOCC |
Intelligence Operations and Coordination Center
|
| IPA |
International Police Academy: school in the United
States where the Agency for International
Development through its Office of Public Safety
trained policemen from foreign countries from 1963
to 1974 |
| ISA |
International Security
Affairs: office within the U.S.
Defense Department responsible for supervising
security assistance programs such as Phoenix in
foreign countries, excluding NATO |
| JAG |
Judge Advocate General: chief prosecuting general
within the U.S. armed forces |
| JGS |
Joint General Staff: command organization of the
Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces |
| JI |
Personnel branch of the JGS or MACV
|
| J2 |
Intelligence branch of the JGS or MACV
|
| J3 |
Operations branch of the JGS or MACV
|
| J4 |
Logistics branch of the JGS or MACV
|
| JUSPAO |
Joint U .S. Public Affairs Office: formed in May
1965 under the office of the U.S. Information
Agency in South Vietnam, to manage MACV
psychological warfare operations and public relations |
| KKK |
Khmer Kampuchea Krom: Cambodian exiles
trained by the CIA in South Vietnam |
| KMT |
Kuomintang: official ruling party of the Republic of
China (Taiwan), formed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen in 1911 |
| LLDB |
Luc Luong Duc Biet: South Vietnamese Special
Forces |
| LRRP |
Long-range reconnaissance patrol: small team of
U .S. soldiers sent to gather behind-the-lines
intelligence on enemy troops |
| LST |
Landing Ship Transport: naval vessel in which
troops are often quartered |
| MACV |
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam: arrived in
Saigon in February 1962 as a unified command
under the Commander in Chief, Pacific, managing
the U.S. military effort in South Vietnam |
| MAAG |
Military Assistance and Advisory Group: arrived in
South Vietnam in November 1955 to provide
support and training to the Republic of Vietnam
Armed Forces. Its function was absorbed by MACV
in 1964. |
| MASA |
Military Assistance Security Adviser: U.S. military
officer who manages a security assistance program in
a foreign country |
| MAT |
Mobile advisory team: team of U.S. military
personnel assigned to CORDS, charged with
training and supporting the Territorial Security
Forces of South Vietnam in a province or district |
| Mike Forces: |
Mobile strike force commands: corps-level units
under the command of the 5th Special Forces |
| MOI |
Ministry of the Interior: branch of the GVN with
authority over pacification, including Phung Hoang |
| MSS |
Military Security Service: counterintelligence branch
of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces |
| MSUG |
Michigan State University Group: employees of
Michigan State University contracted in 1954 to
provide technical assistance to the GVN |
| NIC |
National Interrogation Center: CIA facility built in
1964 inside CIO headquarters in the naval shipyard
in Saigon |
| NLF |
National Liberation Front: formed in 1960 by the
various insurgent groups in South Vietnam |
| NPC |
National Police Command: organized in June 1971
to incorporate Phung Hoang within the existing
National Police structure |
| NPCIS |
National Police Criminal Information System:
computer system designed to track identified VCI |
| NPFF |
National Police Field Force: paramilitary branch of
the National Police |
| NPIASS |
National Police Infrastructure Analysis Sub-Section:
data bank containing biographical information on
the VCI, used to plan countermeasures |
| NPIC |
National Police Interrogation Center: located at
National Police headquarters on Vo Tanh Street in
Saigon |
| NVA |
North Vietnamese Army
|
| OCO |
Office of Civil Operations: formed in Saigon in
November 1966 to manage U.S. pacification
programs in South Vietnam |
| OSA |
Office of the Special Assistant: code name for the
CIA station in Saigon |
| PA&E |
Pacific Architects and Engineers: private company
that did construction work for the GVN |
| PAAS |
Pacification Attitude Analysis System: computer
system designed to assess the political effects of
CORDS pacification programs |
| PAT |
People's action team: CIA version of the standard
Vietcong armed propaganda team |
| PCOC |
Phoenix Coordinators Orientation Course: begun
November 1968 at Vung Tau's Seminary Camp to
train Phoenix coordinators |
| PHMIS |
Phung Hoang Management Information System:
computer system containing biographical and
organizational data on the VCI, created January
1969 |
| PHREEX |
Phung Hoang reexamination: study begun in 1971,
designed to critique the Phoenix program |
| Phung Hoang: |
The mythological Vietnamese bird of conjugal love
that appears in times of peace, pictured holding a
flute and representing virtue, grace, and harmony.
Also the name given to the South Vietnamese
version of Phoenix |
| PIC |
Province Interrogation Center
|
| PICC |
Province Intelligence Coordination Committee:
established by decree in November 1964 to serve as
the senior intelligence agency in each province, but
never put into effect |
| PIOCC |
Province Intelligence and Operations Coordination
Center: headquarters of the Phoenix adviser in each
of South Vietnam's forty-four provinces |
| PIRL |
Potential intelligence recruitment lead: VCI removed
from the Phoenix blacklist and approached to
become an agent of the CIA |
| PM |
Paramilitary: branch of the CIA that obtains
intelligence through unconventional warfare
operations |
| POIC |
Province officer in charge: senior CIA officer in a
province, supervising both police liaison and
paramilitary operations |
| PP |
Political and Psychological: branch of the CIA that
manages black propaganda and political liaison
activities |
| PRG |
Provisional Revolutionary Government: formed in
June 1969 by the NLF to negotiate the reunification
of North and South Vietnam |
| PRP |
People's Revolutionary party: created in January
1962 as the southern branch of the Vietnamese
Communist party |
| PRU |
Provincial Reconnaissance Units: mercenary forces
under the control of the CIA in South Vietnam |
| PSA |
Province senior adviser: senior CORDS official in
each of South Vietnam's forty-four provinces |
| PSC |
Province Security Committee: nonjudicial body
charged with the disposition of captured VCI |
| PSD |
Public Safety Division: branch of CORDS
responsible for advising the National Police |
| PSCD |
Pacification Security Coordination Division: CIA
component of CORDS |
| PSDF |
People's self-defense forces: South Vietnamese
civilian militia |
| psyops |
Psychological operations
|
| psywar |
Psychological warfare
|
| PTSD |
Post traumatic stress disorder: stress that continues
after the traumatic event that caused it |
| RD |
Revolutionary Development: CIA program to build
support for the GVN in the provinces of South
Vietnam |
| RDC |
Revolutionary development cadre: South Vietnamese
trained by the CIA at Vung Tau to persuade the
citizens of South Vietnam to support the central
government |
| RDC/O |
Revolutionary Development Cadre, Operations: CIA
officer in charge of paramilitary operations in a
province |
| RCD/P |
Revolutionary Development Cadre, Plans: CIA
officer in charge of liaison with the Special Branch
in a province |
| RF/PF |
Regional Forces and Popular Forces: a National
Guard under the control of district and province
chiefs |
| RMK/BRJ |
Raymond Morrison Knudson, Brown Root
Jorgansen: private company that did construction
work for the GVN |
| ROIC |
Region officer in charge: senior CIA officer in each
of the four corps and Saigon |
| RVNAF |
Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces
|
| S2 |
Sector intelligence adviser: senior MACV
intelligence adviser to the South Vietnamese forces
in a province |
| SACSA |
Special Assistant (to the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff) for Counterinsurgency and Special
Activities: office within the Joint Chiefs with
responsibility for Phoenix policy |
| SARC |
Special airmobile resource control: method of
interdicting VCI attempting to resupply armed
Vietcong guerrillas |
| SAVA |
Special Assistant for Vietnamese Affairs: office in
the CIA reporting directly to the Director of Central
Intelligence on developments in South Vietnam |
| SCAG |
Saigon Capital Advisory Group
|
| SEAL |
Sea-Air-Land: the U.S. Navy's Special Forces
|
| SES |
Special Exploitation Service: formed in April 1964
as the JGS counterpart to SOG, renamed Strategic
Technical Directorate in September 1987 |
| SIDE |
Screening, interrogation, and detention of the
enemy: ICEX program begun in September 1967 to
resolve the problem of separating genuine VCI from
innocent civilian detainees |
| SIFU |
Special Intelligence Force Units: small units formed
in 1971 to replace PRU, composed of Special
Branch and Field Police |
| SMIAT |
Special Military Intelligence Advisory Team: formed
in 1965 to mount sophisticated operations against
the VCI |
| SMM |
Saigon Military Mission: CIA office formed in 1954
to help the South Vietnamese conduct psychological
warfare against the Vietminh |
| Snatch and snuff |
Kidnap and kill
|
| SOG |
Special Operations Group: joint CIA-military
organization formed in 1964 to conduct operations
outside South Vietnam in support of MACV, but
under the control of SACSA |
| SP |
Special Police: term used in reference to the CIA-advised and -funded Special Branch of South
Vietnamese National Police |
| Trung-doi biet kich Nham dou: |
people's commando team, formed by Frank Scotton
in 1964 |
| USARV |
United States Army Republic of Vietnam: created
July 1965 at Long Binh to control all logistical and
administrative units of the U.S. Army in Vietnam |
| USIS |
United States Information Service: branch of the
U.S. government responsible for conducting
psychological operations overseas |
| TDY |
Temporary duty
|
| TRAC |
Target Research and Analysis Section: created in
January 1965 to develop targets for Strategic Air
Command B-25s in support of MACV |
| VBI |
Vietnamese Bureau of Investigation: precursor
organization to the Special Branch, also known as
the Cong An |
| VC |
Vietcong: Vietnamese Communist
|
| VCI |
Vietcong infrastructure: all Communist party
members and NLF officers, plus Vietcong and NVA
saboteurs and terrorists |
| VCS |
Vietcong suspect: Viemamese civilian suspected of
being VCI |
| VIS |
Vietnamese Information Service: branch of the GVN
responsible for conducting psychological operations
in South Vietnam |
| VNQDD |
Vietnam Quoc Dan Dang: Vietnamese branch of the
Kuomintang |
| VNTF |
Vietnam Task Force: office within ISA responsible
for Vietnam |