CIA cryptonym CIA cryptonyms are code name s or code word s used by the CIA ( U . S . Central Intelligence Agency ) to reference projects , operations , persons , agencies , etc . The cryptonyms described in this article were in use at least from the 1950s to the 1980s . It is likely that they have since been replaced by another system . Introduction . The term " code word " was used by the CIA during the 1960s as a partial designation for a Top Secret report on a highly classified and sensitive intelligence topic , and for compartmenting information . In the context of discussing code words used in the President ' s Daily Brief ( PDB ) during the Johnson and Nixon administrations , former CIA Director Richard Helms wrote : " At the time , the highest security classification was known as Top Secret / Code Word . In practice , the slug — as we called it — ' Top Secret / Code Word ' was followed by a noun , so scrupulously chosen that even the most intuitive intruder could not associate a glimpse of the code word with the subject matter it protected . In my day there were a dozen or more of these tightly compartmented classifications of information . Aside from the President and a few others — usually the Secretary of State , Secretary of Defense , and National Security Advisor — no other government official was automatically cleared for ' all source ' reports . The lesser recipients of specific code word data had to have a clearly established ' need to know ' the substance of the compartmentalized report . Compartmentation , as we called it , is one of the most effective means of protecting sensitive data . As surely as Heaven gave us little green apples , it would be my luck to pick a five - letter noun that is in current use . " Top Secret / Code Word documents contained " highly classified and sensitive intelligence . " Format of cryptonyms . Each CIA cryptonym contains 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 what was then the 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 Bob 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 . Unidentified digraphs . BG , CA , DT , ER , FJ , HB , HO , HT , JU , KM , QK , SC , SE , SG , WS , ZI Known cryptonyms . Unidentified cryptonyms . AEBARMAN , AEFOX , AEROPLANE , AVBLIMP , AVBRANDY , AVBUSY , CABOUNCE , CLOWER , ECJOB , ESGAIN , ESODIC , FJDEFLECT , GOLIATH , HBDRILL , HOPEFUL , JUBATE , JUBILIST , LCPANES , LICOZY , LPHIDDEN , ODIBEX , ODEUM , PBCABOOSE