Editing CIA cryptonym (section)

==Format of cryptonyms==
CIA cryptonyms sometimes contain a two character prefix called a digraph, which designates a geographical or functional area.<ref name="ARRB">{{cite book |author=Assassination Records Review Board |author-link1=Assassination Records Review Board |title=Final Report of the Assassination Records Review Board |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/review-board/report/arrb-final-report.pdf |access-date=November 27, 2015 |date=September 30, 1998 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=52–53 |chapter=Chapter Five: The Standards for Review: Review Board "Common Law"}}</ref> Certain digraphs were changed over time; for example, the digraph for the Soviet Union changed at least twice.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://maryferrell.org/pages/False_Names_in_CIA_Documents.html|title=False Names in CIA Documents|website=maryferrell.org|access-date=2019-10-04}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":0" />

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.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} TRIGON, for example, was the code name for [[Aleksandr Dmitrievich Ogorodnik|Aleksandr Ogorodnik]], a member of the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] in the former [[Soviet Union]], whom the CIA developed as a spy;<ref>Wallace and Melton, pp. 88–102</ref> 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.<ref>Helms 2003, p. 216</ref> According to former CIA Director [[Richard Helms|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 N. Goodwin|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 [[Operation Mongoose|MONGOOSE]]."<ref>Helms 2003, p. 197</ref> 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]].<ref>Weiner 2008, p. 258</ref>

Some cryptonyms relate to more than one subject, e.g., a group of people.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" />