|
CONF INFT
|
Confidential Informant. The FBI uses various descriptive phrases to
describe or evaluate their informants.
Among the most common:
·
Has furnished reliable information in the past
·
Of unknown reliability
·
Of known unreliability
·
Of known reliability
·
Has supplied insufficient information to determine
reliability
In addition, a percentage of reliability
could be used to describe informant.
|
|
CONFIDENTIAL
|
Document containing information related to
national defense – provided by sources whose identities should not be
revealed
|
|
CONFIDENTIAL SOURCE
|
Individuals who furnish the FBI information
available to them through their employment or their position in the
community. The FBI Manual of Instruction, circa 1975 cites as examples of
confidential sources "bankers, telephone
company employees, and landlords." Confidential Source was established as a category in March 1950. The FBI Manual of Instructions (Section 107-T) provides instructions to field offices regarding procedures to follow. FBI HQ authorization was required to initiate contact with a CS involved with Communist or related investigations. In these instances, field offices were required to submit detailed background information to HQ regarding the source's date and place of birth, citizenship status. residence, employment, credit and criminal record and military service record (if any). In addition, a brief history of source's affiliation with CPUSA or other organizations and results of interview with him/her. Bureau clearance was not required for CS contacted in connection with criminal matters.
|
|
CONTROL FILE
|
A control file is usually created only for
the most important FBI cases and it contains instructions sent to field
offices along with results of investigations.
Statistical information is often included in a Control File.
|
|
COORNAP
|
Adolph Coors Kidnapping Case [HQ 7-9575]
|
|
CORRELATION SUMMARY
|
A correlation summary was usually limited
to large case files. The summary lists
all file and serial numbers along with a brief synopsis of their content which
contain important information about a particular person.
|
|
COSMIC
|
NATO classification for highly secret
documents. Used over and above “Top Secret”. HQ 62-9871
|
|
COVER PAGE
|
Summary memoranda or reports usually begin
with page(s) which have administrative data, leads which should be pursued by
specified field offices, and perhaps informant evaluations but the cover
pages were not sent outside the Bureau.
Usually the cover page(s) were designated with alphabetic letters, “A”
“B” etc.
|
|
CRD
|
Civil Rights Division – U.S Department of
Justice
|
|
CROSS REFERENCE
aka see refs
|
A cross reference is a mention of a subject
in a file on another individual, organization, event, activity, etc.
|
|
C-TE
|
Criminal Top Echelon Informants
|
|
CUSTODIAL DETENTION
|
Program which was initiated as result of
directive of President Roosevelt in September 1939 to list individuals whom
should be considered for apprehension and detention in event of national
emergency. It subsequently became known as Security Index. (HQ 100-358086)
|
|
CP or CPUSA
|
Communist Party USA
|
|
CR
|
Civil Rights
|
|
CRA-64
|
Civil Rights Act of 1964
|
|
CS
|
Confidential Source (usually given a source
number)
|
|
DA / PDA
|
Double Agent / Potential Double Agent
|
|
DABURN
|
FBI code name for file pertaining to
January 11, 1966 murder of Vernon F. Dahmer Sr. of Forrest County MS by
several Klan members. Thirteen men, who were connected with the Ku Klux Klan,
were eventually brought to trial in the late 1960s on charges that ranged
from conspiracy to intimidate, to arson and murder. At that time, however,
only four of the men were convicted and one entered a guilty plea.
In the late 1990s three men, Samuel H. Bowers Jr., Charles Noble, and
Deavours Nix, were arrested again in connection with the Dahmer murder. Sam
Bowers, the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, had previously been tried
four times for the crimes committed on the Dahmer family, however each trial
ended in a mistrial. Although Bowers was not present at the attack on the
Dahmer home in 1966, he was accused of having ordered the attack to take
place. In August of 1998, Bowers was tried for the fifth time in connection
with the Dahmer murder, and this time he was convicted of murder and arson
and received a sentence of life in prison. Charles Noble was tried in
connection with the Dahmer murder in 1999, however his trial ended in a
mistrial. Deavours Nix died before his trial took place
|
|
DCI
|
Director, Central Intelligence Agency
|
|
DCII
|
Defense Central Index of Investigations
|
|
DEAD FILE
|
File created by field office when no
immediate investigation is warranted but they anticipate opening case file in
the near future
|
|
DECLASSIFY
|
Procedure to remove security classification
(confidential, secret, or top secret)
from documents or files
|
|
DEPAMD
|
Deception Program For Anti-Missile Defense
[HQ 65-66140]
|
|
DESECO
|
Development of Selected Contacts Against
Soviet-Bloc Officials (initiated 12/57, HQ 105-71688). FBI interviewed
Americans who returned from Soviet Bloc countries.
|
|
DETCOM
|
Detention of Communists -- Program to
detain known or suspected Communist Party members in time of national
emergency. [HQ 100-356062]
|
|
DID
|
FBI Domestic Intelligence Division
(formerly Security Division)
|
|
DIO
|
District Intelligence Office (Office of Naval
Intelligence)
|
|
DIP
|
Defectors-In-Place
|
|
DIVISION 5
|
FBI Domestic Intelligence Division
(formerly Security Division or National Defense Division)
|
|
DO NOT FILE
|
Procedure designed to keep sensitive
documents out of the Bureau’s normal Central Records System
|
|
DOUBLE ZERO FILES
|
00 Files are FBI Control Files – which
concern policy and procedure
|
|
DPOB
|
Date and Place of Birth
|
|
EASTCON
|
East Coast Conspiracy To Save Lives
|
|
EBF
|
Enclosure Behind File – i.e. usually copies
of publications which, due to space considerations, FBI HQ did not want to
incorporate into the main file but would be filed separately “behind” the main file
|
|
EDP
|
Emergency Detention Program (also see:
DETCOM). The EDP was based upon Title
II of the Internal Security Act of 1950. [HQ 100-398030]
|
|
EGIS
|
East German Intelligence Service
|
|
ELSUR
|
Electronic Surveillance Index – was a card
file of subjects mentioned in electronic surveillances
|
|
EM
|
Extremist Matter
|
|
ENC or ENCL
|
Enclosure – such as a publication which was
enclosed with a letter sent to the Bureau.
As a result, the serial number might reflect this: HQ 100-1234, #8, enclosure – which means
that serial #8 has an enclosure.
|
|
EO
|
Presidential Executive Order
|
|
EOD
|
Entered on Duty (date)
|
|
EPA
|
Extremist Photograph Album
|
|
ESP
|
Espionage
|
|
ESTABLISHED SOURCE
|
Any source with whom the FBI developed a
relationship over time and who was trusted to keep relationship
confidential. Usually a Confidential
Source rather than a paid informant.
|
|
EX or EX-CS
|
Extremist / Extremist Confidential Source
|
|
EXP PROC
|
Expedite Processing
|
|
EXTREMIST ACTIVITIES
|
Activities whose objective is overthrowing,
destroying or undermining the U.S. Government by illegal means OR denying
Constitutional rights to American citizens.
The FBI used “Extremist” to describe ethnic radicals, members of white
hate groups, and black or native American radicals. The FBI unit which covered these matters
was originally called Racial Intelligence Section but changed to Extremist
Section in September 1967.
|
|
FAG
|
Fraud Against The Government
|
|
FBI
IDENTIFICATION
NUMBER
|
Usually associated with FBI “rap sheet”
which lists arrests made by law enforcement agencies and ultimate disposition
of cases.
|
|
FBW
|
Fraud By Wire
|
|
FEDORA
|
FBI Code Name for KGB Official Working at
United Nations Who Was FBI Informant [HQ 105-104811]
|
|
FCI
|
Foreign Counterintelligence
|
|
FGE
|
Foreign Government Employee
|
|
FGJ
|
Federal Grand Jury
|
|
FINAL
|
Foreign Intelligence Analysis
|
|
FISUR
|
Physical Surveillance
|
|
FLD
|
Foreign Liaison Desk
|
|
FNU
|
First Name Unknown
|
|
FPC
|
Fingerprint Classification
|
|
FPC
|
Foreign Police Cooperation Program
|
|
FUDE
|
Fugitive / Deserter
|
|
G-2
|
Army Intelligence (Office of Assistant
Chief of Staff)
|
|
GHETTO INFORMANT
PROGRAM
|
Initiated June 1967 to monitor black
radicals
|
|
GID
|
General Investigative Division / General
Intelligence Division
|
|
GRU
|
Soviet Military Intelligence
|
|
GUS SURVEY
|
Program whereby FBI field offices examined
mail in certain locations in attempt to locate mail intended for Soviet
illegal agents. [HQ 65-67003]
|
|
HEARNAP
|
Kidnapping of Patricia Hearst [HQ 7-15200]
|
|
HILEV
|
High Level (term usually used in connection
with intelligence information such as HILEV items or data received from some
source)
|
|
HSCA
|
House Select Committee on Assassinations
[HQ 62-117290]
|
|
HCUA or HUAC
|
House Committee on Un-American Activities –
succeeded by House Internal Security Committee
|
|
I
|
On FBI Search Slips – means “identical”, i.e. the file reference is
about the person or organization which has been searched. “NI” meant “not identical”, i.e. reference is to another person of same name.
|
|
IAC
|
Intelligence Advisory Committee [HQ
62-90718]
|
|
ICIS
|
Interdepartmental Committee on Internal
Security
|
|
IDENTIFICATION
DIVISION
|
FBI HQ Division which has control of
fingerprints, wanted notices, and missing persons notices
|
|
IEC
|
Intelligence Evaluation Committee
|
|
IIC
|
Interdepartmental Intelligence Conference
|
|
IICC
|
Interagency Intelligence Coordinating
Committee
|
|
INLET
|
Intelligence Letter through which FBI
regularly furnished the President and Attorney General “high level intelligence data in the internal security field…on a
continuous basis” starting in November 1969. The type of information
provided included status of internal security cases, intelligence trends,
foreign intelligence, inside information regarding demonstrations or civil
unrest of more than local significance and “items with an unusual twist or concerning prominent personalities
which may be of special interest to the President or Attorney General.”
|
|
INTC
|
U.S. Army Intelligence Corps
|
|
IOB
|
International Operations Branch
|
|
ISA 1950
|
Internal Security Act of 1950
|
|
IS-C
IS-SWP
SM-C
ANP-RM
|
FBI memos often contain abbreviations to
indicate the nature of the matter being discussed. In the examples at left the explanations
are as follows:
IS-C = Internal Security-Communist
IS-SWP = Internal Security–Socialist
Workers Party
SM-C = Security Matter, Communist
ANP-RM = American Nazi Party--Racial Matter
|
|
ISD
|
Internal Security Division, U.S. Department
of Justice
|
|
ISL
|
Independent Socialist League
|
|
ITSP
|
Interstate Transportation of Stolen
Property
|
|
JUNE MAIL
|
Separate filing method used by FBI starting
in June 1949 to keep certain info confidential and not serialized in a
Special Files Room – particularly information which the FBI obtained through
wiretaps, black bag jobs, or extremely sensitive sources.
|
|
KBE
|
Key Black Extremist
|
|
KF
|
Key Figures
|
|
KFL
|
Key Facilities List
|
|
KGB
|
Soviet Committee For State Security
|
|
KHRUSVIS
|
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev Visit to
U.S. 1960 [HQ 62-104045]
|
|
LCN
|
La Cosa Nostra
|
|
LEGAT
|
Legal Attache offices – i.e. FBI offices
operating in foreign countries (Beirut, Bern, Bogota, Bonn, Caracas,
Copenhagen, Hong Kong, La Paz, London, Madrid, Managua, Manila, Mexico City,
Ottawa, Panama, Paris, Rome, Tel Aviv, Tokyo)
|
|
LHM
|
Letterhead Memorandum – FBI summary intended
for other agencies but which conceals confidential sources.
|
|
LIAISON PROGRAM
|
Every FBI Field office kept lists of people
whom were to be contacted on regular schedule for “good will” purposes and to obtain information from them. Included airlines, banks, defense
contractors, hotels, trucking companies, federal agencies, police
departments, news media, etc.
|
|
LIAISON SOURCE
|
Officer or leader of legitimate civil
rights organization who provided FBI with advance information concerning
activities of his organization (as of March 1970, there were 1975 liaison
sources)
|
|
LMRA-1947
|
Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947
|
|
LNU
|
Last Name Unknown
|
|
MAIL COVER
|
Procedure by which the Post Office recorded
names and addresses of sender and recipient of letters
|
|
MAIN FILE
SUB-A FILE
SUB-B FILE
|
A “main
file” usually contains all the memos and investigative reports about
people or organizations to which the FBI gives specific sequential serial
numbers and they are indexed in the FBI’s General Index aka Central Records
System.
The “sub
files” designated “A” or “B” usually contain material which is similar to
EBF’s, i.e. copies of publications authored or disseminated by individuals or
organizations (such as their newsletters, pamphlets, press releases, etc). plus
newspaper/magazine articles about the individual or organization. Most
sub-files are designated “1A” and each individual item may be given a number
such as “1A-1” then “1A-2” etc. Some
of the largest files also contain sub-B files and those follow the same
pattern for each new item added, i.e. 1B-1, 1B-2, etc.
Note
#1: If an FOIA requester wants
everything that the FBI has about a particular subject, the request should
specify “main files” and “sub-files” OR “main files” and “sub-A” and “sub-B”
files. Often, the FBI will not process
sub-files unless specifically asked.
Note
#2: There is another type of “sub-file” such as when, after the FBI HQ
created a main file on a particular subject, it then also created additional
files on the same subject but broken down into sub-files to capture
information provided by specific persons or about specific geographical
locations or other categories. For
example, a HQ main file on informants might be designated as HQ 66-45, but
reports that came from one specific informant might be placed in 66-45, sub-264.
Another possibility is when files were
created on a specific organization or subject (such as the Communist Party or
the Citizens Council Movement or United Klans of America or the FBI's
COINTELPRO programs) and then sub-files were created for pertinent information
about specific cities, counties, states, or neighborhoods.
For example: the HQ main file on
the Citizens Council movement is HQ 105-34237. The HQ file on the
Citizens Councils in Atlanta was HQ 105-34237-2 and for Knoxville was HQ
105-34237-24.
The HQ main file on COINTELPRO-White Hate
Groups is 157-9 but there are HQ sub-files for specific cities such as:
HQ 157-9-4 (Birmingham AL), and 157-9-9 (Chicago IL).
|
|
MDC
|
May Day Collective
|
|
MEDBURG
|
Burglary of Media PA FBI office in 1971
|
|
MEMORANDUM
|
Typically, a communication from FBI to
other Justice Department officials such as Attorney General or from one FBI
employee to another FBI employee
|
|
MIBURN
|
Mississippi Burning – 1964 Murders of Civil
Rights Workers (Schwerner, Goodman, Cheney)
|
|
MID
|
Military Intelligence Division
|
|
MIDEM
|
FBI coverage of 1972 Democratic Convention
demonstrators (Miami FL)
|
|
MIG
|
Military Intelligence Group (US Army)
|
|
MIPORN
|
Miami FL Pornography Case – Undercover
operation into porn industry and film piracy
|
|
MISUR
|
Microphone Surveillance (often from illegal
break-in or burglary)
|
|
MOCASE
|
Morros Case or Moscow Case – Soviet
espionage network in U.S. during 1940’s involving FBI double agent Boris
Morros. [HQ 100-352385]
|
|
MURKIN
|
Murder of Martin Luther King Jr. [HQ 44-38861,
Memphis 44-1987, Atlanta 44-2386]
|
|
MYLETS
|
My Letters Dated…
|
|
NA
|
Naturalized Citizen
|
|
NAME CHECK
|
Requests from other agencies for loyalty
information on its current or prospective employees
|
|
NAS
|
Naval Air Station [usually a reference to
FBI reports sent to local Office of Naval Intelligence]
|
|
NB
|
Native Born
|
|
NCIC
|
National Crime Information Center
|
|
NEWKILL
|
FBI case pertaining to May 1971 murder of
two New York City policemen
|
|
NI
|
Not identical
|
|
NIS or NISO
|
Naval Investigative Service Office
(successor to ONI)
|
|
NMI
|
No Middle Initial
|
|
NMN
|
No Middle Name
|
|
NO CONTACT LIST
|
Critics of FBI or of FBI Director J. Edgar
Hoover Whom Were Not To Be Contacted
|
|
NO SEGEGRABLE INFO
|
When the FBI decides to apply a literal
interpretation of the subject of an FOIA request, it may not release entire
pages or sections of a serial by claiming there is “no segregable material” or information. For example: if an FOIA request is made on Joe Smith and
the FBI discovers a 50-page serial that includes references to Joe Smith on
11 pages, the FBI can choose to deny the other pages or heavily redact them
claiming “no segregable material”.
|
|
NOI
|
Nation of Islam
|
|
NPAC
|
National Peace Action Coalition
|
|
NPR
|
Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico
|
|
NSA
|
National Security Agency
|
|
NSD
|
FBI National Security Division
|
|
NSWPP
|
National Socialist White People’s Party
(successor to American Nazi Party)
|
|
O&C
|
“Official and Confidential Files” were
highly sensitive files which were kept in the office of FBI Director Hoover
and Assistant Director Louis B. Nichols (over 250 folders)
See: http://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/Mss/FBI/FBI-series16.shtml
|
|
OASCI
|
Office of Assistant Chief of Staff For
Intelligence (US Army)
|
|
OFFICE CONTACTS
|
Usually business people or others who could
be relied upon to provide information.
Each field office had a contact program whereby they would establish
liaison with local groups and enterprises in their community. These were
mostly goodwill efforts, but did provide venues for the Bureau to talk about
issues that might affect the group or its members, and to solicit their help
in the form of confidential sources or panel sources.
|
|
ONI
|
Office of Naval Intelligence
|
|
OO
|
Office of Origin – i.e. the FBI office
which opened the investigation and is primarily responsible for the
case. For example, New York City is
the OO for the Communist Party USA so FBI files reflect “OO:NYC”
|
|
OPERATION SHAMROCK
|
Program under which the NSA received copies
of most international telegrams leaving the U.S. from RCA, ITT, and Western
Union. At one point, it was proposed that the FBI assume responsibility for
this program.
|
|
OSI
|
Air Force Intelligence (Office of Special
Investigations)
|
|
P&C
|
Personal and Confidential
|
|
PANEL SOURCE
|
Panel sources are defined as individuals
who are not involved in an investigated group but who "will
attend its public gatherings on behalf of FBI for intelligence purposes or as
potential witnesses." Panel sources were
first developed to meet the need for witnesses in the course of Smith Act
trials of Communist Party members in the 1950s. In those trials, it was necessary
to prove simple facts as to the existence of the Communist Party, the dates
and places of public meetings held by the Party, and similar matters. To
avoid surfacing and exposing regular FBI informants within the Party to
establish such facts, panel sources were developed.
|
|
PCI
|
Potential Criminal Informant
|
|
PCPJ
|
People’s Coalition For Peace and Justice
|
|
PLAIN TEXT
|
Information Written Without Using Code
|
|
PLANT INFORMANT
|
Created in September 1940 to develop FBI
sources of information in defense plants.
By September 1942 there were 23,746 Plant Informants in 3879
plants. Program ended in March 1969.
|
|
PLP
|
Progressive Labor Party
|
|
PPA
|
Proletarian Party of America
|
|
PRELIMINARY INQUIRY
|
Preliminary inquiries were conducted by FBI
to obtain information about a person or organization by using mostly public
sources (such as media coverage, library resources such as Who’s Who
directories) along with FBI informants and established sources in order to
determine if a formal investigation was warranted because of suspected
criminal or subversive activities or any potential violations of federal
laws. A preliminary inquiry often
lasted only 1-3 months.
|
|
PRETEXT CALL
|
A pretext is an investigative technique
used to obtain background and identifying information or photographs of an
individual without identifying the FBI as the interested party. An example
would be an Agent who makes a phone call to verify someone’s home address,
where he/she can be reached, their employment, or their current location
etc. Sometimes calls are made just to
record the voice of a suspect or to obtain literature regarding a new organization. Pretexts can also be used to gain access to
a property. The FBI published a
35-page monograph in May 1956 entitled “Pretexts
and Cover Techniques” which was used for Agent training purposes.
|
|
PRO
|
Prominent Person
|
|
PROSAB
|
Protection Against Sabotage of Strategic
Air Command Bases
|
|
PROSECUTIVE SUMMARY
|
FBI field office report which summarizes
evidence and availability of witnesses in a case under investigation.
|
|
PSI or PCI
|
Potential Security Informant / Potential
Confidential Informant (persons designated as potential informants were not
yet established as reliable information sources and that process might take a
year for the FBI to make a conclusion with respect to their reliability.)
|
|
RA
|
Registration Act aka Foreign Agents
Registration Act of 1938 (usually
pertains to cases of individuals who may not have completed required forms to
register with U.S. Justice Dept because of their activities on behalf of a
foreign government – such as seeking to influence legislation pending before
Congress or providing public relations services for a foreign government.)
|
|
RA
|
Resident Agency (small satellite office of
main FBI field office)
|
|
RABBLE ROUSER INDEX
|
Created in August 1967 (abolished April
1971) to identify individuals with propensity for inciting violence (later
known as Agitator Index). It was initially described as an Index
designed to capture background information on individuals "who have demonstrated by their
actions and speeches that they have a propensity for fomenting racial
disorder." {SAC Letter 67-47).
A subsequent SAC Letter (67-70) stated:
"A rabble rouser is defined as a person who tries to
arouse people to violent action by appealing to their emotions, prejudices,
etc., a demagogue. You will note that under prior criteria the Rabble Rouser
Index served as an index only for individuals of national prominence with
particular consideration given to those who travel extensively and was
limited to those fomenting racial disorder. It is the intent of this
expanded criteria to have within each division as well as nationwide an index
of agitators of all types whose activities have a bearing on the national
security. This would include, for example, black nationalists, white
supremacists, Puerto Rican nationalists, anti-Vietnam demonstration leaders,
and other extremists."
|
|
RACON
|
Racial Conditions
|
|
REBULET
|
Referring to previous Bureau Letter (with
date)
|
|
REBUTEL
|
Referring to previous teletype from Bureau
(with date)
|
|
REMYLET
|
Referring to My Letter (with date)
|
|
REPORT
|
Written document prepared by field office
containing the results of its investigation.
|
|
REREP
|
Referring to Report By
|
|
RESERVE INDEX
|
Created in June 1960 and abolished
September 1971. One FBI memo describes
Reserve Index as “comprised
of individuals with subversive backgrounds not meeting the Security Index
criteria but who in a time of national emergency are in a position to
influence others against the national interest. The RI is broken down
into two sections, A and B, with A containing the names of those individuals
who in time of national emergency are in a position to influence others
against the national interest or are likely to furnish material financial aid
to subversive elements due to their subversive associates and ideology."
Section A consisted of teachers, journalists,
lawyers and other professionals.
Section B contained all other Reserve Index subjects. Martin Luther King Jr. and Norman Mailer
were on Reserve Index.
|
|
REURAIRTEL
|
Referring to Your Airtel
|
|
REUREP
|
Referring to Your Report
|
|
REURLET
|
Referring to Your Letter
|
|
REURTEL
|
Referring to Your Teletype or Telegram
|
|
RFMT
|
Radio Frequency Microphone Telephone Device
|
|
RI
|
Racial Informant
|
|
RM
|
Racial Matter
|
|
RNA
|
Republic of New Africa (Milton and Richard
Henry)
|
|
RUC
|
Referred Upon Completion To Office of
Origin – i.e. one field office has completed whatever it was asked to do and
it is referring the matter back to the original office for any further action
|
|
RYM
|
Revolutionary Youth Movement
|
|
SA
|
FBI Special Agent
|
|
SAC
|
FBI Special Agent in Charge of a Field
Office
|
|
SAC LETTER
|
Instructions to FBI field offices from HQ
|
|
SACB
|
Subversive Activities Control Board
|
|
SATPIA
|
Satellite Personnel Intelligence Assets
|
|
SBIS
|
Soviet Bloc Intelligence Services
|
|
SDS
|
Students For A Democratic Society
|
|
SEARCH SLIP
|
Lists file numbers and serials containing
references to subject of search. Could
be limited to only “subversive” or
“criminal” or “non-subversive” references.
|
|
SECTION
|
FBI files are organized into sections which
usually contain about 200 pages of documents.
|
|
SECURITY FLASH
|
Procedure whereby field office asks HQ
Identification Division if fingerprints of a Security Index subject have been
received.
|
|
SECURITY INDEX SECURITY INFORMANT
|
INDEX: List of persons who were subject to
apprehension and detention during time of national emergency. Previously called Custodial Detention List.
At highest point, there were 26,000 names on the Security Index. SECURITY INFORMANT: See section 107G of FBI Manual of Instructions regarding procedures used by field offices with respect to handling their Security Informants. HQ required field office Agents to contact their Security Informants every 2 weeks to obtain whatever information they had. Agents were required to prepare memo for their SAC to set forth "any personal weaknesses, domestic difficulties, indications of untrustworthiness or unreliability or other similar problems presented by the informant and the steps being taken by the Agent to prevent any such situations later becoming a source of embarrassment to the Bureau." [SAC Letter 55-13] In 1960, the FBI had 433 live Security Informants inside the Communist Party. For additional information see: https://sites.google.com/site/ernie124102/cpusa/informants
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SEE REF
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Refers to index references to a subject
which appear in files other than those created on that specific individual or
organization. Also known as xrefs or
cross-references. Typically, the FBI
will not process “see refs” or cross-references when FOIA requests are
made. Instead, they only process “main
files”.
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SERIAL
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Specific FBI document within a file. Usually, serials are in chronological
order. Most serials are assigned
specific numbers but there are also “unrecorded
serials” which are not assigned a serial number but they usually appear
in date sequence within a file.
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SERIALIZE
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To assign a specific serial number to a
document in a file.
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SGE
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Security of Government Employees
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SI
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Security Informant
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SI
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Security Index Program [Began 06/40 as
program to develop lists of individuals considered for detention in the event
of a threat to the national security.
Individuals were added to SI based upon their membership and activity
and/or association with subversive organizations considered dangerous or
potentially dangerous to the internal security of the nation. The Program required collection of
sufficient information to justify apprehension and detention to minimize
potential for espionage, sabotage, or subversion. In its later years, the Index was broken
down into three Priority groupings in accordance with the relative degree of
dangerousness. Priority I and II
consisted of individuals in actual or potential leadership; Priority III was
comprised of rank-and-file subjects. ]
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SIO
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Special Investigations Office
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SIS
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Special Intelligence Service (created
during World War II for intelligence gathering primarily in Western
Hemisphere countries. Abolished in
1946.)
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SM
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Security Matter
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SMC
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Student Mobilization Committee To End The
War In Vietnam
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SODAC
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Soviet Diplomatic Activities [HQ 65-30092]
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SOG
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Seat Of Government aka FBI HQ
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SOI
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Sources of Information
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SOLO
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Counterintelligence operation which developed
high quality information about CPUSA, the Soviet Union and its satellites,
and the world Communist movement largely based upon reports made by two
high-level moles inside the CPUSA – Morris and Jack Childs – whose symbol
numbers were CG-5184-S* and NY-694-S* respectively.
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SOURCE
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Source provides raw information on ad hoc
basis but had no ongoing relationship with the FBI. Typically, a source could
be a landlord or neighbor or employee of financial institution, employers, airline
and hotel employees etc who provide information without a subpoena. Also could be non-human (technical device).
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SOVME
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Soviet Messages Furnished To FBI By Bureau
Sources [HQ 65-58068]
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SPECTAR
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Special Targets For Informant Development
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SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS
LIST
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Persons considered friendly toward Bureau
interests who received Bureau publications and expedited replies to their
inquiries. Included politicians, news
media employees, prominent business people, retired Special Agents, etc.
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SPECIAL INQUIRY
SECTION
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FBI HQ unit that processed “name checks” for the White House
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SPIA
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Soviet Personnel Intelligence Assets
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STOP NOTICE
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FBI notice to an agency (such as Police
Department or Immigration Service) to alert FBI if they had contact with
specified individual.
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SUB-FILE
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A sub-section of a main file.
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SULET
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Submit Letter
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SUREP
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Submit Report
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SYMBOL NUMBER
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Code used to disguise identity of FBI
informants who provided “valuable
and sensitive information on a regular basis.” FBI Agents used symbol numbers in their
investigative reports and memos without identifying the informant’s name. Most symbol numbers consisted of three
parts:
(1) the 2-or-3 character prefix which
identified the FBI field office to which the informant reported such as CG
for Chicago or DL for Dallas or TP for Tampa or WFO for Washington field
office.
(2) the specific number assigned to an
informant and
(3) the suffix which identified the type of
informant – such as “C” for criminal and “S” for security and “R” for racial
informant.
In addition, an asterisk added to a symbol
number indicated that the informant should never be identified and was not
available for court testimony. One of
the most important FBI informants was Morris Childs and his symbol number was
CG-5824-S* which indicates that he was a Chicago security informant who
should never be identified nor testify in court proceedings.
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T-NUMBER
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Temporary symbol number assigned to
confidential information source mentioned in FBI report – such as T-1 or
T-2. A temporary symbol number applies
only to the document in which it appears which means that the same
confidential source could be assigned T-1 in one document and then be
identified as T-7 in another document.
The specific identity of each T-source usually was provided on an
Administrative Page attached to every FBI report.
Note:
A “T-number” can be assigned
to a technique such as mail cover, trash cover, wiretap, or physical
surveillance or even a burglary.
Illegal techniques were sometimes identified as “anonymous source” and then assigned a T-number. In March 1955, FBI Director Hoover sent a memo to the Attorney General which made the following observations: "In many instances, a source concealed by a temporary informant symbol is not a live informant, but, instead, is a technical surveillance, a microphone surveillance, a trash cover, mail cover, or other investigative technique...In an estimated 55% of the Security of Government Employee cases, the reports contain inanimate sources of this type whose identities are concealed by temporary informant symbols. Other temporary informant symbols would pertain to such sources as live informants and neighbors or professional men who specifically requested their identities not be disclosed." [HQ 66-2542-3, serial #928, page 2; 3/1/55 Hoover memo to AG]
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TELETYPE
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Message transmitted by machine
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TEPCI
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Top Echelon Potential Criminal Informant
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TESUR
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Technical Surveillance (i.e. telephone
wiretaps and microphone surveillance)
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TF
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Top Functionary
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TGP
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Theft of Government Property
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THUMBNAIL SKETCH
PROGRAM
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Program initiated on 10/27/53 to insure that
FBI field offices used current and uniform characterizations of subversive
organizations in their reports. About
425 organizations were summarized in Thumbnail Sketches.
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TOPHAT
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FBI code name for Lt. Gen. Dmitri
Fedorovich Polyakov – a Soviet military intelligence official who was a
double agent for the FBI for two decades. [HQ 105-18153]
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TOPLEV
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Top Level Intelligence (referring to key
figures in criminal or subversive organizations)
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TRASH COVER
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FBI search for information by going through
garbage
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TROPUS
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Travel of the President of the U.S.
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TRUE COPY
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FBI-typed copy of incoming handwritten
letter
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UACB
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Unless Advised To The Contrary By Bureau
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UCR
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Uniform Crime Reports
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UFAP
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Unlawful Flight To Avoid Prosecution
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UKA
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United Klans of America, Inc. (led by
Robert M. Shelton)
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UN
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Unknown
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UNE
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United Nations Employee
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UNIRAC
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Union Racketeering
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UNRECORDED
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A document in FBI file which was not given
a serial number
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UNSUB or UNSUBS
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Unknown subject or subjects – i.e. the
specific person(s) responsible for some criminal activity are not currently
known
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UPRF
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Unlawful Possession or Receipt of Firearms
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USA
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United States Attorney
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USCIB
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United States Communication Intelligence
Board (pertains to decoding diplomatic intercepts)
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USEB
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United States Evaluation Board
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UTL
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Unable To Locate
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VAUGHN INDEX
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Court Ordered Listing Which Itemizes Every
Document Withheld From FOIA Requester and Includes Justification For Each
Claimed Exemption
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VB
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Venceremos Brigade
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VEGMDN
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FBI Case Re: Las Vegas Money Skimming
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VIDEM
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Vietnam Demonstrations
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VRA-65
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Voting Rights Act of 1965
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VVAW
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Vietnam Veterans Against The War
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WAS
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With Aliases – i.e. person is known to use
different names
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WFO
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Washington field office of FBI
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WKKKKOM
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White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of
Mississippi (Samuel H. Bowers = Imperial Wizard)
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WRL
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War Resisters League
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WSA
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Worker Student Alliance
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YIP
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Youth International Party
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YSA
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Young Socialist Alliance |