Command and Control

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

A-Bomb — an atomic bomb, a weapon deriving its explosive power from the fission of uranium or plutonium atoms

AEC — Atomic Energy Commission, the civilian agency created in 1947 to oversee nuclear weapons and nuclear power

AFSWP — Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, a military agency formed in 1947 to deal with nuclear weapons

B.E. Number — a unique eight-digit number that identifies each of the targets in the Air Force’s Bombing Encyclopedia

BMEWS — Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, the radar system built after Sputnik to detect Soviet missiles heading toward the United States

BOMARC — a ground-launched antiaircraft missile with an atomic warhead, designed by Boeing (BO) and the Michigan Aerospace Research Center (MARC), that was deployed at sites in the United States and Canada

CND — Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a British antiwar group whose logo later became known as the “peace symbol”

DEFCON — Defense Readiness Condition, the American military’s readiness for hostilities, ranked on a scale from DEFCON 5 (the lowest level of alert) to DEFCON 1 (nuclear war)

DEW Line — the Distant Early Warning Line, a radar system that extended across the Arctic in North America to detect Soviet bombers

DIRECT — Defense Improved Emergency Message Automatic Transmission System Replacement Command and Control Terminal, the Pentagon computer system currently deployed to send and receive a nuclear attack order

DUL — the Deliberate, Unauthorized Launch of a missile

ENIAC — the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, America’s first large-scale electronic, digital computer, built for the Army to calculate the trajectory of artillery shells and later used at Los Alamos to help design a thermonuclear weapon

EOD — Explosive Ordnance Disposal, the rendering safe of warheads, bombs, and anything else that might detonate

FCDA — the Federal Civil Defense Administration, which from 1951 until 1979 advised the American public on how to survive a nuclear war

H-Bomb — a hydrogen bomb, the most powerful weapon ever invented, deriving its explosive force not only from nuclear fission but also from nuclear fusion, the elemental power of the sun

ICBM — Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, a missile that can propel a nuclear warhead more than 3,400 miles

JAG — the nickname for a military attorney, a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps

K crew — a backup crew for the Titan II missile, on call to give advice during an emergency

LOX — liquid oxygen, a propellant that was used as an oxidizer, in combination with rocket fuel, to launch Atlas and Titan I missiles

MAD — Mutually Assured Destruction, a nuclear strategy that seeks to maintain peace by ensuring that adversaries have the capability to destroy one another

MANIAC — the Mathematical Analyzer, Numerical Integrator, and Computer, an early electronic, digital computer used at Los Alamos to help design the first hydrogen bombs

MART — Missile Alarm Response Team, the security police who responded to problems at Titan II missile sites

MFT — Mobile Fire Team, a heavily armed four-man team of Air Force security officers

MIMS — Missile Inspection and Maintenance Squadron, the repair crews who kept Titan II missiles ready to launch

MIRV — Multiple Independently targetable Reentry Vehicle, a ballistic missile carrying two or more warheads that can be aimed at different targets

MIT — Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MSA — a nickname for the vapor-detection equipment built by the Mine Safety Appliance Company and installed in Titan II silos

NATO — North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the military alliance formed in 1949 to defend Western Europe against an attack by the Soviet Union

NORAD — North American Air Defense Command, an organization created in 1958 by the United States and Canada to defend against a Soviet attack, later renamed the North American Aerospace Defense Command

NRC — Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that licenses and regulates civilian nuclear power plants

OPLAN — Operations Plan, the term used since 2003 to describe the nuclear war plans of the United States

PAL — Permissive Action Link, a coded device installed within a nuclear warhead or bomb, much like a lock, to prevent unauthorized use of the weapon

PK — Probability of Kill, the likelihood of a target being destroyed

PPM — Parts per Million

PTPMU — Propellant Tank Pressure Monitor Unit, the gauge in a Titan II launch control center that provided digital readouts of the fuel and oxidizer pressures within the missile

PTS — Propellant Transfer System, the facilities and equipment used to handle the fuel and oxidizer for a Titan II missile

RAF — Royal Air Force, the armed service in Great Britain that during the Cold War was responsible for land-based aircraft and missiles

RAND — a think tank in Santa Monica, California, created by the Air Force after the Second World War, whose name was derived from the phrase “Research ANd Development”

RFHCO — Rocket Fuel Handler’s Clothing Outfit, a liquidproof, vaporproof outfit with an air pack and a bubble helmet that looked like a space suit, commonly known among Titan II crews as a “ref-co”

RV — Reentry Vehicle, the nose cone of a missile containing its warhead

SAC — Strategic Air Command, the organization that until 1992 was responsible for the long-range bombers, the land-based missiles, and most of the nuclear weapons deployed by the U.S. Air Force

SAGE — Semi-Automatic Ground Environment, an air defense system built in the late 1950s that linked hundreds of radars into a network guided by computers in real time

SIOP — Single Integrated Operational Plan, the name given to the nuclear war plan of the United States from 1960 until 2003

SOCS — Strategic Operational Control System, a communications network employed by the Strategic Air Command during the 1950s, featuring a red telephone at its headquarters in Omaha that could be used to call every SAC air base simultaneously and broadcast a war order through their loudspeakers

SRAM — Short-Range Attack Missile, a missile with a nuclear warhead, launched from the air to hit targets on the ground, that was carried mainly by B-52 bombers, from the early 1970s until 1993

TAC — Tactical Air Command, the organization that from 1946 until 1992 was responsible for the ground support fighter planes of the U.S. Air Force

TACAMO — Take Charge and Move Out, a communications system created by the U.S. Navy that uses aircraft to transmit a nuclear attack order during an emergency

TASS — Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union (Telegrafnoe Agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza), the official news agency of the Soviet government

TATB — 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene, an “insensitive” high explosive that cannot easily be detonated by fire, shock, or impact

USAAF — United States Army Air Forces, the organization responsible for America’s land-based bombers during the Second World War

USAF — United States Air Force, the new and independent armed service that replaced the USAAF in 1947

WSEG — Weapon Systems Evaluation Group, a high-level research unit, employing both military and civilian personnel, that from 1948 until 1976 advised the Joint Chiefs of Staff

WWMCCS — World Wide Military Command and Control System, an organization formed during the Kennedy administration to combine the sensors, computers, command posts, and communications networks of the different armed services into a single centralized system

ZI — Zone of the Interior, a phrase used by the military to describe the continental United States