Cryptonyms

The CIA uses cryptonyms to conceal the identity of assets, people, places, and other sensitive entities in documents. Cryptonyms may begin with a two character digraph or prefix. The digraph can group cryptonyms by a region, location, operation, or other purpose.

Using cryptonyms in sensitive communications is a simple tradecraft technique and is most effective when combined with other practices such as compartmentalization and encryption.

Examples

The Mary Ferrell Foundation maintains a database of known CIA cryptonyms. The following is an example usage of a cryptonym:

IF SHIPMENT NOT ALREADY EN ROUTE, PLS FORWARD TO JMWAVE SOONEST.

This is a quote from a cable referencing JMWAVE. The digraph JM is for Cuba and WAVE refers to the Miami Station.

Cryptonym Generator

The tool below generates random words to use for cryptonyms.