Editing Code name (section)

== Military origins ==
<!-- this section begins with WWI, but switches to WWII at an unclear point with no transition; can someone knowledgeable about the subject make it clearer? -->
During [[First World War|World War I]], names common to the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] referring to nations, cities, geographical features, military units, military operations, diplomatic meetings, places, and individual persons were agreed upon, adapting pre-war naming procedures in use by the governments concerned. In the British case names were administered and controlled by the Inter Services Security Board (ISSB) staffed by the [[War Office]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Webster |first=Graham |year=2013 |title=History of the British Inter-Services Security Board and the Allocation of Code-Names in the Second World War |journal=Intelligence and National Security |volume=29 |issue=5 |pages=1–31 |doi=10.1080/02684527.2013.846731|s2cid=153643351 }}</ref> This procedure was coordinated with the United States when it [[American entry into World War I|entered the war]]. Random lists of names were issued to users in alphabetical blocks of ten words and were selected as required. Words became available for re-use after six months and unused allocations could be reassigned at discretion and according to need. Judicious selection from the available allocation could result in clever meanings and result in an [[aptronym]] or [[backronym]], although policy was to select words that had no obviously deducible connection with what they were supposed to be concealing. Those for the major [[List of World War II conferences|conference meetings]] had a partial naming sequence referring to devices or instruments which had a number as part of their meaning, e.g., the third meeting was "TRIDENT". [[Joseph Stalin]], whose last name means "man of steel", was given the name "GLYPTIC", meaning "an image carved out of stone".

* Reference: Glossary of Names<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.army.mil/CMH/books/wwii/WCP/glosscn.htm|title=Glossary of Code Names|website=www.army.mil|access-date=27 March 2018|archive-date=16 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016131213/http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/wwii/WCP/glosscn.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> from [[U.S. Army]] in [[World War II]] – Washington Command Post: The Operations Division
** World War II Allied Operations<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/frank.kilburn/ |title=WORLD WAR II ALLIED CODE NAMES|access-date=2005-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091003/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/frank.kilburn/ |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
** Abbreviations, Acronyms, Codewords, Terms Appearing in WW II Histories and Documents<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Glossary/index.html|title=HyperWar: Glossary of Abbreviations, Acronyms, Codewords, Terms of WWII|website=www.ibiblio.org|access-date=27 March 2018|archive-date=1 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501125816/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Glossary/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
** Information from original files held at [[National Archives (UK)|The National Archives]] (formerly [[Public Record Office|The Public Record Office]]) which hold the publicly available records of central government for the UK

=== German code names ===<!-- This section is linked from [[Manhartsberg]] -->
[[Ewen Montagu]], a British Naval intelligence officer, discloses in ''Beyond Top Secret Ultra'' that during [[World War II]], [[Nazi Germany]] habitually used ''ad hoc'' code names as nicknames which often openly revealed or strongly hinted at their content or function.

Some German code names:

* Golfplatz (German for "golf course") – Britain, employed by the [[Abwehr]]
* Samland – The United States (from [[Uncle Sam]]), employed by the [[Abwehr]]
* [[Heimdall]] (a god whose power was "to see for a hundred miles") – long-range radar
* [[Wotan (deity)|Wotan]] – an [[Y-Gerät|aerial bombing navigation system]]. Knowing that the god Wotan had only one eye, [[R. V. Jones]], a British scientist working for [[RAF Intelligence|Air Intelligence]] of the British [[Air Ministry]] and [[Secret Intelligence Service|SIS]] inferred that the device used a single beam and from that determined, correctly, how it must work. A counter-system was quickly created which made Wotan useless.
* [[Operation Seelöwe]] ([[Sea-lion]]) – plans to invade Britain (lions being prominent in the [[coat of arms of the United Kingdom]])
* [[Operation Barbarossa]] ([[Frederick Barbarossa]]) – plans to go east and invade the Soviet Union

Conversely, [[Operation Wacht am Rhein]] (Watch on the [[Rhine]]) was deliberately named to suggest the opposite of its purpose{{snd}} a defensive "watch" as opposed to a massive [[blitzkrieg]] operation, just as was [[Operation Weserübung]] ([[Weser]]-exercise), which signified the plans to invade [[Norway]] and [[Denmark]] in April 1940.

=== Code names of other powers ===
Britain and the United States developed the security policy of assigning code names intended to give no such clues to the uninitiated. For example, the British counter measures against the [[V-2 rocket|V-2]] was called ''[[Operation Crossbow]]''. The [[Nuclear weapon|atomic bomb]] project centered in [[New Mexico]] was called the [[Manhattan Project]], derived from the [[Manhattan Engineer District]] which managed the program. The code name for the American [[Lockheed A-12|A-12]] / [[Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird|SR-71]] spy plane project, producing the fastest, highest-flying aircraft in the world, was ''Oxcart''. The American group that planned that country's first [[Intercontinental ballistic missile|ICBM]] was called the [[Teapot Committee]].

Although the word could stand for a menace to shipping (in this case, that of Japan), the American code name for the attack on the subtropical island of [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] in World War II was ''[[Battle of Okinawa|Operation Iceberg]]''. The Soviet Union's project to base missiles in Cuba was named ''[[Operation Anadyr]]'' after their closest bomber base to the US (just across the Bering Strait from Nome, Alaska). The names of colors are generally avoided in American practice to avoid confusion with meteorological reporting practices. Britain, in contrast, made deliberately non-meaningful use of them, through the system of [[rainbow codes]].

=== Aircraft recognition reporting names ===
{{See also|World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft}}
Although German and Italian aircraft were not given code names by their Allied opponents, in 1942, Captain Frank T. McCoy, an intelligence officer of the [[USAAF]], invented a system for the identification of Japanese military aircraft. Initially using short, "[[hillbilly]]" boys' names such as "[[Mitsubishi F1M|Pete]]", "[[Aichi E13A|Jake]]", and "[[Nakajima A6M2-N|Rufe]]", the system was later extended to include girls' names and names of trees and birds, and became widely used by the Allies throughout the [[Pacific Ocean theater of World War II|Pacific theater]] of war. This type of naming scheme differs from the other use of code names in that it does not have to be kept secret, but is a means of identification where the official nomenclature is unknown or uncertain.

The policy of recognition reporting names was continued into the [[Cold War]] for Soviet, other [[Warsaw Pact]], and Communist Chinese aircraft. Although this was started by the Air Standards Co-ordinating Committee (ASCC) formed by the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, it was extended throughout [[NATO]] as the [[NATO reporting name]] for aircraft, rockets and missiles. These names were considered by the Soviets as being like a nickname given to one's unit by the opponents in a battle. The Soviets did not like the [[Sukhoi Su-25]] getting the code name "[[Sukhoi Su-25|Frogfoot]]". {{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} However, some names were appropriate, such as "Condor" for the [[Antonov An-124]], or, most famously, "Fulcrum" for the [[Mikoyan MiG-29]], which had a "pivotal" role in Soviet air-strategy.

Code names were adopted by the following process. Aerial or space reconnaissance would note a new aircraft at a [[Warsaw Pact]] airbase. The intelligence units would then assign it a code name consisting of the official abbreviation of the base, then a letter, for example, "Ram-A", signifying an aircraft sighted at [[Ramenskoye Airport]]. Missiles were given designations like "TT-5", for the fifth rocket seen at [[Baikonur|Tyura-Tam]]. When more information resulted in knowing a bit about what a missile was used for, it would be given a designation like "SS-6", for the sixth surface-to-surface missile design reported. Finally, when either an aircraft or a missile was able to be photographed with a hand-held camera, instead of a reconnaissance aircraft, it was given a name like "[[Sukhoi Su-27|Flanker]]" or "[[Scud]]"{{snd}} always an English word, as international pilots worldwide are required to learn English. The Soviet manufacturer or designation – which may be mistakenly inferred by NATO – has nothing to do with it.

Jet-powered aircraft received two-syllable names like [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25|Foxbat]], while propeller aircraft were designated with short names like [[Tupolev Tu-4|Bull]]. Fighter names began with an "F", bombers with a "B", cargo aircraft with a "C". Training aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft were grouped under the word "miscellaneous", and received "M". The same convention applies to missiles, with air-launched ground attack missiles beginning with the letter "K" and surface-to-surface missiles (ranging from [[ICBM|intercontinental ballistic missiles]] to [[antitank]] rockets) with the letter "S", air-to-air missiles "A", and surface-to-air missiles "G".

=== Military operations since Churchill ===
Throughout the Second World War, the British allocation practice favored one-word code names ([[Operation Jubilee|Jubilee]], [[Operation Frankton|Frankton]]). That of the Americans favored longer compound words, although the name [[Operation Overlord|Overlord]] was personally chosen by [[Winston Churchill]] himself. Many examples of both types can be cited, as can exceptions.

Winston Churchill was particular about the quality of code names. He insisted that code words, especially for dangerous operations, would be not overly grand nor petty nor common. One emotional goal he mentions is to never have to report to anyone that their son "was killed in an operation called 'Bunnyhug' or 'Ballyhoo'."<ref>{{cite book |last=Jablonsky |first=David |date=2013-09-13 |title=Churchill, the Great Game and Total War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ApvcAAAAQBAJ |publisher=Routledge |page=95 |isbn=9781135199296 }}</ref>

Presently, British forces tend to use one-word names, presumably in keeping with their post-World War II policy of reserving single words for operations and two-word names for exercises. British operation code names are usually randomly generated by a computer and rarely reveal its components or any political implications unlike the American names (e.g., the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]] was called "Operation Telic" compared to Americans' "Operation Iraqi Freedom", obviously chosen for propaganda rather than secrecy). Americans prefer two-word names, whereas the Canadians and Australians use either. The French military currently prefer names drawn from nature (such as colors or the names of animals), for instance ''[[Opération Daguet]]'' ("brocket deer") or ''[[Opération Baliste]]'' ("Triggerfish"). The CIA uses alphabetical prefixes to designate the part of the agency supporting an operation.

In many cases with the United States, the first word of the name has to do with the intent of the program. Programs with "have" as the first word, such as [[Lockheed Have Blue|Have Blue]] for the stealth fighter development, are developmental programs, not meant to produce a production aircraft. Programs that start with Senior, such as Senior Trend for the F-117, are for aircraft in testing meant to enter production.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

In the United States code names are commonly set entirely in upper case.<ref name="maryferrell/cryptdb">{{cite web |title=CIA Cryptonyms |url=https://www.maryferrell.org/php/cryptdb.php |website=[[Mary Ferrell Foundation]] |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207020033/https://www.maryferrell.org/php/cryptdb.php |url-status=live }}</ref> This is not done in other countries, though for the UK in British documents the code name is in upper case while operation is shortened to OP e.g., "Op. TELIC".

This presents an opportunity for a bit of public-relations ([[Operation Just Cause]]), or for controversy over the naming choice (Operation Infinite Justice, renamed [[Operation Enduring Freedom]]). Computers are now used to aid in the selection. And further, there is a distinction between the ''secret'' names during former wars and the ''published'' names of recent ones.