Millitary, federal government speak a language all their own

Not long ago Review-Journal military reporter Keith Rogers sent an email to a U.S. Navy command inquiring about a flight advisory in California.

In a return email, which noted the advisory was issued in support of routine research, Rogers was told that if information in the Navy’s reply was used for a story it should be attributed to “a NAWCWD spokesperson.”

Though a military veteran, Rogers, bless his heart, did not obey orders. Instead, he did a little research so he could write in a June 7 story that he received information from a spokesperson with the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division.

No one can ever accuse those who run the federal government of trying to make its machinations easy to understand.

The more I talked with Rogers, the more I realized yet again that the military uses abbreviations or acronyms — an abbreviation formed from the first letter of other words and pronounced as a word — that few civilians deal with.

Of course, that doesn’t spare those of us not in uniform from how bureaucrats add suspense and insanity to language.

In fact, Kelly Smith, a librarian with the University of California, San Diego, says the federal government assaults civilians with 4,000 acronyms and abbreviations every day.

If you go to a hearing where a bureaucrat discusses an ATLAS, he’s not trying to get directions. He’s talking about the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System. And if a federal employee mentions TARGET, he’s likely not on his way to the store but discussing the Technology & Accessible Resources Give Employment Today Center.

If a bureaucrat ever accuses our mayor of not having TACT, he’s not being critical of the mayor’s lack of sensitivity. He’s pointing out that Her Honor hasn’t put into place a Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks program.

Sixteen years ago, when Smith worked in Indiana, she started a database to define abbreviations because she kept receiving inquiries about what they meant. A few hundred entries grew into thousands.

“Many of my requests for what abbreviations mean now come from government employees,” she said in a telephone conversation. “It kind of tickles me. … I’ll get a request from the Centers for Disease Control about what an acronym from Homeland Security means.”

Could this mean that the inmates now run the asylum?

Smith’s “labor of love” has become so respected that in 2012 the Library Journal named her site, ucsd.libguides.com/govspeak, one of the 10 best free reference sites in the nation. The U.S. Government Manual, which lists around 300 abbreviations, links to her site, as does the Library of Congress.

“I used to include military abbreviations and acronyms but it just became too unwieldy,” she said. So she now links to the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military Terms.

Incredibly, Smith says she knows what 2,000 of the 4,000 abbreviations mean.

Yes, she’s the kind of person who knows that in federal language VISA means Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement. And that CAMP isn’t a place your kids go, but the College Assistance Migrant Program.

There is definitely a need for Smith’s guide. Without any publicity, it gets nearly 4,000 hits a month.

It’s really useful in Southern Nevada, where thousands of people work for or interact with Nellis Air Force Base, Creech Air Force Base, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, the Bureau of Land Management and the Nevada National Security Site.

A question may come from a citizen who’s trying to understand what “E3” meant at a Bureau of Reclamation hearing. Why, Economy, Energy and the Environment, of course!

“I get a lot of suggestions from government employees about new abbreviations that I should add to the list,” she said. “And I do.”

No doubt about it: The inmates now run the asylum.

Paul Harasim’s column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Friday in the Nevada section and Thursday in the Life section. Contact him at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273. Follow @paulharasim on Twitter.