Why No “The” Sometimes in Front of CIA, FBI, or IRS?

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, Martha. My name is Sean from Los Angeles.

And my question for you guys is, I’ve noticed recently that it seems like government agencies like the FBI, the CIA, the IRS, BPA, when I hear them referred to in press briefings or even on places online, they seem to drop the definite article.

I grew up in the 80s, always knowing about the CIA, the FBI.

But a lot of times people seem to refer to it as just FBI or CIA.

And I was curious if that was just sort of a natural linguistic shift or if there was an official style guide out there encouraging people to not use the definite article or just wanted to hear your thoughts on it.

What’s an example of a longer sentence that you might hear that in?

For example, the FBI on Twitter, they have right here, Girl Scouts of the USA and FBI signed memoriam of understanding in support of STEM programs for girls.

Perfect. Great example. Because it’s the FBI talking about themselves, right?

Mm—

And that’s a really good example because typically within the larger governmental organizations, they do drop the the because they don’t need to call themselves out with the definite article.

CIA does the same thing. IRS does the same thing. DOJ, Department of Justice, does the same thing.

So typically you will find in-house they do not refer to themselves with the definite article.

And as a matter of fact, the Department of Justice has something called the National Institute of Justice,

And they have a style guide that says don’t use an article in front of an acronym used as a noun unless the usage is generally accepted.

So they do allow the FBI, the CA, the IRS, but they don’t put it in front of EPA or NIJ or DOJ and a bunch of others, the CDC.

And so they’ve established that as a principle.

The style guide for the government printing office doesn’t address this point, but the Chicago Manual of Style does kind of suggest it says acronyms are rarely preceded by the except when used adjectivally.

Initialisms, that is where you say the letters, like E-U, are often preceded by an article,

But they don’t, in the Chicago Manual of Style, make a rule out of it. So you might say DNA,

For example. You wouldn’t say the DNA, right? Or you might say NPR and PBS. You don’t say the NPR

And the PBS. So there are a lot of exceptions to the rules. But generally, you’ll find this

In-house, Sean, is where they tend to drop the definite article.

So how about that, Sean?

That’s really interesting insight into sort of the inner workings of just the language of these organizations.

I really appreciate you guys taking my call.

Our pleasure. Thanks for calling. Call us again sometime.

Thanks, Sean.

Absolutely. Take care.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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