Alphabet Soup

In the beginning was the word, and the word was NATO.

But NATO was without form, and void; so was created SACEUR. Alone in the darkness, SACEUR was joined by SUSREP-NADPB, CINCNELM and EB. Soon the firmament radiated JAMAG, MAPAG, MAAG and CPUBINFO and there was Light.

In the seventh month after its creation, restless NATO, through CPUBINFO (Chief of Public Information), named 80 sub-agencies and offices to be officially designated by top secret anagrams--their initials. By last week the number had increased to 125. Most everybody knew SACEUR (pronounced "Sack your" meaning the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, i.e., Dwight Eisenhower). They could guess at EB (the Executive Bureau of the Temporary Committee of the North Atlantic Council), but who could explain that SUSREP-NADPB meant Senior U.S. Representative North Atlantic Defense Production Board, or that CINCNELM meant Commander in Chief U.S. Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean? Whether a man was a MRS (Military Representative Standing Group) or a FLAGCENT (Flag Officer Central Europe), he was expected to know the difference between JAMAG (Joint American Military Assistance Group), MAPAG (Military Assistance Program Advisory Group) and the numerous MAAG (Military Assistance Advisory Groups). There were hazards. A U.S. Navy officer, puzzled at being assigned to Strategic Air Command, Europe, found that a clerk had mis-deciphered his anagram according to an earlier official list, that he was actually assigned to SACEUR, that is, Ike. Any CPUBINFO could have set him straight. So could DCLOGA (Deputy Chief of Staff Logistics and Administration).

In Washington a State Department official, having worked out the key to a long cable in capital letters, puzzled over the word GAP, not being able to find it in his official list. An aide enlightened him: GAP meant simply gap, in this case the space between the amount of dollars needed in Europe and the amount the U.S. had to supply. It explained almost everything.

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