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Re:CBS confirms reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s computer breached by dfc on Saturday June 15, 2013 @02:45PM (#5885905)
Tangent or not I'm interested. I think its less settled than you think. In fact I was always on the opposite team; its "NSA/DoD/DoE did x" just like it is "IBM did x" and not "the IBM did x."

I did enough research to conclude that it was not a settled issue. Its clear that if the initials were lower case and referred to a generic agency that deals with national security it would be "the national security agency" similar to the "the fishing tackle section of a sporting goods store." On the other hand a gander at DoD's style guide[1] makes it clear that they do not like the "the."

I'd love to see why you think its opposite. That's not dickish, that's a desire to answer a question that's been nagging me for a long time.

[1] http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/writing/Writing_St...

From the english.SX:

"Is it proper to use “the” before the name of a government organization?" http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/76976/is-it-prope...

"Using the definite article with acronyms and initialisms" http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/30596/using-the-d...

"Definite article with proper nouns, titles followed by a common noun" http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2327/definite-art...

"The definite article usage with objects that have names" http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16988/the-definit...

"Capitalising the definite article in names" http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/84288/capitalisin...

Re:CBS confirms reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s computer breached by hga on Saturday June 15, 2013 @02:56PM (#5885935)
Maybe it is clearer if we note this as proper usage: "the IBM corporation."

Similarly, "the Department of Defense", "the National Security Agency".

Re:CBS confirms reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s computer breached by dfc on Saturday June 15, 2013 @03:07PM (#5885972)
Frankly that does not make it any clearer to me. Which could be because I am bad at the nitty gritty of english syntax. But most importantly, with all due respect you are not Strunk and White. I am looking to a clear definitive reference and in the future I cant say "I know it is written this way because hga said so."
Re:CBS confirms reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s computer breached by hga on Saturday June 15, 2013 @04:07PM (#5886142)
Well, you can start here for a well referenced treatment of these nouns: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_noun
Re:CBS confirms reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s computer breached by dfc on Saturday June 15, 2013 @04:47PM (#5886254)
The reason your comment did little to clear things up is because it relied on spelling the agencies/organizations names out. It is clear that the rules change for acronyms and abbreviations.
Re:CBS confirms reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s computer breached by rdl on Saturday June 15, 2013 @07:24PM (#5886648)
DoD vs. DOD is a big enough debate :)