Molly Hale (Public Affairs, CIA) faxed a letter to me in response to my suggestions by Fax for use of nanometer (nm), joule (J), and the Federal Register Notice (as the basis for SI) in the World Factbook (WFB). WFB has changed the symbol for nautical mile from nm to NM within the past year and with a "hope the new form doesn't become confused with the abbreviation for New Mexico." WFB does not agree to use the joule (J) kJ, MJ, GJ, etc. for energy at this time, choosing to retain the kWh, giving a reason, among others, that "The World Factbook is produced for the use of US Government officials. The style, format, coverage, and content are designed to meet their specific requirements'... As they are our primary audience, we must adhere to the terms with which they work and are accustomed, but at the same time encourage broader use of the metric system." At least the WFB staff believes Government officials are "accustomed" to other SI multiples (e.g. km, kg, etc.), which are already used widely in the WFB, but Molly states "In our opinion, use of the SI term "joule" would baffle the majority of readers of the Factbook at this time." Shame on WFB logic, which amounts to asserting that Government officials understand km and kg, but would not be able to understand kJ. There was no comment in Molly's letter on using the Federal Register Notice as the official interpretation of SI for the US. Gene.
