When I was a Pentagon speechwriter, I would sit down with four-star generals for a briefing on their plans to reorganize the Army or unveil a new weapons system. Inevitably, they would speak in military jargon, at times stringing together three acronyms in a single sentence. My job was to translate for the American people. So, I would say: General, imagine you are home for the holidays, and your mother says, “Honey, what are you working on at the Pentagon these days?” How would you explain this to her? Eventually we would get a simple English translation that any American could understand.
