News abbreviations.

In the news you might notice some acronyms for branches or offices of the government.  Agencies are one of the most common government offices that have acronyms.  Agencies are the bureaucracy of the government.  They have their roles to play, but can grow inefficient and ineffective if not maintained and regulated.  As such, I'll make a list of common acronyms and patterns you yourself can use to determine the acronym's reference.

These are ones that refer to specific offices of the federal government:

1. SCOTUS = Supreme Court of the United States
2. POTUS = President of the United States
3. FLOTUS = First Lady of the United States

This is the general rule for federal departments that are under the executive.  Look of the D or the DO.  Most of the departments have the DO such as the D.O.J. (Department of Justice) or the D.O.E. (Department of Energy).  The DHS (Department of Homeland Security) is one example of a department that lacks the O in the abbreviation.

Then there are the bureaucratic agencies.  This includes the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), IRS (Internal Revenue Service), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), and SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) to name a few.  If ever your in a bind for an acronym, you can Google or Bing search it and it will usually be the top result.  You can also try Wikipedia, but don't rely too heavy on it, it is publicly editable.