James Harlan Boren (10 December 1925 – 24 April 2010) was an American author and politician who is best known as a humorist and writer on bureaucratese, in which he poked fun at what he called "the vacuumental thinking and idiotoxicities of Washington".

[2][3] He joined the United States Navy in 1942 at the age of 17, serving on the destroyer escort the USS William C. Cole at the Battle of Okinawa.

[2] In 1970 he became President of Development Services International in Washington, D.C.[1] Boren then turned to reforming bureaucracy through the use of humor and political satire.

He was in great demand as a professional speaker, and he wrote seven books, the most famous of which was When in Doubt Mumble: A Bureaucrat's Handbook.

The title drew on his most famous quotation: In 1991 he became a Scholar-in-Residence at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.