Insider : Where a Slip of the Pencil Can Cause Insult--or War : Making maps for the State Department is more than just drawing pretty pictures. Few things are more sensitive to governments than their borders--especially when there is room for argument.

They have what sounds like a routine and tedious job. But the State Department’s dozen or so geographers and map makers face an increasingly complex and sensitive task: keeping track of the boundaries between the world’s 172 nations.

Boundary disputes reach from Argentina to Zaire--at least one on every continent except Australia, which has the singular advantage of containing only one nation.

It can take decades for countries to settle their territorial differences--some disputes date back to the 19th Century. In the meantime, maps must be drawn, and an international incident could develop if the U.S. Embassy in a nation with a contested border should turn up with a map showing the wrong line.

A look at Lithuania shows why the State Department is so meticulous in its attention to detail. Lithuania and its two Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Estonia, were annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 as part of Josef Stalin’s secret agreement with Adolf Hitler, and the United States has never formally recognized the annexation.

According to the State Department’s “Guide to International Boundaries,” map makers should show the borders of the three Baltic nations as they stood in 1937, before the annexation.

For most of the last 50 years, that instruction seemed a futile gesture toward a never-to-return past. But now, with Lithuania declaring its independence, the borders have become starkly relevant.

As it turns out, there are a few minor differences between the borders of those long-ago-independent states and the boundaries of the Soviet “republics” of the same names. The State Department formally insists that the discrepancies are inconsequential. When officials are asked about those borders, they say the matter is “very sensitive” and quickly change the subject.

Managing such delicate situations falls to the State Department’s little-known Office of the Geographer, which tries to keep the map makers out of trouble by providing detailed advice on how to apply the sometimes abstruse nuances of U.S. government policy.

The geographer, William B. Wood, emphasized in a recent interview that he does not make policy himself. His job, he said, is to keep track of the geographic impact of policies made at the White House, the State Department and elsewhere in the government.

Wood said his office tries not to take sides in boundary disputes. Instead, it accepts anything that is approved by both parties.

But sometimes the parties never agree, and then the Guide to International Boundaries merely reflects the dispute. It also contains some very detailed instructions to cartographers responsible for making detailed maps of particular countries and regions.

All maps of the western Soviet Union, the guide says, should carry this disclaimer: “The United States Government has not recognized the incorporation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the Soviet Union.” The instructions add: “The 1937 boundaries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania should be depicted where map scale permits.”

The rules are even more complex regarding China and Taiwan, the offshore island controlled by the Nationalist Chinese government, which still claims to be the rightful government of all China. The United States agreed in 1972 that Taiwan is part of China, a position accepted by both governments despite their dispute over which one should be in control.

“ ‘China’ should be used to label the mainland whenever the island of Taiwan is included on the map,” the guide explains. “Mainland China and Taiwan should be the same color. ‘Taiwan’ should be in island type or another selected type style. ‘Taiwan’ and the first-order administrative division names on mainland China should never be in the same type style. Beijing should be shown as the national capital for China. Taipei should be symbolized only as a populated place.”

For about 40 years, U.S. government maps recorded a claim by Jordan to the West Bank territory that was administered by Jordan from 1948 to 1967, when Israel began occupying it after the 1967 Middle East War. In 1988, largely because of a seven-year campaign by Martin Miller, a retired Treasury Department bureaucrat and a staunch backer of Israel, the maps were changed to eliminate any reference to the Jordanian claim.

The maps still do not show universally accepted borders for Israel, however. The guide advises: “ ‘Armistice Line’ should be labeled for the Israeli borders where map scale permits. The 1950 Israeli proclamation that Jerusalem be the national capital is not recognized by the United States government. ‘Israeli occupied, status to be determined’ should be used when West Bank and Gaza Strip are labeled.”

The geographer’s advice covers maps drawn only by the State Department, CIA, Pentagon and other government agencies. It has no impact on the National Geographic Society, which produces most of the maps found in homes and schoolrooms around the country.

“The National Geographic tries to show who occupies an area,” Wood said. “We try to use historical agreements.”

One such agreement, on the post-World War II boundaries of Europe, was reached in 1975 by the 35-nation Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, known as the Helsinki Conference. The Helsinki Final Act recognized all existing boundaries. But the United States refrained from approving one aspect--the incorporation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia into the Soviet Union.

“In 1975 in the Helsinki Final Act, we recognized the existing borders in Europe,” said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. “President (Gerald R.) Ford at the time made a specific exception for our non-recognition policy for the Baltic states.”