Members of the Bush administration are struggling with a case of the missing Ws.
Many aides discovered that their computer keyboards were missing the W key - a critical problem given their boss' name is George W Bush.
The prank is believed to have been perpetrated by departing Clinton staff.
Some keyboards did have W keys, but they lacked a working spring beneath them or were broken in other ways.
Some W keys were located on top of high door frames.
When asked his reaction, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer replied: "It would have been 'Wow.' But the W was removed, so now it's just, 'Oh"'.
He declined to speculate on suspects, although ex-Clintonites were high on the list.
Even though he acknowledged the problem as a joke, Mr Fleischer also said: "If they're not found and the computer doesn't work, that's government property that now is going to have to be replaced or fixed".
After this development, White House aides were on the lookout for further pranks.