Communicating Clearly

For John, BLUF:  The inability of the Bureaucrats of the Federal Governmen to communicate well is a problem.  Either they don't wish to communcate or they did very poorly in school.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Hack

Here is the sub-headline:

How to write about attacking the United States:  The Cosmopolitan Globalists' Guide to Style

From the Claire Berlinski Substack, by the Cosmopolitan Globalists, 18 Decembewr 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Cosmopolitan Globalists, we have grandly announced, will not chase breaking news.  It breaks, we shrug.

But the Cosmopolitan Globalists have done nothing useful today because we can’t take our eyes off the breaking news.  It’s best we be honest about this.  And we don’t know what it means any more than you do.

Is Russia about to invade a NATO country?

We don’t know.

What does “a grave risk to government and private networks” entail?

We don’t know.

How secure is the American nuclear deterrent?

We don’t know.

Who now controls American nuclear weapons?

We don’t know.

But one thing we do know: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency can’t go in there without an editor.

Then begins the writing lesson.  An important one.  For example, while I like the expression "Supply Chain", it may not convey information to a lot of readers.  To me it is the line of actions from the clerk writing a requisition to the delivery of the item needed, and maybe on to the payment of the bill.  All needed to keep parts flowing so things get done.  But, what does it mean to Joe Bagadonuts?  I don't think we can be sure.

I recommend the book Plain Words.  One thing I remember is that a sentence shouldn't exceed 20 words.  It takes a very good writer to write an intelligible sentence over 20 words.  Good advice.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff