Whatever one may think of the CIA, their reports are usually succinct and precise and an example to be followed by verbose NGO’s, second-rate scientists and – especially – government departments. (Of course there are many examples, from Iraq for example, where their reports are not accurate or are just plain fiction – but they are well written). The US Department of Energy – in my experience – have much to learn. They judge those who receive funding by the thickness of the reports they submit. The suspicion was that the US DoE actually employed people to measure and register the thickness of each report submitted to them. They then employed others to plot and correlate funding versus thickness-inches of reports submitted!! As a young researcher we had the benefit of a boss who trained us both to “reduce 3 pages to 1” for scientific publication and also to “expand 1 page to 5” for the reports we had to submit every quarter for a DoE funded project.
Washington Post: The CIA has been hiding something from us: It once had a sense of humor — not to mention Maurice Sendak-esque artistic skills, all before the unfunny news of the agency’s role in the Iran-Contra scandal broke in 1986.
The 1982 fall edition of “Studies in Intelligence,” the CIA internal newsletter, describes a “collection of strange fauna” known as the “Bestiary of Intelligence Writing.” It was an illustrated guide for national security writers on cringeworthy cliches, with apologies to “A Political Bestiary,” a book by James Kilpatrick, former U.S. senator Eugene McCarthy and editorial cartoonist Jeff MacNelly.
CIA Bestiary of Intelligence writing
(I have posted earlier about the CIA Style Manual: CIA Style Manual)
The author is only identified as (b)(3)(c) and he is also the illustrator
Older employees may recall that when the Headquarters Building was being constructed, guard dogs stalked the corridors by night to sniff out trespassers. Practically no one is aware, however, of the collection of strange fauna in a corner of a sub-basement, the location of which must remain secret. This collection known as the Bestiary of Intelligence Writing, consists of specimen samples of cliches and misused or overused word combinations that CIA editors have encountered frequently over the years.
Now for the first time, the Curator of the Collection has received permission to reveal the existence of the Bestiary and identify some of its principal specimens for the enlightenment, education and general edification of CIA writers. It is hoped that with their new awareness of the Bestiary, analysts and other authors will keep their eyes peeled, noses to the grindstone and ears to the ground, to call the attention of editors to other candidates for possible inclusion in the collection.
The Collection
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Multidisciplinary analysis.
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Viable alternatives.
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Mounting crises.
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Parameters
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Heightened tensions.
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Dire straits.
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Far-reaching implication.
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Available evidence.
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Foreseeable future.
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Almost inevitable.
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Nonstarter.
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Economic constraints.
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Broad outlines.
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Net effect.
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Overwhelming majority
This is the entry for “Overwhelming majority”
CIA Overwhelming majority – from the Bestiary
The k2p blog 