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(U) Write Right: There Is No Index of Forbidden Words
FROM:
of the Reporting Board (S12A)
Run Date: 04/11/2005
(C) Like that notorious stump farm where a subterranean fire has
smoldered for years, a long-standing debate rages unchecked
regarding "forbidden words" in product reports. Occasionally it
erupts and both the Reporting Board and the Reporting Policy &
Guidance branch receive pleas to "tell us exactly what we can and
can't say." Many of our longtime reporters were taught in the
SIGINT equivalent of kindergarten that using verbs like "said",
"told", etc. revealed that the source of the intelligence was SIGINT,
or, more specifically, COMINT. Some offices used to maintain lists
of such forbidden words -- but these lists were applicable only to
those workcenters; they were not binding on the entire analytic
workforce, nor were they maintained or endorsed by policy
organizations.
(U) That was then; this is now. As our senior leadership has
repeatedly said, we have gone from a need-to-know culture to a
need-to-share one. More and more, as with the WTR exemption
issue, we rely on the individual reporting office's familiarity with
their sources and their customers to weigh the strength of the
particular customer's need-to-know against whether the
intelligence facts can be adequately understood and assessed
without those details.
(C) Of course, there are words, and classes of words, to avoid in
sanitizations, but they do not exist as the above-mentioned lists of
"forbidden words"; rather, instructions on how to write so as to
protect sources can be found on the Reporting Page ("go wtr").
(S//SI) As for the SI portion of a report, that content is for SIcleared customers, who presumably should know at least that the
information is derived from communications intercepts, even if
they don't know how or where the info is actually obtained. Policy
doesn't expressly prohibit communications words like "contacted",
"instructed", "notified", "issued orders to", and the like in the SI
sections, since such words merely indicate the fact that
communications took place, not whether the communications
consist of voice intercepts, faxes, e-mails, teleprinter messages, or
even good old HF manual Morse. Whether to go so far as to
indicate means and/or mode in the SI portions of a product is a
judgment call, which should be based on the careful risk-vs-gain
assessment described above. Reporters should consult all available
expertise in their Product Line, from experienced senior reporters
to the URS centers, for guidance.
(U//FOUO) Thanks to
his input to this article.
SERIES:
(U) Write Right '05
1. Write Right : Too
Much Redundancy is
Redundant
2. Write Right -SIGINT Myths: The
Traffic Fairy
3. Write Right : There
Is No Index of
Forbidden Words
4. Write Right :
Avoiding SIGINTisms
5. Write Right : A Note
on Validity Wording
6. Write Right : Brevity
Can Impede Clarity
(or, A Capital
Situation)
7. Write Right :
Opening the Traffic
Fairy's Packages
8. Write Right :
Management Theory
Applied to Reporting
9. Write Right : Give
the 'Key Points' Style
a Try
10. Write Right : Still
More on the Traffic
Fairy
of the Policy Services Division for
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108