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(U) Write Right: Avoiding SIGINT-isms
FROM:
of the Reporting Board (S12R)
Run Date: 05/17/2005
...A follow-up to the "Index of Forbidden Words" article (U)
(U//FOUO) Another continuing debate in the reporting world
concerns the use of "possible" and "possibly" (as well as "probable"
and "probably") in reporting. A request from the field for
arbitration on this matter led the Reporting Board to update the
entry on those terms in the SIGINT Reporter's Style and Usage
Manual :
(U) "Possible" is an adjective and modifies nouns, but the usage "a
possible scenario" is a SIGINT idiom that has no parallel in ordinary
English. In everyday English, no one would say "The baby
swallowed a possible penny," but reporters often write that a
military unit "conducted a possible exercise." It is argued that this
usage has the advantage of brevity and is well understood by
military customers. This is true, but other considerations may
override the argument; for years now, reporting classes have
instructed analysts to write reports in a more "journalistic" style
that is less stilted and closer to standard English. This is partly to
get reporters to hone their communications skills, to enable them
to convey more accurate information and to present different
aspects of a report to different audiences with ease.
(U) For instance, journalistic style would use "The unit conducted
what may have been an exercise" or "The unit may have conducted
an exercise" rather than the old-style "The unit conducted a
possible exercise" or "The unit possibly conducted an exercise."
(Note the difference in nuance here: the first sentences convey
certainty that the unit conducted something and uncertainty about
what that something was; the second convey a lack of certainty
about what the unit was doing.)
(C) A more important factor is that this push to write for a variety
of audiences is also part of the DCI's initiative to sanitize as much
information as possible for as many different customers as
possible. Sanitization necessitates disguising the fact that
information came from COMINT; this is another important reason
instructors urge reporters to avoid the obvious NSA-ese
exemplified by "a probable F-15." It's much easier to get into the
habit of writing "what may have been a fighter aircraft" or "what
may have been an F-15" in the first place than to have to change it
for the sanitized portion of the report.
(U) "Possibly" is an adverb modifying verbs, adjectives, and other
adverbs. Do not use it to modify nouns. Instead of "a possible
regiment," use "a unit, possibly a regiment."
(U) The same guidance applies to "probable" and "probably."
(U//FOUO) The Reporting Board has been revising and updating
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
the entire Style Manual and questions like these help indicate what
entries are most (or least) useful, and which ones are out of date,
so keep those cards and letters coming, folks!
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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