The Military’s PowerPoint Problem -- Matthew Yglesias/Think ProgressVia Spencer Ackerman, there’s a new report out from CNAS by Major General Michael T. Flynn, Captain Matt Pottinger, Paul D. Batchelor that offers a pretty scathing critique of the Intelligence Community’s role in the conflict in Afghanistan. The critique has a number of dimensions but this one seemed in some ways the most basic and fundamental:
Read more ....The format of intelligence products matters. Commanders who think PowerPoint storyboards and color-coded spreadsheets are adequate for describing the Afghan conflict and its complexities have some soul searching to do. Sufficient knowl- edge will not come from slides with little more text than a comic strip. Commanders must demand substantive written narratives and analyses from their intel shops and make the time to read them. There are no shortcuts. Microsoft Word, rather than PowerPoint, should be the tool of choice for intelligence professionals in a counterinsurgency.
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