A clear warning from the Australian Army about ‘Fuzzy Writing and Fatalities’
That’s the title of an article in the Australian Army Journal that a reader kindly mentioned to me after our recent discussion of the disastrous U.S. Army paper on optimizing human performance.
Best Defense is in summer re-runs. This item originally appeared on November 18, 2014.
Best Defense is in summer re-runs. This item originally appeared on November 18, 2014.
That’s the title of an article in the Australian Army Journal that a reader kindly mentioned to me after our recent discussion of the disastrous U.S. Army paper on optimizing human performance.
Why do Army officers write so poorly, especially when addressing sensitive institutional issues such as the future of the Army? The answer, writes Ross Buckley, often is simple fear. That is, they hide inside the jargon of bureaucracy for a reason. “Managerial language hides and obfuscates because it is meant to,” he explains. “One of its attractions is deniability. It takes courage to say clearly what one means, for if wrong, one’s error is apparent to all.”
This is, he warns, not just a matter of the military classroom. “The fog and chaos of war is no place for anyone who doesn’t think and communicate in sharp, straight lines and clear, simple concepts.”
More from Foreign Policy

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?
The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World
It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.
Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing
The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.