On Powerpoint...
In light of all previous comments....All I have to say on Powerpoint is that it has most definitely been the demise of the quality of Intelligence products.
I miss a few years ago when I would get an INTSUM (Intelligence Summary), which has now been replaced by a GRINTSUM (Graphical Intelligence Summary). With the invention of the GRINTSUM, not only intelligence products, but the Patrol Debriefs have simply become a storyboard that encompasses half a slide that represents where on the map the unit was. Last I checked, the Commander already knows where the unit was. The Commander doesn't need to know where his infantry platoon was through the use of a map on Powerpoint that takes up at least half of the entire storyboard/patrol debrief. If he does, then he is "lost in the sauce", and doesn't know what his unit is doing, or where they are going. Not to mention, a true Patrol Debrief is not doctrinally a Powerpoint slide in either the US military or even NATO.
Yes, pictures are "1,000 words", however when the pictures tell you less than the "1,000 words", it is time to step back for a moment.
Not only that, too many Commanders do not want to see "NSTR" (No Status to Report) on their GRINTSUM's.
Well, Sir...If there is nothing to report, then there is nothing to report. By ordering that "NSTR" is not allowed on an intelligence report, you are only prompting intellegence professionals to generate information (not intelligence) that really is of no use to anyone.
Honestly, if the intel shop is telling you that there is "NSTR", then maybe it is time to stop sending troops and intelligence collection assets to a place or activity that continually produces "NSTR" information. Or, what happens is that the same information continually gets reported day-in, and day-out. Hence, why many analysts and others get to where they will just hit the "Delete" button on their keyboard when the 20megabyte file drops into their inbox. They know there won't be anything new on it, and besides...their email inbox is only 30megabytes so all it does is fill it up so they can't receive information that is the "hear-and-now" from someone else.
Unfortunately, by ordering the ban on "NSTR" in reporting, you are only generating false reporting in that the intelligence analysts have to "create" something from nothing, which in turn...turns into a combat zone based on fictional reporting.
Currently, we are teaching students in the All-Source Analyst Course (35F) the GRINTSUM, and discarding what is actually written in doctrinal publications on how to report intellegence to commanders. During the 10-day FTX here at Fort Huachuca, we spend more time on the students learning how to be "Powerpoint Rangers" than actual intelligence analysis. It is nothing for the students to spend an hour and a half just preparing the CIU to brief, which typically does not yield enough information to really give the Commander a true sense of his COP. Instead of the students learning how to write intelligence reporting, they spend more time on trying to be able to graphically represent what is on the various slides. This last class, I can't tell you how many times I had to try and pound into their heads the simple concept of presenting "Bottom-Line-Up-Front" (BLUF) reporting where the first sentence answered the "5W's". They honestly do not know how to do that, and after 4-months of training, we end up having to teach them just how to write intelligence that is useful to not only Commanders, but the rest of the intelligence community.
Through the use of Powerpoint to produce intelligence products, there are several issues that come about.
First, most of the GRINTSUM's are too big to even be transmitted through email to some elements that are in remote areas.
Second, if you didn't sit through the brief, there is information that was presented on what was in the brief that is not displayed in text somewhere. So, if you weren't in the brief, you are looking at a slide with pretty pictures, and really don't know what the content was that is trying to make a point.
Thirdly, Powerpoint is like the old school slide show. So, the point is that the "highlights" are presented graphically, and the briefer fills in the rest of the details. By doing this, all that is said by the briefer is lost when it is posted to a website, and someone from another unit looks at it. They are missing the additional details that are part of what was briefed, which are no longer included in any form to those that are no where near the briefing room.
The GRINTSUM is perfectly fine to brief the Commander during a their CUB/CIU brief. However, it absolutely does not replace what the doctrinal concept behind what an INTSUM produces.
Solution: Produce the GRINTSUM, but do not neglect the publication of an INTSUM, which can be put in small kilobyte size files able to be be sent to troops in remote areas with all of the details that they were unable to hear in a brief they were unable to attend.
Unfortuntely, the doctrinal INTSUM that is referenced so many times in Army FM's is no longer taught, or tested on. This is particularly the case when they go do their 10-day FTX.
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