The CIA's Style Guide Is Surprisingly Good
Previously unknown until early 2013, the 8th edition of the CIA's style guide surfaced on social media last week.
Despite being intended to guide both creators and analyzers of government intelligence, the document helps us plebeian writers, to0. Even Strunk and White, the godfathers of writing style, lent their expertise for it.
The guide explains general grammar and spelling rules (and finally, the ubiquitous who v. whom question), but it also includes general tips and preferences.
We broke out some noteworthy points below from the 190-page guide:
- Favor active voice. "Lifeguards clear beaches when forecasters predict storm." Not: "Beaches are cleared when storms are forecast."
- On that note, avoid beginning sentences with "there is" or "there are." Instead, look for a stronger verb.
- "Be frugal in use of adjective and adverbs; let nouns and verbs show their own power." (Sidenote: The CIA is all for the semicolon.)
- Spell out a range of numbers. For example, write "10 to 15 kilometers," not "10-15 kilometers."
- Use "around" for approximations of time and "about" or "approximately" for distance and other numbers.
Although the guide offers relevant advice for all writers, it does so in a fashion that seems typical of the CIA. Naturally, the document dedicates three pages to the use and capitalization of titles, with an added emphasis on hierarchy.
Here are some other strange points:
- Don't capitalize the "w" in Vietnam war because it was "undeclared," just like the Yom Kippur war and the Falklands war. (I had to Google both.)
- Treaties that haven't been ratified don't get the uppercase treatment, either. Write "Treaty of Paris" but "Kyoto treaty."
- Casualties, surprisingly, refer to all persons injured, captured, or missing in action as well as those killed.
- "'Disinformation' refers to the deliberate planting of false reports. 'Misinformation' equates in meaning but does not carry the same devious connotation.'" (Whatever that means.)
- Avoid using "feel" as a verb in writing, as it can convey agreement or emotional writing. Instead, use "calculate" or "estimate."
- Use "fear" only to describe "strong emotion, not a vague concern, an uneasy feeling, or an ill-defined skepticism."
Legal nonprofit National Security Counselors published the guide in 2013 after the group's executive director, Kel McClanhan, submitted a FOIA request the previous year, Quartz reports. We saw it in The Guardian.
"Good intelligence depends in large measure on clear, concise writing," the CIA's guide states.
Maybe the agency should take its own advice when it tweets.