The Thing About Classified Documents

 Over my military life, I've probably read through a thousand classified 'documents', and three-hundred thousand 'reports'.  

So you can divide these into six categories...on reading value/impact:

1.  You had 20 page white-paper 'documents' written by some PhD guy who analyzed a thousand-odd pages of material....to come to some conclusion.  I'd describe it as a thesis-like situation.

The problem was....depending on who this was....it could be awful 'dry' material and other than the summary page (1 single page)....the whole thing was unreadable.  

2.  You had a five-line single topic report over one single event underway, and it could be conflicting in a dozen different ways.  Typically, you just read it to grasp what was going on, and wait three hours for a better organized dispatch..

3.  You'd have a 5-topic 4 page morning report.  You'd spend 10 minutes reading this....usually causing you to go back refresh all of your vast knowledge on X, Y and Z, wasting another hour of your time.  

4.  You'd have a 150-page report which blended in a thousand facts, and often left you confused on the topic.  These were the ones written by three guys.....that you felt were differing on the outcome of the whole report. If any of this dealt with economics....it'd bring tears to your eyes about the vast nature of information dumped upon you.  

5.  You'd have a new technology report.....which rarely could get the technology in some understandable way.  

6.  Finally, you'd have some physiological report on how so-and-so thinks, and by the end....you'd be suddenly thinking....man, that's the way my Uncle Felix thinks and reacts....or how your 2nd wife Belinda acts when she gets drunk.

So then I come to the three obvious problems: (1) reading these consumed a fair amount of time, (2) half the time....your skeptical nature clicked-on, or (3) report X, Y and Z (by differing groups) had each a different view of things.  

I worked once with a Colonel who had a understanding about how you'd present things to Generals....it had to be drafted and presented in the fashion that a 10-year old kid could understand.  It took me several months to adapt and understand that people just don't receive information in the fashion you'd assume.  Pictures and graphic charts are absolutely necessary to get points across.

So I look at this effort by Joe Biden, and generally think....it can only go one of three ways: either he had lobbyist-friends that wanted to read what he was reading in the office (as Senator, VP, or President), or the only reading time he had...was at home.....or he was giving Hunter a chance to read the stuff he was reading.  

Then it brings in this problem....if this is old stuff from 2005....did he not ever clean his garage or office area?