After barely two weeks on the job, new Defense Secretary Ashton Carter issued an unexpected order to commanders preparing to brief him: ditch the PowerPoint. The request, which broke with the Pentagon’s tradition of slide deck-driven presentations, only applied to a meeting in Kuwait on anti-ISIS efforts. Carter was seeking “thoughtful analysis and discussion, not fixed briefings,” a spokesman told Military Times.
We’ve all sat through PowerPoint presentations that suffocate any chance for deep thought, let alone comprehension. But defense and intelligence agencies are in their own league when it comes to slide-based warfare. In honor of Carter’s small step toward less terrible meetings, here are some of the worst military and intel slides to ever see the light of day.
Afghan strategy. Or something. This slide was shown to Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in the summer of 2009.
Continued. This is from the same presentation McChrystal suffered through above. Check out the entire thing here.
Hurrican Katrina relief efforts. It’s not clear who deserves the credit blame for this.
Does this make any sense? This doozy was highlighted by dataviz thinkfluencer Edward Tufte.
Many slides from the NSA, released by Edward Snowden, deserve to be on this list. Here are a few (via the Washington Post):
Honorable mention: The Pentagon’s guide to “Integrated Defense Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Life Cycle Management System.” While not exactly a PowerPoint slide, this wall chart, found by Wired, shows just how crazy military graphics can get.
