Blog

Strong policy writers tell a story, and frame the issue in context of where an Administration (or Agency) is trying to go. The best policy memo: Assumes reader has zero context and avoids jargon and acronyms Is clear about the goals; i.e. is it a decision...

Memo reviewed by Michelle Barton, HKS MC/MPA This foreign policy memo (found in the New York Times article by Eric Schmitt, 11/7/19) is a clear and concise piece of writing in response to a mammoth decision in U.S. foreign policy. It was written to...

Memo reviewed by James J. McDonnell, National Security Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School Brzezinski, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (currently called the National Security Advisor) under Jimmy Carter, wrote a memo to outline...

Memo reviewed by Andreas L. Hahn, 2020 Fletcher MALD Candidate ( Memorandum From the Deputy Secretary of State (Clark) and the Under Secretary of State for Management (Kennedy) to Secretary of State Haig[1], 26 October 1981) The memo on the...

I can’t tell you what’s going to happen to his blockbuster complaint about the president’s behavior, but I can tell you that the whistle-blower’s college writing instructor would be very proud of him. As a writing instructor myself for 20 years, I look at...

Memo reviewed by Dimas Muhamad, HKS Master's candidate In 2002, William Burns, the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, wrote to Secretary of State Collin Powell on the dangers of invading Iraq in this memo. Overall, the substance of the...