Armed Forces News

The gobbledygook-laden PowerPoint presentation may be on its way out, if top military leaders heed Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s latest dictum. According to a Washington Post report, Carter has told his charges to stop using PowerPoint presentations and speak in plain English instead. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby later explained Carter’s order in an email to the Military Times family of newspapers. “The secretary wanted [a] meeting to be driven by thoughtful analysis and discussion, not fixed briefings,” Kirby stated. Carter did not ban PowerPoint presentations altogether; rather, his order applied only to a meeting of senior leadership that took place in Afghanistan Feb. 22.